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How the Celts Came to Britain: Druids, Ancient Skulls and the Birth of Archaeology
by Michael A Morse. Most of us think that the term 'Celt', which describes a race of ancient Britons
living in Britain before the Romans, stems from ancient times, but its origins in fact lie in the
early 18th century. Controversy still surrounds the use of this term and what it purports to describe
(why, for instance, is it used to describe both Iron Age and early medieval cultures?) but what this
book seeks to learn is when and why the term was coined and how challenges to its use have increased
through to the present day. Michael Morse examines the nature of the cultural phenomenon that first
characterised people as Celtic, looking at the archaeology, language, ethnology, human remains,
monuments and art of the pre-Roman period in Britain. This book is not only a 'history of a concept';
it is also the story of the emergence of archaeology and the way in which archaeologists have
categorised the people of the past.
222p, 23 b/w illus (Tempus 2005) Pb £17.99
Time Team Book Club Price £13.95 |
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Stonehenge Complete
by Christopher Chippindale. When the first edition of Stonehenge Complete was published, it won the
British Archaeological Book Award and was immediately hailed as the ideal introduction to this most
famous and mysterious of all Europe's ancient sites. This third edition has been expanded and revised
to include the results of the most recent archaeological investigations which have radically altered
our understanding of the monument. Christopher Chippindale examines the evidence for the historical
Stonehenge as well as discussing what it means to different groups of people, including archaeologists,
tourists, astronomers, mystics and poets.
312p, 13 col and 225 b/w illus (Thames and Hudson 1983, 1994, 3rd edn 2004) Pb £12.95
Time Team Book Club Price £9.95 |
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After the Ice: A Global Human History 20,000-5000 BC
by Steve Mithen. John Lubbock approaches Wonderwerk Cave in southern Africa to find twenty or thirty women
seated around a fire swaying and singing, and a group of men dancing frenetically in a trance-like state,
trembling and at the point of collapse. This is just one of the experiences of John Lubbock, the time
traveller creation of Steven Mithen, based on a Victorian philanthropist of the same name. Mithen takes
Lubbock, and the reader, on a global tour of the world exploring, explaining and describing how different
prehistoric groups on each of the continents lived and changed as the Ice Age ended and global warming
ushered in the Holocene. Crossing western Asia, Europe, the Americas, Australia and east Asia, southern
Asia and Africa, Mithen's erudite and engaging tour outlines how human society was transformed between
20,000 and 5000 BC using up-to-date archaeological, genetic and environmental evidence. Highly acclaimed
and popular amongst all types of readers and set to become a landmark study, this book comes highly recommended.
622p, 16p of col photos (Weidenfeld and Nicolson 2003, Pb 2004) Pb £10.99
Time Team Book Club Price £8.95 |
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Piltdown Man: The Secret Life of Charles Dawson and the World's Greatest Archaeological Hoax
by Miles Russell. In 1912 Britain's most eminent amateur archaeologist and palaeontologist, Charles Dawson,
discovered the missing link in a quarry outside the small Sussex town of Piltdown. Shortly afterwards his
death was mourned by the scientific community but in 1953 the backlash began when Piltdown Man was announced
a fraud. Miles Russell's book is an extremely readable investigation of Dawson's guilt, or otherwise, asking
whether he was responsible for other fabrications during his illustrious career and, if he was, why on earth
did he go to so much trouble? A dubious Neolithic hand axe with handle, a dungeon with shadowy figures of
prisoners preserved on its wall, a cave full of ritual offerings, a 'Roman' cast-iron figurine and an anvil
with '1515' stamped on it are just a few of Dawson's claims to fame. Added to these are his sightings of sea
serpents in the Channel and rare exotic birds flying above Hastings. In each case, and this includes Piltdown
man, Russell presents the facts as we know them today and then delivers his verdict. Dawson's guilt becomes
as clear as day with knighthood as his ultimate goal.
288p, 105 b/w illus (Tempus 2003) Pb £14.99
Time Team Book Club price £11.95 |
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Europe's Lost Civilization: Uncovering the Mysteries of the Megaliths
by Peter Marshall. 'It would seem that there is something deep within our psyche driving us to build
enduring monuments in order to express our universal social and spiritual aspirations.' In a journey of
more than four thousand miles, Peter Marshall goes in search, and in memory, of a lost civilisation of
ancient mariners. During his journey from Skara Brae to Malta, he visits all of the major megalithic
monuments along the Atlantic seaboard from Britain to France, Spain and Portugal, entering the
Mediterranean at Gibraltar. From there he visits the Balearic Islands, Sardinia, Corsica and North
Africa, finally reaching his destination at Malta. Drawing his thoughts together in the final chapter
at the end of his voyage, Marshall considers the possibility that the megaliths were expressions of a
single culture and religion, suggesting that the megalith builders must certainly have shared a common
descent and language, made possible by sea travel. Much more than a travelogue, this book probes into
questions of geology, archaeology, astronomy, myth, legend and story and, whether you share Marshall's
conclusions or not, it provides much food for thought.
338p, b/w figs, col pls, maps (Headline 2004) Hb £20.00
Time Team Book Club price £16.95 |
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