Buried: An alternative history of the first millennium in Britain

by Alice Roberts

A SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER

‘Tender, fascinating … Lucid and illuminating’ Robert Macfarlane

Funerary rituals show us what people thought about mortality; how they felt about loss; what they believed came next. From Roman cremations and graveside feasts, to deviant burials with heads rearranged, from richly furnished Anglo Saxon graves to the first Christian burial grounds in Wales, Buried provides an alternative history of the first millennium in Britain. As she did with her pre-history of Britain in Ancestors, Professor Alice Roberts combines archaeological finds with cutting-edge DNA research and written history to shed fresh light on how people lived: by examining the stories of the dead.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Archaeology, Science, Audiobook, Anthropology, Death

352 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2022

About the author

Alice May Roberts is an English anatomist, osteoarchaeologist, physical anthropologist, palaeopathologist, television presenter and author.

Roberts studied medicine and anatomy at Cardiff University, qualifying in 1997 as a physician with a Bachelor of Medicine, Bachelor of Surgery (MB BCh) degree, having gained an intercalated Bachelor of Science degree in anatomy. She earned a PhD in paleopathology in 2008 from the University of Bristol.

Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.

Reviews

[Leo · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was very informative and I loved reading and learning. Will probably not remember much of it but an great non fiction. Hope I got more of Alice Robert's books to read on my book app.

[Sarah Kimberley · Rating 5 out of 5]

Buried by Alice Roberts was just brilliant and captivating. A carefully produced book. Buried is a renewal of ancient burials, weaving together stories of the dead. Romans, Vikings, Children🏺

Roberts’ journey as an esteemed archaeologist takes us into the vivid world of bones and grave goods: an indication of people’s wealth, status and religious beliefs. Roberts explores various excavations which have unearthed the dark ages and before that, Roman Britain. From plagues to ancient artefacts left behind by migrating people. More and more we are moving ever closer to our past and heritage, rather than moving further from it.

Though it is grisly work uncovering death, I have loved learning about ancient artefacts throughout the book and how these can be traced back to their origin. Anything from brooches and buckles, Byzantine buckets to beaver teeth associated with a “ cunning woman” whose remains had been uncovered ( ( early 14c., conning, "learned, skillful, possessing knowledge”). Alice Roberts is the most down to earth, honest and compassionate historian/archaeologist I have come across.

[Chris Steeden · Rating 3 out of 5]

Professor Alice Roberts is a biological anthropologist meaning she specialises ‘in drawing out information from old bones’. The kind of information she is referring to is gender, age at time of death and ‘details about some of the illnesses and injuries they suffered during their lives’. Now the technology is such that the information they analyse can show where a person lived and what their diet was like. Now they are able to ‘to extract DNA from ancient bones and sequence entire genomes’.

She says ‘…there’s no denying that the historical record for the fifth to eighth centuries is patchy at best. Archaeology is crucially important to understanding what was really happening in those shadowy centuries after Roman rule in Britain ended. And burials have important tales to tell’.

She actually starts at the Roman invasion of Britain. She looks at a second century burial which has a lead pipe sticking out the top of it and went up to the open air where blood or wine was poured down. ‘It was done with the expectation that the bereaved would continue communing with the dead’. Fantastically interesting stuff as she delves into burials where food and drink are offered. She goes on to look at the bones.

Each chapter is similar to this. Analysing the bones and the burial techniques and telling the stories of that time. It could be anything from infant mortality in Roman times (a third of babies died before the age of 1) to burials where individuals had been decapitated to double burials to the grave goods and accessories the dead were buried with.

Looking into burials now gives even more insight into their lives at the time in a funny sort of way. As there was not much written down this is as good a way as any of obtaining that information. Each chapter backs this up. Of course, the theorising continues but now there is hard data even in those crumbly bones.

Like Ancestors the last chapter strays away from what was good about this book. It all becomes a little preachy.

[Elentarri · Rating 4 out of 5]

Roberts discusses what can be determined of the first millennium British history, culture and migration from bones; grave goods; ancient DNA, isotope studies and other archaeological findings. She includes such fascinating examples as: the man whose cremated remains were placed in a lead canister with a pipe so he could join in drinking on feast days; the graveyards with infants which hint at infanticide, obstetric interventions, and the possible location of brothels; the "deviant" burials with heads rearranged so that revenants cannot bother the living; the grave yard with buckets; the shallow grave with what appears to be the disposal of raiders; and the graves with cross-marked stones. I found the chapter on infant mortality particularly interesting. Roberts concludes the book by examining British archaeological findings within a greater historical context and wider region (i.e. main land Europe and the Mediterranean). This book includes a colour photo insert, but a map of the sites would have been interesting.

[Toni Kely-Brown · Rating 2 out of 5]

Buried is the follow-up to Ancestors. I was so excited to read this given how much I enjoyed Ancestors that I bought the hard copy immediately - lesson learned - because I was very disappointed. This book focuses on the Roman/Anglo-Saxon burials in Britian but it didn't seem to have a cohesive narrative - it felt rambling and repetitive and I skimmed the last third of the book :-(

[Linds · Rating 4 out of 5]

Dr. Alice Roberts describes several sites of the Dark Ages. She tells the facts they reveal and the mysteries and questions they bring up.

[Rhian · Rating 5 out of 5]

Me? Remembering to update my goodreads??

Anyway yes, I finished this one a while ago. Jumped on the proof, dropped everything to read it, regret nothing. I love reading Alice Roberts' books - she's so full of joy and enthusiasm and compassion, it really rings archaeology to life. But she's so thoughtful and considered too, I always feel like I go away not just with renewed energy, but food for thought.

This could be seen as a direct sequel to 'Ancestors' - it picks up, time-wise, where Ancestors left off, taking us from the prehistoric and iron age burials that were the focus of that into the romano-british landscape and into the early middle ages. As always, I've come away with a new understanding of history, and a plethora of fun and unusual facts to fling at my colleagues.

The one waring is that the entire first chapter is about baby burials. It's fully signposted and very sensiitvely done, but it's very much worth knowing that the opening is about child mortality.

[Graham Catt · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another excellent book from Alice Roberts, who reexamines 1000 years of British history, using archaeology and genetic research.

Highly recommended for anyone with an interest in archaeology or history.

[milo in the woods · Rating 3 out of 5]

quality non fiction, well written but some use of colloquialisms that came off very awkward because i listened to the audiobook. i thought it was interesting but i didn’t quite gel with the organisational decisions.

[Raven · Rating 1 out of 5]

Let me summarise the book to save everyone hundreds of pages of waffle. They found large collections of babies graves who died very soon after birth - they don’t know why. They found quite a few graves including those of children with their heads chopped off mostly after death - they don’t know why. They found a large collection of what they believe to be men buried with weapons - they don’t know why. They found a load of women buried with handbags and lots of things inside - they don’t know why. A random group of people was found by a wall and no one knows where they came from. In the sixth century church yards became popular. And finally we have no idea exactly when anything occurred because there are no/extremely bias records. The pictures at the back are interesting though so maybe skip to that bit 😅

Honestly this entire book could have been summarised into about 50 pages - what they found, where they found it and potential theories. Not repeating the same one or two theories over and over and over again. If the theories were in any way interesting at least it would take some of the repetition away but honestly it was so dull by the end I couldn’t care if it was a ritual performed by aliens. Absolute agony. I wish I had quit it after the first 2 chapters but with so many positive reviews I had to continue but I wish I hadn’t bothered.

[Dominic · Rating 4 out of 5]

A brilliant new insight to the first millennium CE in Britain, and the identity and funerary rights of the people who lived here.

It really gave me a lot to think about as regards to my "British" identity and what that really means. Especially with regards to anything "Anglo-Saxon" (a term I must admit, I did not realise was problematic over the pond) and what does "Anglo Saxon" even mean anyway?

For anyone interested in British history, archaeology or genealogy this is worth a read. If you've been a fan of books/shows like "The Last Kingdom" I'd also recommend checking this out. It really has made me think about Roman Britain, those aforementioned Anglo Saxons, and the Vikings in very different ways. But in a way, typical of Prof Alice Roberts, that makes them real and makes them as human as anyone you will meet today. Afterall every body talked about in this book was somebody at some point, and one day we will too be nothing more than bodies, skeletons, ashes... Dust to dust... But our lives are worth as much or as little as those who were buried over a thousand years before we were even born.

[Carlton · Rating 3 out of 5]

Beginning chapters with a particular archaeological find, Roberts gently provides the historical context in an easily accessible narrative style. This is a series of archaeological “snapshots” from Britain in the first millennium. Well written and showing wide knowledge of the period, I didn’t find this as engaging as her previous book, Ancestors: A History of Britain in Seven Burials.
We start in Roman Britain, with the cremated remains in a rectangular lead canister with a “pipe” to the surface in a stone-lined chamber at Caerleon. The remains were discovered in the 1920’s, but Roberts re-examines them telling the story of the probable funerary rites.

We then move to Yewden Roman Villa and the potentially upsetting discovery of evidence of obstetric surgery for an obstructed labour (or perhaps abortion) on a 36-37 week old foetus. Roberts discusses increased infant mortality in non-modern, first world locations and different burial practices for infants.

This is followed by discussion of decapitated burials, starting with an example of seventeen decapitated Roman period burials at Great Whelnetham cemetery, near Bury St Edmunds, which distinguishes between victims of beheadings and post-mortem decapitations. Roberts emphasises that there can be no ‘one size fits all’ approach to the post-mortem decapitations, discussing possible fear of revenants, the ‘evil dead’, but also considering the idea that that some may be slaves.
https://archaeology.co.uk/articles/ne...
Although this may all sound very “dry” and academic, Roberts is able to make me empathise with the possible fates of the individuals of whom all that remains are these bones, and tentatively suggest the non-aristocratic lives they may represent. The lack of evidence always means that there are no simple answers, just a number of hypotheses, or believable stories.

A metal detectorist located a beautifully designed Byzantine brass bucket at Breamore, Hampshire, and a Time Team archaeological dig then found the remains of an early Anglo-Saxon cemetery. Roberts looks at whether the findings from the site might indicate a warriors’ burial ground, a (Justinian) plague cemetery or perhaps a cemetery from a battle.

Chapter 5 starts with a description of the Staffordshire Hoard buried in the mid-seventh century - “there's about 4 kilograms of gold in the hoard, 1.7 kilograms of silver and thousands of garnets. It's the largest hoard in Europe, let alone Britain.”
However, Roberts makes the point that whilst rich in artefacts, hoards have no archaeological context, so she goes on to discuss the review of artefacts found at a large Anglo-Saxon cemetery at the Meads, northwest of Sittingbourne in Kent amongst other sites.
Chapter 6 discusses skeletons found in a ditch at Llanbedrgoch on Anglesey, were they Welsh defenders of the site, captured Viking raiders, or slaves. Again there are no definitive answers, just possibilities that may make greater sense given the other material finds at the site.

Chapter 7 discusses the “Birth of Churchyards”:
Churchyards in the popular imagination seem like obvious, natural places to find graves, but they only start to appear in Britain from the sixth century as part of the culture of Christianity. None of the Roman or early Anglo-Saxon burials we've paused to look at on this journey through the first millennium took place inside settlements (apart from those infant burials). And yet, by the ninth century, pretty much everyone living in what had once been the Roman Empire - and where the Roman religion had taken root was buried in a church graveyard. The preceding centuries saw a gradual transformation of burial practices, as former out-of-town cemeteries fell into disuse, and churchyards became the final destination of choice.
Chapter 8 looks at how archaeological DNA analysis (aDNA) is allowing archaeologists to ask and sometimes answer questions that couldn’t previously have been answered with such certainty:
This is the archaeological culture war: in one corner, culture-history, massive migrations and population replacement; in the other, cultural diffusion, a dissemination of ideas while the population stays put. Like any culture war, it's much too polarised and too clearly defined. History - people - are much messier than that. The answers are much more likely to lie somewhere in the middle. They sure as hell won't be simple - and each 'event' would also have been different and unique. And we're only just starting to get the data we need to understand these transitions.
Roberts discusses these ideas, but doesn’t yet have genomic results to help push the discussion further with empirical data, so that although interesting, this chapter rehashed ideas that I have read about in other recent books about this period.

In the first chapter Roberts includes some thoughts about belief systems and burial rites relevant to the cremated bones of a Roman burial, but she pushes her personal views just a little too much in my opinion for what is otherwise a relatively objective analysis, which I felt was a disappointment, although I don’t personally disagree with the views she expresses.

[Jo · Rating 4 out of 5]

In this follow-up to Ancestors, Roberts looks at various funerary and death rites in Britain's prehistory. I find archaeology fascinating and love how sometimes a small discovery can tell us so much about how people in the past lived and died. Roberts writes in such a way that brings the past closer and makes everything so intriguing.

[Steve Hornsby · Rating 3 out of 5]

I saw Alice R speak live and it was impressive and entertaining in equal measure. Book was interesting however probably just too many burials for me.

[Tina · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another fascinating volume from the ubiquitous Prof Roberts. The epilogue was a bit preachy.

[Rebecca · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great read. Roberts does a good job of creating a compelling idea of how the lives of those excavated might have been lived while also noting the limitations of what knowledge can be definitively gleaned from burial sites and archeology.

[Marjorie Jones · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love Alice Roberts, her enthusiasm, the depth and breadth of her knowledge and expertise, and the gift she has for bringing the past to life. It's fascinating how modern analysis techniques have transformed archaeology. Old bones and artefacts can now tell us far more about our ancestors and the way they lived (and died) than ever our very recent predecessors would have thought was possible.

This felt quite a long book, but I think it was because every page was packed with interesting and fascinating details. I did find the final chapter, which was more about people and their movement, rather than the artefacts they left behind, rather slow going and more academic. I may possibly have skipped a few sections in that chapter. :-)

Although not a central topic of this book, she traces how the adoption of Christianity as an organised religion shaped the way our ancestors lived and died, and how our ancestors shaped Christianity to meet their own aspirations and political ends, when the Anglo-Saxons, like the Romans before them, began to realise the exceptional potential of institutionalised religion.

Interestingly, people only started to be buried in churchyards from the sixth century CE - again, a consequence of the development of Christian doctrine. Prior to that, almost all burials took place outside settlements.

If you're interested in how our ancestors lived, the evidence they left, and the scientific methods used to decode the evidence, then this book is highly recommended.

[Flapper72 · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this. It is absolutely astounding what we can find out from graves/burial sites of our forebears about who they were and how they lived. And the information we can gain is increasing rather than decreasing - not just isotope scans of bone enamel but now genetics to look at the heredity of people. Time and history has always been seen as discrete era; one group of people were replace by another but, quite logically, that probably isn't the case. What good, sound, first hand historical documents do we have? Relatively few. What about grave goods. Does that really prove anything about people? Can we make assumptions? What about their genes though; can they lie? As a scientist I'll accept the science but the interpretation of that is enhanced by grave goods, the bones, how they were buried. An amazingly interesting read (and, yes, spoiler alert, I'm an orthopaedic surgeon so have a particular interest in bones!!!)

[Oliver Shrouder · Rating 4 out of 5]

Loved this book - i found the exploration of burial sites a bit more engaging here than in Ancestors, but the overall message was a bit overstated. The final 70 or so pages are a reiteration of the central ideas of genealogy and migration, which are better utilised during the examples of grave sites. Other than that another great book from this author

[Siri Olsen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Buried tells the story of the first millennium in Britain from the perspective of funeral archaeology, showcasing the variety in burial practices and ideas about the afterlife present on the British Isles (though with a heavy bias towards England) from the Roman to the Norman Conquest. The core of the book, however, is really an exploration of past identity, emotion, culture and migration. A key aspect is a discussion of the Anglo-Saxons: who were the people we call the Anglo-Saxons, where did they come from, and how does archaeology and genetics compare to written history? Buried is written in a similar style to Ancestors, but I actually found this book more enjoyable than its predecessor, perhaps because it sticks more closely to a clearly defined time period or perhaps because it's a bit better organised, presenting each case study in roughly chronological order. That said, some chapters are better than others. While an exploration of infant skeletons at a Roman villa leads to a very impactful discussion of infant mortality and the evidence for infanticide in the archaeological and historical record, another chapter, which starts with some buckets, prompts a much broader and less coherent discussion of the relationship between material culture and identity - a classic subject within archaeology, but also a subject broad enough to fill a whole book on its own. All in all, though, Buried is an enjoyable book, and one I would recommend to anyone with an interest in archaeology or British history.

[Cecilia · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very much enjoyed this one, and it was my favourite of Roberts's 'trilogy' on British burials from prehistory through to the medieval period. Much was new to me in this book. The discussion on the Anglo-Saxons, who they were and what it meant to belong to that group, was absolutely fascinating, and it's clear that our understanding of them as a people is expanding at an increasingly rapid rate with recent advances in archaeogenomics and improved archaeological practices. I also had very little background on Roman Britons, and reading about their burial practices was interesting, especially on infant burials and infanticide. If I had any critique it is that, throughout all her work, Roberts always inserts her very strong humanist philosophy, which I find it a bit distracting - this is ironic because I agree entirely with her worldview, but find it mostly irrelevant to the theme. There have undoubtedly always been 'humanists', not in name but in philosophy, but Roberts seems to find it difficult to understand the other perspective, i.e. that the majority of people past and present have held religious beliefs. I do not find religion strange, and so I find these discussions on how odd it is somewhat off topic. Overall though you can tell the author is very clever and eloquent, and as always I found her writing compelling.

[p. · Rating 4 out of 5]

I used to not particularly enjoy history as a subject in school. Turns out that the textbooks may have been just a little too dry.

I liked this more than "Crypt" which suprised me - the latter had a blurb which aligned with my interests a lot better. However, "Buried" managed to captivate my attention a lot better - partly due to the fact that I discovered a lot of knowledge that I might have not otherwise been opened to. I do wish that Dr Roberts had kept more subtle with the parallels to the Brexit (and current right-leaning rethoric) - I felt like the parallels were strong enough without having to be stated into the open and having the narration derail mid-paragraph.

I still massively enjoyed the scientific and historic aspects of this. It just took me out of the narration is all (as a disclaimer here - I mean, I am absolutely on the same page as Dr Roberts, I am just used to being more subtle and elegant).

[Jacob Stelling · Rating 4 out of 5]

I struggled with archaeology at uni, often finding it less accessible for a non-specialist than written or visual sources. In this book, Roberts presented archaeological finds in a readable and digestible way, and offers some interesting insights along the way.

The standout chapter for me has to be the final one, which highlighted how recent advances in bioarchaeology have the potential to change our understanding of the first millennium. The discussions around identity and migration were fantastic and forced me to reconsider some of my previous ideas.

Overall a more accessible and insightful book than I expected! Recommend to all.

[Finn · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was a big fan of Ancestors which was the predecessor to this book and it’s clear to me now that Alice Roberts is a phenomenal writer. Whilst the history and archeology is fascinating in their own rights, the way Roberts can utilise the information to discuss modern day theological and philosophical questions is masterful.

That said, I didn’t love the last chapter as such and did find myself very ready for it to end, which is a shame and did take away from my overall enjoyment of the book.

3.5* / 5* (rounded up to 4*)

[Ellen · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very interesting discussion of burials and how they help us understand the past. Useful discussion about terms to describe specific groups of people. There are graphic, but appropriate descriptions of violence.

[Jack Bates · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fascinating discussion of seven (ish) burials from the UK (well, England and Wales) from the arrival of the Romans to c. 1066. Roberts writes with clarity, she's a great communicator and she does know a lot about bones. She discusses the cultural implications of various styles of burial and what grave goods and skeletons can tell us about the people buried, and the people who buried them. This leads to a wider exploration of migration and identity in the (very) early medieval period.

(I bought this as a gift for my dad and borrowed it back.)

[Jess · Rating 3 out of 5]

I love Prof Alice Roberts tv programs but this audiobook mostly was like listening to someone read a dissertation - full of passion, but hard to wade through.

The early chapters were good. I especially appreciated the discussion of gendering remains (of interest to like minded Queers and hence the shelf tag).

Otherwise, I mostly used this as an ASMR.

[Annabel · Rating 4 out of 5]

Did I understand most of it? No. Did I like the overarching points and period of history? YES. Highly recommend audiobook format on Spotify.

[Sophie · Rating 2 out of 5]

A v promising premise, but let down somewhat by boring, meandering and waffly writing…

[Craig Chapman · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really interesting read and view of 1000 years of British history