{"schema_version":"bf_book_companion_v1","release_id":"20261010T034321Z-reviewed-full-unique-works","book":{"amazon_purchase_url":"https://www.amazon.com/dp/1137279370?tag=bookfrontie00-20","asin":"1137279370","authors":["Nancy Marie Brown"],"book_id":"9781137279378","canonical_url":"https://bookfrontier.com/books/ivory-vikings-the-mystery-of-the-most-famous-chessmen-in-the-world-and-the-woman-who-made-them-9781137279378","cover_image_url":"https://img.bookfrontier.com/9781137279378.jpg?v=461d4b3cab795d9b","description":"“A fascinating tale of discovery and mystery.” — The Minneapolis Star Tribune In the early 1800's, on a Hebridean beach in Scotland, the sea exposed an ancient treasure cache: 93 chessmen carved from walrus ivory. The Lewis Chessmen are probably the most famous chess pieces in the world. Harry played Wizard's Chess with them in Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone . Housed at the British Museum, they are among its most visited and beloved objects. Questions abounded: Who carved them? Where? Nancy Marie Brown's Ivory Vikings explores these mysteries by connecting medieval Icelandic sagas with modern archaeology, art history, forensics, and the history of board games. In the process, Ivory Vikings presents a vivid history of the 400 years when the Vikings ruled the North Atlantic, and the sea-road connected countries and islands we think of as far apart and culturally distinct: Norway and Scotland, Ireland and Iceland, and Greenland and North America. The story of the Lewis chessmen brings from the shadows an extraordinarily talented woman artist of the twelfth century: Margret the Adroit of Iceland.","forthcoming":false,"isbn13":"9781137279378","publication_date":"20150901","publisher":"St. Martin's Press","slug":"ivory-vikings-the-mystery-of-the-most-famous-chessmen-in-the-world-and-the-woman-who-made-them","subtitle":"The Mystery of the Most Famous Chessmen in the World and the Woman Who Made Them","title":"Ivory Vikings: the Mystery of the Most Famous Chessmen in the World and the Woman Who Made Them"},"discovery":{"categories":{"all":[{"bisac_code":"ART015070","confidence_band":"medium","label":"Medieval Art History","score":0.7223,"source":"bisac_hint_model"},{"bisac_code":"HIS037010","confidence_band":"low","label":"Medieval History","score":0.6917,"source":"bisac_hint_model"},{"bisac_code":"HIS015010","confidence_band":"medium","label":"Early Medieval Britain (to 1066)","score":0.6859,"source":"bisac_hint_model"}],"hint":[{"bisac_code":"ART015070","confidence_band":"medium","label":"Medieval Art History","score":0.7223,"source":"bisac_hint_model"},{"bisac_code":"HIS037010","confidence_band":"low","label":"Medieval History","score":0.6917,"source":"bisac_hint_model"},{"bisac_code":"HIS015010","confidence_band":"medium","label":"Early Medieval Britain (to 1066)","score":0.6859,"source":"bisac_hint_model"}],"publisher":[{"bisac_code":"ART015070","confidence_band":"high","label":"Medieval Art History","score":1,"source":"onix_publisher_code"},{"bisac_code":"HIS037010","confidence_band":"high","label":"Medieval History","score":1,"source":"onix_publisher_code"},{"bisac_code":"HIS044000","confidence_band":"high","label":"Scandinavian History","score":1,"source":"onix_publisher_code"}]},"genres":[{"label":"Medieval Art History","score":0.7223,"slug":"medieval-art-history"},{"label":"Medieval History","score":0.6917,"slug":"medieval-history"},{"label":"Early Medieval Britain (to 1066)","score":0.6859,"slug":"early-medieval-britain-to-1066"}],"reader_fit":["For readers interested in the Lewis Chessmen’s origins and medieval archaeology","For readers interested in Viking history across the North Atlantic"],"related_lists":[],"series":null,"similar_books":[{"authors":["Nancy Marie Brown"],"book_id":"9781250200846","cover_image_url":"https://img.bookfrontier.com/9781250200846.jpg?v=e28f1ba2268541ac","score":0.6915,"title":"The Real Valkyrie","url":"https://bookfrontier.com/books/9781250200846"},{"authors":["Heather Pringle"],"book_id":"9781426222023","cover_image_url":"https://img.bookfrontier.com/9781426222023.jpg?v=c8d65d9903cc17b1","score":0.6864,"title":"The Northwomen","url":"https://bookfrontier.com/books/9781426222023"},{"authors":["Neil Price"],"book_id":"9781541601116","cover_image_url":"https://img.bookfrontier.com/9781541601116.jpg?v=4e50539a3f381c1d","score":0.6619,"title":"Children of Ash and Elm","url":"https://bookfrontier.com/books/9781541601116"},{"authors":["Margalit Fox"],"book_id":"9780062228864","cover_image_url":"https://img.bookfrontier.com/9780062228864.jpg?v=eda08c4180d59f2e","score":0.6541,"title":"The Riddle of the Labyrinth","url":"https://bookfrontier.com/books/9780062228864"},{"authors":["C.M. 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