The Life and Death of a Druid Prince

by Anne Ross, Don Robins

From Simon & Schuster, Life and Death of a Druid Prince by Anne Ross and Don Robbins examine how the discovery of Lindow Man revealed the secrets of a lost civilization.

This thrilling human drama and spellbinding scientific discovery—the most sensational archaeological find of the decade—unlocks the mysteries of the Druid past and leaves readers mesmerized and eagerly turning the page.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Archaeology, British Literature, Religion, Biography, Historical

176 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1989

About the author

Dr. Anne Ross was a Celtic scholar and folklorist. She spoke Gaelic and Welsh as well as being a scholar of Anglo Saxon, Old norse and Medieval English. After studying for her Phd. in Edinburgh she became a research fellow to Southampton University and a writer for the British Museum. She lived with her husband Richard and their children Richard and Berenice in Wales.

Reviews

[Nimue Brown]

This is an amazing read. In the sense that I was repeatedly amazed by the leaps in logic, the imagined details that mysteriously turned into facts, the reliance on recent folklore as evidence for ancient practice, and the internal logic that didn't hold together.

[Cara M]

A fast engaging read, that takes the discovery of a body in a bog as an open door into the lost, forgotten, and buried past of Celtic Britain. Although all conclusions are tentative at best, the clear presentation of sources and deductions allows the reader to accept this as a reasonable theory, though by no means concrete fact. Druids are always a contentious topic, whether they're treated as tree hugging nature worshippers, bloodthirsty savage priests, or political and economic powerhouses, they remain obscured in mystery. The Irish and Welsh law codes might have been an interesting resource to look into. Also, the theory of a Q-celtic secret language is very doubtful. Linguistic evidence of a Celtic influence in Germany would be more convincing than similarities in design and modes of sacrifice.

[Nathan C.]

I found the archaeological facts very interesting, as well as the historical background of the Celts around the first century B.C. (during which time the authors assume Lindow II lived), but the conclusions the authors draw--everything from the man's name to his nationality to the reason and date of his death--were very unconvincing to me. I would need a lot more proof before assuming one third of what they assume.

[Joan Brown]

FromLibrary Journal via Amazon
The discovery of a 2000-year-old man's body in a peat bog in Lindow Moss, near Manchester, England on August 1, 1984 brought the authors together to study his remains, specifically his last meal. Ross is a Celtic specialist and archaeologist; Robins a chemist specializing in archaeological work. Their collaboration has resulted in this engrossing archaeological study which unfolds like a well-told detective story. With clarity and scientific skill, they reconstruct the ritual sacrifice of this 30-year-old man they deduce to have been a Celtic aristocrat. Probably a Druid priest, the man was sacrificed to the gods in A.D. 60 in the wake of a series of disasters, including the advance of Roman armies bent on crushing the Druids. The appendixes provide an overview of the Druids--their institutions, beliefs, and archaeological remains. An engrossing work for laypersons and specialists alike.
- Joan W. Gartland, Detroit P.L.

This is a short (176 pages) fascinating, one-sitting story. Try it - you'll like it!

[Erik Graff]

A light, popular read concerning the discovery of body parts dating from the first century in an English bog. Very highly speculative, the portions about the exhumation of ancient remains are interesting, those detailing the authors' theories are unconvincing.

[Deb White]

This was one of the worst books I've read in a long time. It is highly revealing how our eductional systems have failed to produce quailified scientist for decades.

[Gary]

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. It is a wonderful example of an interesting historical diversion on a topic which most of us spend little time considering, the archaeology of bog burials with respect to archaic Celtic society. Treat yourself and read this book. I for one deeply enjoyed the descriptions of Celtic life, the descriptions of the abiding Celtic traditions in the modern world, and the thought experiment of attempting to place an archaeological find in the context of a historic narrative.

My criticisms of the work has everything to do with the extrapolations engaged in to make the case for the Druid Prince's life story. After the scientific aspects of the story are exhausted, a great flight of fancy is taken to explain the life and death of this man. It is interesting, and even well written, but not very well founded.

[Gustaf]

Läste den då jag fått den rekommenderad som en introduktion till arkeologins vetenskap. Boken redogör för upptäckten och utforskandet av "Lindowmannen", de brittiska öarnas motsvarighet till Bockstensmannen, då han hittas välbevarad och utsatt för grovt våld i samband med sitt död. I jakten på att ta reda på omständigheterna kring hans död får vi kunskap om romarrikets erövring av Britanien, Kelternas historia och druidernas roll i samhället.

[Darius Rips]

Lindow Man, as he came to be called, was the extraordinarily well preserved body of a man who died between 2 BC and 119 AD. Anne Ross and Don Robins worked together to try to find out who was and how and why he died. The Life and Death of a Druid Prince presents their methods and conclusions. Scholars who study these matters have disputed their conclusions, but the book makes a good tale, and presents some fascinating details of how the authors reached their conclusions.

Don Robins, although this may not be his official job description, is a forensic archeologist. He conducts detailed examinations of archeological finds, and deduces everything he can from the physical evidence. His other books, from their titles, sound like they are detailed field notes, submitted for peer review. As such, he is not a very good writer for the general reader. His writing style is stilted, and he provides us with far more detail than we need in this kind of a book. The collaboration between the two authors is an awkward one that makes it easy to tell which author you are reading at a given point in the book. Robins is up first with a detailed description of what could be learned from the body and how Robins reached his conclusions.

Luckily, the book improves considerably once Robins gets out of the way. Anne Ross is the author of several books for the general reader on ancient Britain in general and the druids in particular. She is a much better writer. She describes how she uses research into local folk customs to help her to deduce who Lindow Man was. She also relies on written accounts from the period to fill out her account. Ross uses Roman sources for this, because the Celtic peoples of Britain at this time did not keep written accounts themselves. She accepts these Roman accounts as completely accurate, although other scholars believe that Roman writings about the druids in particular may have been propaganda intended to promote support in Rome for the British campaign. So Ross does not doubt, in particular, that the druids practiced human sacrifice, and she sees no reason to mention here that other Celtic scholars dispute this. Robins follows her lead here, explaining how the condition of Lindow Man's body suggests that he was a willing ritual sacrifice.

Over all, this is a very interesting account of archeological and folkloric sleuthing, but it makes me want to find other interpretations of this evidence. We will never have the "right" answer to this historical mystery, but I find that I would like to see what other writers have said about Lindow Man and his story.

[Laurel Bradshaw]

Review from Library Journal
The discovery of a 2000-year-old man's body in a peat bog in Lindow Moss, near Manchester, England on August 1, 1984 brought the authors together to study his remains, specifically his last meal. Ross is a Celtic specialist and archaeologist; Robins a chemist specializing in archaeological work. Their collaboration has resulted in this engrossing archaeological study which unfolds like a well-told detective story. With clarity and scientific skill, they reconstruct the ritual sacrifice of this 30-year-old man they deduce to have been a Celtic aristocrat. Probably a Druid priest, the man was sacrificed to the gods in A.D. 60 in the wake of a series of disasters, including the advance of Roman armies bent on crushing the Druids. The appendixes provide an overview of the Druids--their institutions, beliefs, and archaeological remains. An engrossing work for laypersons and specialists alike.
- Joan W. Gartland, Detroit P.L.

[Mark]

A highly speculative story, I found it hard to know if the book was to be taken seriously or if it was supposed to be a bit of fun speculation about what could have been. It seemed more to me that the authors had decided on a story and went out looking for evidence to prove that story, instead of the other way around - the evidence pointing them in the direction of the story.

All the same there was plenty of interesting information about the Celts and their Druid priests. Sometimes far too much information about places and their geographical locations, which I found overwhelming at times due to my lack of knowledge of UK geography.

If you're looking for a solid, scientifically based analysis then I would recommend looking elsewhere, however if you are happy to indulge the imagination and put your scepticism aside then this book might well be for you!

[Dorothy]

If you like history and forenics this is a great read. It vividly brings to life what this Prince might have experienced while alive. Since he was preserved in a bog they were able to determine his station in life, his last meal and where he most likely lived. Totally engrossing and I'll probably read it again.

[Jim Pefferly]

A compelling story based on modern Archeology/CSI methods. A 2,000 year old corpse if found in a bog in Lindow, England. A full history is literally pieced together before the reader. It is a thin book and a quick read, but it sometimes becomes mired in the reiteration of facts.

[Stephanie]

Fascinating nonfiction that makes good background reading for fiction books such as Siobhan Dowd's Bog Child.

[Kelsey]

interesting, though obviously with a hypothesis that is a massive reach. the background info is useful.

[John]

Interesting but a lot of assumptions.

[Trishwah]

Fascinating book about how archeologists do tests and think about what to make of remains.

[A.B. Williamson]

One of my all-time favorite books. I've read this many times and find it absolutely riveting as well as incredibly enlightening about what was going on in Britain during the Roman period.

[Jennifer]

I read this book shortly after it was published, and it has stuck with me ever since. Like the authors, my imagination was captivated by the possibilities that could be this man's story.

[Becky]

Interesting content, but many leaps in logic stringing it together.

[Cameron J.]

I got this book for free from my college’s used book stand. I’ve no background in archaeology (or any non-burger history) so maybe I was missing some context that would make everything make sense, but the whole time I was like:

[Laura Martin]

Very interesting book. I’m already a reader that’s pretty engaged in prehistory and particularly the Druids, but this really fed my appetite and made me want to learn even more. The downside of this book is something I saw in another reviewers note— the leaps in logic and speculation that are contrived within it makes for poor science. Sure, deciding we know what happened with this Bog body makes it a better narrative for a book, but it assumes we know accurately what happened a thousand years ago. (Is this person someone who was sacrificed in a sacred ritual, or a thrice killed criminal? I think it’s actually murkier than the book implies.) So I thank this book for the interest and questions it gave me.

[Pam Baddeley]

I read this book a few years ago so have consulted notes made at the time:

This was a follow on from the BBC documentary 'The Body in the Bog'. Interesting but I could only go so far with the conclusions which in a lot of places took theory/speculation and treated it as established fact. In fact someone wrote a review that pretty much sums up what I thought along those lines - https://www.amazon.com/review/R33VAG5RSKIT0R/ref=cm_cr_dp_title/183-9137747-6337412.

[James Marshall]

Interesting account of an archaeological dig from the 1980s. The authors speculate about the origins and background of the corpse. They cover a wide area and share facts about Celtic life.

Anyone who has read Alan Garner's 'Powsels and Thrums' may find the location and retelling of a local legend fascinating: it's the other side of Alderley Ridge. I don't know if Garner has read this book (or vice versa) but there's a connection.

[Marie Powell]

This book was really an eye-opener. Initially, I read it for research, and was prepared to slog through it. But by the time I was half-way through, I was totally engrossed in the story -- both of the researchers following the trail of evidence, and of the Lindow man's life and death as they unravelled it. This was really a great read!

[Peter Burton]

A fast paced book about a British bog body found near Manchester UK in 1984.Fascinating tale of the discovery,dating and analysis of this unusual discovery.Much speculation about the reasons for his death but it all adds to the accumulating evidence about such bodies found in N Europe -a sacrifice ?Why? Murder ?Well told.

[Henric Wiktor]

Spännande läsning om en upptäckt och bakgrund om Kelterna. Har några år på nacken men är mycket bea fortfarande.

[Bill Johnson]

Really interesting. Read in Denmark in 1992

[Chris]

Yeah, I read weird combinations of things.

[Tara]

This book was a fascinating look at what scientists can teach us about ancient cultures. It's given me a lot of interesting things to research