Digging Up Britain A New History in Ten Extraordinary Discoveries (Paperback) /anglais

by Mike Pitts

Genres: History, Nonfiction

288 pages, Paperback

Published April 29, 2021

About the author

Archeologist, who also writes as Michael W. Pitts.

Reviews

[existential cat · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fan of Mr. Pitts. I had (2) frustrations with this interesting book. Maybe 3. It's 3.

1 - Reverse chronological order meant starting with the most interesting and heading to the most obscure. Might be b/c details of our early species are sparse and harder to relate to? Don't know. But I had more trouble making it through the further back it went (and it goes far).

2 - Lots of descriptions of what things look like, or how they are situated in relation to each other, etc. Please replace with an image. Very difficult to follow - that's not true - I couldn't follow any of it at all. Partly how my brain works and partly... going about it the hard way, perhaps.

3 - Mr. Pitts states that he is writing for the lay person, and (for example) goes into detail explaining half life dating. a) If you're reading this book, you may have more than a passing interest in history/archaeology. b) Even if you don't, most ppl know about this process, at least at a high level. c) The choice of what to explain and what not to explain - and how best to do that (see 2, above) - I feel like Mr. Pitts was ill-served by his editor(s).

[Andy Gibb · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's amazing what archaeologists can figure out from bones. A pretty good life history of a person for a start, which tells us tons about how people were travelling even when our civilisation tells us they weren't. In fact all these digs show how much crap we're fed about the past in order to glorify the present.

My favourite bit though is how we can tell humans were around at any time (and about the only marker we'll leave for the future). It's the one thing we do that no other living entity does. We like breaking rocks. Indeed, no natural process breaks them the way we do. Think of that the next time you see a quarry or a coal mine.

[RichVT · Rating 3 out of 5]

The descriptions of the practice of modern archeology are fascinating and well worth reading this book. It is well written but does presume some familiarity with humankind’s timeline and lapses at times into a jumble of categories and researcher names that distract. Still there are a number of nicely done summations to bring a novice like me along. For a largely academic book it holds one’s interests well.

[Lewis Eric · Rating 5 out of 5]

As a uk metal detectorist I loved this book. Seperate stories within chapters so minimal to no confusion. It’s absolutely fascinating to learn about Britain almost from the beginning, species and how the first humans supposedly lived. Well worth a read, bedtime book for me. Enjoy!