Recreating the Past

by Victor G. Ambrus, Mick Aston

Since 1994, when the first "Time Team" program was broadcast, archaeology has been brought to life for millions of people by Victor Ambrus and Mick Aston. Victor has produced hundreds of sketches and drawings of archaeological sites and the lives of those who would have inhabited them. For the first time, his drawings of individual excavations have been brought together to provide a dramatic chronological survey of British history—from Stone Age to modern via the Romans, the Vikings, and more. Add to this Mick Aston's lively explanations and photographs, and you have an archaeological collaboration which is guaranteed to delight.

Genres: History

120 pages, Paperback

First published February 1, 2001

About the author

Victor Ambrus (born László Győző Ambrus, 19 August 1935) was a British illustrator of history, folk tale, and animal story books. He also became known from his appearances on the Channel 4 television archaeology series Time Team, on which he visualised how sites under excavation may have once looked. Ambrus was an Associate of the Royal College of Art and a Fellow of both the Royal Society of Arts and the Royal Society of Painters, Etchers and Engravers. He was also a patron of the Association of Archaeological Illustrators and Surveyors up until its merger with the Institute for Archaeologists in 2011.

Reviews

[Nerys Mellor · Rating 5 out of 5]

I thoroughly enjoyed reading this beautiful book. It takes you on a comprehensive journey through British history based on archaeological evidence, which is perfectly brought to life with stunning illustrations. Honestly this book is a treat to read, it's just so beautiful, and the information is written in such an easy to understand and accessible way. I'd recommend this to anyone who has an interest in history. It feels like a grown up picture book and reading it brought me a lot of happiness.

[Julieann · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you are (or were) a fan of the original Time Team series, Victor Ambrus and Mick Aston will be familiar names. One thing I always enjoyed was watching Victor sketch, revise, re-draw and even erase entirely what the team was finding (or thought they were finding).
A chance to get a book of his art is good. A chance to get it with comments about the particular sites and eras being explored from Mick is even better.
Some periods of time are very well documented. We have almost no records about. It's for those periods that Victor is such a wonderful resource - he can give us a way to imagine the people, their lives, cultures, families, everything, using the tools archeologists use.
It doesn't hurt that Mick provided the information we actually have along with all the questions about what we don't know and may well never get answers to.