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Britain BC: Life in Britain and Ireland Before the Romans
Francis Pryor's radical re-examination of Britain and Ireland before the coming of the Romans, based on compelling new evidence recently uncovered by aerial photography, coastal erosion and advanced scientific techniques, reveals a much more sophisticated life among the Ancient Britons than has previously been supposed.
It bounds along, wonderfully enlivened by Pryor's earthy enthusiasm. If you want to be introduced painlessly to the fascinating debates surrounding our British past, then Britain BC is the book for you - Barry Cunliffe, New Scientist
Francis Pryor is a modern field archaeologist with a reputation second to none. He has written a book as successful and exciting as its ambition is huge...lucid and engaging - Alan Garner, The Times
Splendid...a remarkable, imaginative and persuasive account of those other Britons before that [Roman] enslavement: its enthusiastic and confident approach deserves to be very influential - Christopher Chippendale, Times Literary Supplement
It bounds along, wonderfully enlivened by Pryor's earthy enthusiasm. If you want to be introduced painlessly to the fascinating debates surrounding our British past, then Britain BC is the book for you - Barry Cunliffe, New Scientist
Francis Pryor is a modern field archaeologist with a reputation second to none. He has written a book as successful and exciting as its ambition is huge...lucid and engaging - Alan Garner, The Times
Splendid...a remarkable, imaginative and persuasive account of those other Britons before that [Roman] enslavement: its enthusiastic and confident approach deserves to be very influential - Christopher Chippendale, Times Literary Supplement
544 pages, Paperback
First published September 1, 2003
193 people are currently reading
2053 people want to read
About the author
Francis Pryor
37 books145 followersFrancis Manning Marlborough Pryor MBE (born 13 January 1945) is a British archaeologist who is famous for his role in the discovery of Flag Fen, a Bronze Age archaeological site near Peterborough, and for his frequent appearances on the Channel 4 television series Time Team.
He has now retired from full-time field archaeology, but still appears on television and writes books as well as being a working farmer. His specialities are in the Bronze and Iron Ages.
His first novel, Lifers’ Club, is due to be published in 2014.
He has now retired from full-time field archaeology, but still appears on television and writes books as well as being a working farmer. His specialities are in the Bronze and Iron Ages.
His first novel, Lifers’ Club, is due to be published in 2014.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 79 reviews
January 3, 2019
I can’t help but notice that several other reviewers have commented that this book is heavy on the archaeology, and that it certainly is. I can confirm that there is a lot of discussion about flints, ditches, and earthworks. But it’s not as bad as you might think; I found it to be smooth read that I got through without trouble. On the plus side the author turns this into a narrative, which certainly holds the attention far better than plenty of dry textbooks on the subject, and opens the book up as accessible to the general public. On the other hand, this narrative frequently sends Francis Pryor off into personal anecdotes bearing no relation to the text. I don’t need to know the backstory behind every friendship you made on a field dig or that you were used to driving up a particular road every day in 1970. I didn’t feel the information was particularly revelatory, but it does pull together info from a variety of different sources in order to present an overview of prehistoric Britain, and thoroughly references those sources. Oh, and, the book is a little outdated, as it is still talking about how modern humans have no interbreeding with Neanderthals, when in fact we’ve known for some time that we do. Overall, competent, a little dull, a little outdated, not particularly exciting but a decent reference guide.
7 out of 10
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August 16, 2021Overview of prehistoric Britain with a view of how they lived, built, and died. Gets a bit technical (heavy on the archaeology) but does a fair job of building up a picture without drifting into elaborate fantasy, and tries not to impose modern attitudes and ideas on the past.
May 3, 2017
Having read Francis Pryor’s Seahenge, and of course knowing his work on Channel 4’s Time Team, I was very interested to read this. The prehistory of Britain is mostly not my main period, at least where it applies to the Stone Age, but it is the focus of about half of this book — and of much of Pryor’s interest. That’s fine with me, because though it might not be a period of literature and known culture, it is the period of henges and causewayed enclosures, burial mounds and early humans. It helps that Pryor’s enthusiasm is obvious throughout, and his writing is approachable.
(I can actually understand the people who find it dry — when you’re not that interested in the subject, anything can drag, and Pryor does spend a fair amount of words on flints and the evolution of their form and use. But for me, that enthusiasm carries it.)
His theories and interpretation of the evidence more or less goes along with the other work I’ve read, for example from Mike Parker Pearson, who wrote an excellent book on the conclusions of the Stonehenge Riverside Project. Beyond that, I’m not really qualified to comment, though I do find myself wondering somewhat about his opposition to the idea of any mass migration happening from Europe. The thing is, mass migration must have happened sometime, or there’d be nobody in Britain even now. It’s true that we’re pretty sure now that invasion is the wrong term, and that often the spread of ideas was more important than the spread of people. But there are genetic differences between the Welsh and the English, language doesn’t change as completely as from the Celtic languages to the Anglo-Saxon language without some kind of impetus… I mean, the people in Britain today are not going to adopt French unless there’s suddenly a big need for us to communicate with people speaking French — and that isn’t likely to be talking among ourselves unless there’s a significant presence and intermarriage with French speakers. There’s also the influx of Anglo-Saxon mythology and attitudes; Beowulf is not a native British poem by any means, and there are plenty of parallels between English and Scandinavian languages and culture which don’t exist between the Welsh (for example) and Scandinavia.
So I’m somewhat sceptical about the suggestions in this book that the British have more or less been the same people for such a long period of time. There are definitely things which have survived which point to a closer and less adversarial relationship between the incomers and the residents of Britain, but incomers there must have been.
When it discusses archaeology, it’s probably on safe ground. I’d be less sure when you also need to consider non-physical culture and language.
Originally reviewed for breathesbooks.com.
(I can actually understand the people who find it dry — when you’re not that interested in the subject, anything can drag, and Pryor does spend a fair amount of words on flints and the evolution of their form and use. But for me, that enthusiasm carries it.)
His theories and interpretation of the evidence more or less goes along with the other work I’ve read, for example from Mike Parker Pearson, who wrote an excellent book on the conclusions of the Stonehenge Riverside Project. Beyond that, I’m not really qualified to comment, though I do find myself wondering somewhat about his opposition to the idea of any mass migration happening from Europe. The thing is, mass migration must have happened sometime, or there’d be nobody in Britain even now. It’s true that we’re pretty sure now that invasion is the wrong term, and that often the spread of ideas was more important than the spread of people. But there are genetic differences between the Welsh and the English, language doesn’t change as completely as from the Celtic languages to the Anglo-Saxon language without some kind of impetus… I mean, the people in Britain today are not going to adopt French unless there’s suddenly a big need for us to communicate with people speaking French — and that isn’t likely to be talking among ourselves unless there’s a significant presence and intermarriage with French speakers. There’s also the influx of Anglo-Saxon mythology and attitudes; Beowulf is not a native British poem by any means, and there are plenty of parallels between English and Scandinavian languages and culture which don’t exist between the Welsh (for example) and Scandinavia.
So I’m somewhat sceptical about the suggestions in this book that the British have more or less been the same people for such a long period of time. There are definitely things which have survived which point to a closer and less adversarial relationship between the incomers and the residents of Britain, but incomers there must have been.
When it discusses archaeology, it’s probably on safe ground. I’d be less sure when you also need to consider non-physical culture and language.
Originally reviewed for breathesbooks.com.
August 24, 2008
I love Francis Pryor, he is really a great writer, very personable and not at all overly technical or pedantic. I really appreciate that he does more than just state facts and dates (while I love this period of history, dates are useless to me - they fall right out of my brain - and simple facts and statements of finds and sites can be rather boring or overly technical and therefore over my head), he tells great stories, both about his work and the people he introduces in the book, as well as about the cultures he is discussing. The stories may be pure fantasy on his part, though he always makes it very clear why he finds them a possible explanation of the past, but they help illustrate the reason why understanding history is so important to us now.
January 20, 2015
Whilst I read this this book, in my mind’s eye I was sitting in a university lecture theatre furnished with polished mahogany, and possessing a blackboard. Squeaking chalk ‘talks’ as does the lecturer, expressively, emphatically, chalk writing lightly, firmly, angularly, fuzzily, being as it is of the prehistoric Downs of Southern England. Whiteboard pens, by contrast, jarringly remind of the industrial chemistry of plastics: too soulless, too twentieth century.
There I was, my ears ‘hearing’ and eyes alert and glued to following my ghostly lecturer’s every word: every concept, illustration, direction, change of cadence, question, postulation, invitation, puzzle, exclamation of satisfaction, …. um, how CAN I summarise this? Sheer joy for, delight in, and abiding love of his subject. Knowledgeable, authoritative, enthusiastic, an astute observer of life and of death. Infectiously exciting, Dr Francis Pryor is a truly gifted communicator. From the earliest Palaeolithic through to the latest Iron Age, his book here seamlessly blurs the margins between the written and the spoken word. It’s a real page turner.
Before picking up and reading “Britain B.C.” (comprising the land mass of Great Britain, including Eire); “thrilling” was not a word I’d have naturally thought of applying to any humanities subject; lacking (to my arrogant mind) the scintillating beauty inherent within the rigor of mathematics and the physical sciences.
But then, before beginning to read this book, I hadn’t really given the timeline of my own country’s prehistoric history much thought (the time before the Roman invasion; or as Emeritus Professor Barry Cunliffe winsomely names it; “the Roman interlude”(p.367)). That is other than the odd white chalk horse I have admired here and there, gazing and pondering as to what purpose Silbury Hill could possibly have served (no one knows), and walking around the Stones of Avebury. I, too, have been left absolutely spellbound by both the extraordinary enormity of Maiden Castle, and by contrast; the thrill of navigating by an Ordnance Survey map, to visit individual, often out-of-the-way, Neolithic long cairns.
Throughout time, humanity has had a simple choice: adapt or perish (p.127). When looking at the vast timescale of what we call pre-history (in Britain, 500,000 years Before Present, up to Anno Domini 43), I found myself contemplating just how the Industrial Revolution in C19th Britain had changed the very rate of change so profoundly; now producing changes posing deadly serious questions as to the long term sustainability of our species on Earth.
Returning to Dr Pryor and the archaeology, another knotty problem needs to be faced. Is there ever a right time to apply modern methods to reassess sites and artefacts? Dr Pryor draws attention to Sir Mortimer Wheeler’s astute warning that “excavation is merely methodical destruction” (p.214). The future may hold scientific innovations of unimaginable analytical value; so how exactly should decisions to excavate or not to excavate (yet) be made?
At first I was puzzled not to find any significant focussed discussion as to the impact upon early human species (and societies?) of the death of individuals at a relatively young age. Back in those days, was there a very different, younger, definition of ‘middle-aged’? Did early Man know his living grandparents; or did the population remain so low for so long because short lifetimes radically reduced the available time for biological reproduction? Ah … but where’s the evidence? It’s a reminder that whilst we have so many rich prehistoric sites in Great Britain, by their very nature, and the state of our technology, so much does remain postulated rather than answered. Instead, this book doesn’t stint in other surprises. The use of cannabis in the Neolithic (p.224-225), for example!
I inwardly cheered at Dr Pryor’s assertion that as a population as a whole we have taken a wrong turning in preferring anodyne and inexpensive supermarket fare to the pleasures of coming together in large social groups, producing the food for, and sharing, our own feasts (p.315). I even felt arrogantly virtuous, thinking of my own immediate neighbours, and the annual BBQ we share, even if that is only one night of the year!
“Britain B.C.” is an extraordinary achievement. I am not academically qualified to peer-review this book; but as a lay person, I found even the mere construction of this (quite hefty) book to be unusually well planned and published, both for the order and quantity of material covered, tables and illustrations (both ink & photographic), and in how the information is ordered and presented. I can see this book meeting the needs of undergraduates, postgraduates, and the general reader. That is an unusually broad pool of users. Dr Pryor has achieved a remarkable success with this book. ”Britain B.C. is a truly great read, and possesses rare qualities of sense and structure that other, drier, academics might very usefully seek to emulate.
There I was, my ears ‘hearing’ and eyes alert and glued to following my ghostly lecturer’s every word: every concept, illustration, direction, change of cadence, question, postulation, invitation, puzzle, exclamation of satisfaction, …. um, how CAN I summarise this? Sheer joy for, delight in, and abiding love of his subject. Knowledgeable, authoritative, enthusiastic, an astute observer of life and of death. Infectiously exciting, Dr Francis Pryor is a truly gifted communicator. From the earliest Palaeolithic through to the latest Iron Age, his book here seamlessly blurs the margins between the written and the spoken word. It’s a real page turner.
Before picking up and reading “Britain B.C.” (comprising the land mass of Great Britain, including Eire); “thrilling” was not a word I’d have naturally thought of applying to any humanities subject; lacking (to my arrogant mind) the scintillating beauty inherent within the rigor of mathematics and the physical sciences.
But then, before beginning to read this book, I hadn’t really given the timeline of my own country’s prehistoric history much thought (the time before the Roman invasion; or as Emeritus Professor Barry Cunliffe winsomely names it; “the Roman interlude”(p.367)). That is other than the odd white chalk horse I have admired here and there, gazing and pondering as to what purpose Silbury Hill could possibly have served (no one knows), and walking around the Stones of Avebury. I, too, have been left absolutely spellbound by both the extraordinary enormity of Maiden Castle, and by contrast; the thrill of navigating by an Ordnance Survey map, to visit individual, often out-of-the-way, Neolithic long cairns.
Throughout time, humanity has had a simple choice: adapt or perish (p.127). When looking at the vast timescale of what we call pre-history (in Britain, 500,000 years Before Present, up to Anno Domini 43), I found myself contemplating just how the Industrial Revolution in C19th Britain had changed the very rate of change so profoundly; now producing changes posing deadly serious questions as to the long term sustainability of our species on Earth.
Returning to Dr Pryor and the archaeology, another knotty problem needs to be faced. Is there ever a right time to apply modern methods to reassess sites and artefacts? Dr Pryor draws attention to Sir Mortimer Wheeler’s astute warning that “excavation is merely methodical destruction” (p.214). The future may hold scientific innovations of unimaginable analytical value; so how exactly should decisions to excavate or not to excavate (yet) be made?
At first I was puzzled not to find any significant focussed discussion as to the impact upon early human species (and societies?) of the death of individuals at a relatively young age. Back in those days, was there a very different, younger, definition of ‘middle-aged’? Did early Man know his living grandparents; or did the population remain so low for so long because short lifetimes radically reduced the available time for biological reproduction? Ah … but where’s the evidence? It’s a reminder that whilst we have so many rich prehistoric sites in Great Britain, by their very nature, and the state of our technology, so much does remain postulated rather than answered. Instead, this book doesn’t stint in other surprises. The use of cannabis in the Neolithic (p.224-225), for example!
I inwardly cheered at Dr Pryor’s assertion that as a population as a whole we have taken a wrong turning in preferring anodyne and inexpensive supermarket fare to the pleasures of coming together in large social groups, producing the food for, and sharing, our own feasts (p.315). I even felt arrogantly virtuous, thinking of my own immediate neighbours, and the annual BBQ we share, even if that is only one night of the year!
“Britain B.C.” is an extraordinary achievement. I am not academically qualified to peer-review this book; but as a lay person, I found even the mere construction of this (quite hefty) book to be unusually well planned and published, both for the order and quantity of material covered, tables and illustrations (both ink & photographic), and in how the information is ordered and presented. I can see this book meeting the needs of undergraduates, postgraduates, and the general reader. That is an unusually broad pool of users. Dr Pryor has achieved a remarkable success with this book. ”Britain B.C. is a truly great read, and possesses rare qualities of sense and structure that other, drier, academics might very usefully seek to emulate.
March 24, 2013
The author's enthusiasm for prehistoric Britain is unquestionable, but the book is almost entirely focused on archaeological finds from the period, and anyone who is not an archaeologist may find the detail it goes into quite challenging. At least half the book is about flint tools and the other half is about Neolithic funerary practises. In fact this probably could have been renamed 'Funerary Practises in Prehistoric Britain'. Granted, it may be hard to say much more about life before the Roman invasion given the patchy nature of the archaeological record, but still. I wanted to know more about the day to day life of these people and I didn't get it.
July 30, 2015
Excellent. Add this to Francis Pryor's other archaeological masterpiece Seahenge as a must read for those that have an interest in this subject. Well written and easy to read with many thought provoking ideas.
July 22, 2010
It has actually taken me two years to read this book. I started it in July 2008, and I remember finding it hard to comprehend. It seemed all over the place and I had difficulties with the way Pryor went into long, confusing descriptions of various archaeological dig sites. I felt extremely stupid as I just could not visualise that which he attempted to illustrate with words in detail. I became frustrated and, instead, found other books to distract.
This year I have made a concerted effort to finish those books I struggled with in the past. I picked up Britain BC again, but instead of returning to the beginning, I continued from where I had left off in order to distance myself from the earlier frustrations. It worked! I was able to read this book somewhat more comfortably and actually absorb most of the information.
The detailed and wordy descriptions of various artefacts and archaeological digs sites still left me reeling, but pictures and illustrations are provided (more frequently in the second half of the book) which help to clearly demonstrate what Pryor is tries to describe in words. In some cases, I still skipped the details in favour of understanding how the site/artefact furthered the understanding of a particular time, people, community or way of working.
Britain BC did provide me with insight in the world of archaeology; its progress over the years; and an idea of how archaeologists work today both in terms of learning about our past and in preserving it for the future. I marvelled at the amount of speculation involved in seeking to put finds into context, giving the impression that the purpose of a site or artefact can never be certain where archaeologists are involved. This was quite a lesson for me. I found it disconcerting that as Pryor dismantled the ideas of others, he sought to replace them with his own imaginings, a few of which I thought less credible than those he had just rejected. Still, what do I know?
I was taken by the idea that, immediately prior to the arrival of the Romans, British society was not necessarily a cohesive whole but rather made up of small community groups, some of which had banded together to form larger societies. Pryor also speculates that some of these communities did not have a formal structure, but were loosely banded together, and there may not have been an elite class as previously thought or imagined by rich burial sites.
Prior to reading Britain BC, I was unaware the Iron Age extended into the early part of first millennia CE with crannogs and brochs being in use in 600 CE, but only in those areas where the Romans had not tread. And, although I have gained some insight into what is known about the various “ages” of history, I might have assimilated more if the author had refrained from flitting between archaeological dig sites, with a quick tangent into the future of one or another site "... but we will explore that further later in another chapter" (to paraphrase) and back again. As a reader, I felt disconnected from the finds or how they corroborated what was known about the people and/or communites of the age and how they lived in the landscape. I was lost quite a bit of the time; I needed lots of breaks from reading this book in order to take my bearings. I know the author is enthusiastic - I can read it in his text - but I think more careful editing might have made the evidential information more accessible.
Overall, the book did provide me with a basic knowledge of prehistory in Britain and it's all in one place instead of the myriad of bits and bobs floating around in my head from reading news updates from various archaeological websites. I have definitely learned more than I ever did at school about the subject. It's just Britain BC is not a book I would, or even could, use as a reference to with which to check my understanding.
I am not sure what is says about the book when the first thing I can say about it is: "I now know the difference between pre-history, proto-history and history".
This year I have made a concerted effort to finish those books I struggled with in the past. I picked up Britain BC again, but instead of returning to the beginning, I continued from where I had left off in order to distance myself from the earlier frustrations. It worked! I was able to read this book somewhat more comfortably and actually absorb most of the information.
The detailed and wordy descriptions of various artefacts and archaeological digs sites still left me reeling, but pictures and illustrations are provided (more frequently in the second half of the book) which help to clearly demonstrate what Pryor is tries to describe in words. In some cases, I still skipped the details in favour of understanding how the site/artefact furthered the understanding of a particular time, people, community or way of working.
Britain BC did provide me with insight in the world of archaeology; its progress over the years; and an idea of how archaeologists work today both in terms of learning about our past and in preserving it for the future. I marvelled at the amount of speculation involved in seeking to put finds into context, giving the impression that the purpose of a site or artefact can never be certain where archaeologists are involved. This was quite a lesson for me. I found it disconcerting that as Pryor dismantled the ideas of others, he sought to replace them with his own imaginings, a few of which I thought less credible than those he had just rejected. Still, what do I know?
I was taken by the idea that, immediately prior to the arrival of the Romans, British society was not necessarily a cohesive whole but rather made up of small community groups, some of which had banded together to form larger societies. Pryor also speculates that some of these communities did not have a formal structure, but were loosely banded together, and there may not have been an elite class as previously thought or imagined by rich burial sites.
Prior to reading Britain BC, I was unaware the Iron Age extended into the early part of first millennia CE with crannogs and brochs being in use in 600 CE, but only in those areas where the Romans had not tread. And, although I have gained some insight into what is known about the various “ages” of history, I might have assimilated more if the author had refrained from flitting between archaeological dig sites, with a quick tangent into the future of one or another site "... but we will explore that further later in another chapter" (to paraphrase) and back again. As a reader, I felt disconnected from the finds or how they corroborated what was known about the people and/or communites of the age and how they lived in the landscape. I was lost quite a bit of the time; I needed lots of breaks from reading this book in order to take my bearings. I know the author is enthusiastic - I can read it in his text - but I think more careful editing might have made the evidential information more accessible.
Overall, the book did provide me with a basic knowledge of prehistory in Britain and it's all in one place instead of the myriad of bits and bobs floating around in my head from reading news updates from various archaeological websites. I have definitely learned more than I ever did at school about the subject. It's just Britain BC is not a book I would, or even could, use as a reference to with which to check my understanding.
I am not sure what is says about the book when the first thing I can say about it is: "I now know the difference between pre-history, proto-history and history".
March 3, 2019
The descriptions of artifacts and sites were detailed and thorough, but there wasn't much information about the people who made them. Granted, artifacts and structures are pretty much the only clues we have about how prehistoric people lived, but in this case a little more speculation might have been interesting.
Unfortunately, the Kindle edition I was reading had no illustrations (though it sorely needed them). Goodreads lists an illustrator for this book, though, so I'm guessing that other editions must have illustrations.
I have nothing against personal anecdotes, and of course it's impossible for any work of writing to be completely unbiased or dispassionate, but the author could have made more effort to be objective. When reading scientific non-fiction, I don't expect to see the word "I" so often. There were a few times early in the book when he was needlessly critical of Christianity (which seemed non sequitor considering that it's a book specifically about the time period BEFORE Christianity).
Pryor wrote Britain BC less than 20 years ago, but already it contains a few obsolete theories. The statement that modern humans have no Neanderthal DNA (and therefore neanderthal-homo sapien hybrids might have been sterile) seems to be outdated. Also, he lists the age of The Red "Lady" of Paviland as 26,000 years old, when more recent testing suggests that it is older. Obviously the author could not help getting these things wrong; it's tough to know what you don't know. Sometimes I wonder why I bother reading about prehistoric archaeology and anthropology at all; the scientific consensus (if there is such a thing) seems to change with every discovery and every test.
Overall this was a very informative book, and it would be an enjoyable read for anyone interested in prehistoric sites.
I appreciated the amount of information given about this long and mysterious time period, and I appreciate the author's obvious passion and enthusiasm for the subject. Even if it wasn't my favorite book on the subject, I did learn a lot from it and it made me want to learn more about prehistory.
Unfortunately, the Kindle edition I was reading had no illustrations (though it sorely needed them). Goodreads lists an illustrator for this book, though, so I'm guessing that other editions must have illustrations.
I have nothing against personal anecdotes, and of course it's impossible for any work of writing to be completely unbiased or dispassionate, but the author could have made more effort to be objective. When reading scientific non-fiction, I don't expect to see the word "I" so often. There were a few times early in the book when he was needlessly critical of Christianity (which seemed non sequitor considering that it's a book specifically about the time period BEFORE Christianity).
Pryor wrote Britain BC less than 20 years ago, but already it contains a few obsolete theories. The statement that modern humans have no Neanderthal DNA (and therefore neanderthal-homo sapien hybrids might have been sterile) seems to be outdated. Also, he lists the age of The Red "Lady" of Paviland as 26,000 years old, when more recent testing suggests that it is older. Obviously the author could not help getting these things wrong; it's tough to know what you don't know. Sometimes I wonder why I bother reading about prehistoric archaeology and anthropology at all; the scientific consensus (if there is such a thing) seems to change with every discovery and every test.
Overall this was a very informative book, and it would be an enjoyable read for anyone interested in prehistoric sites.
I appreciated the amount of information given about this long and mysterious time period, and I appreciate the author's obvious passion and enthusiasm for the subject. Even if it wasn't my favorite book on the subject, I did learn a lot from it and it made me want to learn more about prehistory.
August 18, 2013
Finally, a non fiction book that I have managed to finish! I have picked up so many and lost momentum over the last year. Francis Pryor has the benefit of an interesting story to tell, and my undivided attention inspired by my visit to 'prehistoric' Orkney this summer. The book ranges from the earliest known hominids in Britain nearly half a million years ago to the Roman invasion in 43AD. Its coverage is unevenly spread, as the evidence and the literature is, skewed towards the Neolithic and the Bronze age. But Pryor is always scholarly and persuasive and always has something interesting to say. Some reviewers have questioned his chatty style and the endless name checking of other British archaeologists whom he has known or influenced or worked with. It does grate at times but I don't mind knowing where Pryor sits within his field - he belongs to a generation of archaeologists who matured in the 70s, questioning everything. It's clear he isn't 'cutting edge'; his radicalism belongs to another age and it's worth knowing that. He also wears his bias very clearly. He's a ritual and ceremonial sort; he likes watery places and believes in continuity rather than upheaval; he doesn't subscribe to the invasion theory of social change; and he isn't convinced by a class based interpretation of prehistoric societies. He envisages a peaceable, independently minded egalitarian world and marshals the evidence to demonstrate it. He doesn't admit much argument, which is a shame. I would like to have seen a more thorough discussion of alternative views. I was left wondering if the only important archaeologists to Francis Pryor are the ones who agree with him. Still I was looking for a book to give me a better chronological understanding of prehistoric Britain, as a framework for more reading and I definitely got that. Recommended for complete beginners, taken with a pinch of salt.
September 15, 2017
I have a degree in medieval history but my passion is pre-history/ancient history, so I snatched this little gem up at a used bookstore in Prague. The author, Francis Pryor, is obviously very enthusiastic and extremely well educated in the history of Britain and Ireland before the coming of the Romans. I know a decent amount about Britain post-Roman invasion, and a lot 1066 post-Norman invasion, so I was excited to learn about the first/early peoples in Ireland and across Britain....but while the author's enthusiasm for prehistoric Britain is unquestionable, the book is almost entirely focused on archaeological finds from the period, and anyone who is not an archaeologist may find the detail it goes into quite challenging. I was enthralled for the first 150 pages or so and then it became terribly redundant. Granted, it may be hard to say much more about life before the Roman invasion given the patchy nature of the archaeological record, but still. I wanted to know more about the day to day life of these people and I didn't get it. A lot of flint. A lot of ancient flint. Flint rocks. Flint Mines. Flint tools. Discarded flint. Offerings of flint. I get it!
Make sure to have an interest in archaeology before picking this one up.
Make sure to have an interest in archaeology before picking this one up.
September 28, 2016
So this was a bit shit. I love the subject matter and have enjoyed reading about human prehistory before, with this book I was looking for something that would give a different perspective, and it did.
A lot of flint. A lot of ancient flint. Flint rocks. Flint Mines. Flint tools. Discarded flint. Offerings of flint. I needed a piece of flint between my eyelids to keep them open.
It's tedious, and it doesn't have to be. It's because Pryor is an unapologetic ditherer. I don't care how this particular archaeological site pertains to your own life, I don't care when you first went there or what friends you made or what was going on politically at the time. Keep. It. Moving. You have so much to work with. You have the origin of human society. How could you possible spend half the chapter talking about yourself? Really queen?
A lot of flint. A lot of ancient flint. Flint rocks. Flint Mines. Flint tools. Discarded flint. Offerings of flint. I needed a piece of flint between my eyelids to keep them open.
It's tedious, and it doesn't have to be. It's because Pryor is an unapologetic ditherer. I don't care how this particular archaeological site pertains to your own life, I don't care when you first went there or what friends you made or what was going on politically at the time. Keep. It. Moving. You have so much to work with. You have the origin of human society. How could you possible spend half the chapter talking about yourself? Really queen?
July 3, 2019
Pryor balances his skill as an archaeologist with a light, humane, and relatable touch. While being scientifically rigorous, he brings elements of imagination and rationality to unveiling the richness of life in Britain and Ireland before the arrival of the Romans. It turns out that the civilization that Rome provided was just another form of civilization and that there is a depth to cultural history in this part of the world that cannot be ignored. If you have roots in the British isles and Ireland, this book is a valuable resource about the pre-history that was paved over by Roman sandals and Norman boots.
March 28, 2009
I've never studied prehistory properly - my history degree mostly concentrated on the Early Modern period - but I found this book completely fascinating. I've read it three times now! Obviously I don't have the academic background to be able to judge it properly but it at least seemed a really scholarly account and it was well written, which isn't a very common combination! Definitely recommended.
December 23, 2012
The author writes like someone in your living room having a nice conversation with you about all the new (and not so new) wondrous archaeological finds they know about or have visited, and the people (read archaeologists) that they have met along the way.
You get a nice look into British Archaeological history, the famous names both in the US and the UK and some anecdotes about them, and along the way you also learn about the prehistory of the Britain and Ireland.
You get a nice look into British Archaeological history, the famous names both in the US and the UK and some anecdotes about them, and along the way you also learn about the prehistory of the Britain and Ireland.
July 30, 2007
Bless Francis Pryor - he really tells a good story. This is really readable, with nice anecdotes to chop up the chronological bits. He's enthusiastic and happy to be told he's wrong and his theories, while perhaps not totally textbook, are a lot more interesting and human than some of the stuff I've read.
December 21, 2024
This book has served me, roughly, as the Archaeology 101 class I never took. It has also taught me, along with the Time Team tv series, that the periods that draw me most are the prehistoric. In the case of British history, this means pre-Roman Conquest, AD 43. From that perspective, Francis Pryor was a good author to start with; he is very much a champion of Bronze and Iron Age archaeology. Pryor has a very affable way of writing that veered between charming and annoying. As a result, I think some of the book was more accessible to an interested lay reader than it could have been. That is not to say he didn’t get into the weeds—those parts either dragged or were over my head, more Arch 303 than 101.
I’m glad I read the book and my appetite to see archaeological sites is whetted. In fact, at the back of the book is a useful list of British sites sorted by period, Paleolithic to Iron Age.
I’m glad I read the book and my appetite to see archaeological sites is whetted. In fact, at the back of the book is a useful list of British sites sorted by period, Paleolithic to Iron Age.
July 18, 2023
Really interesting overview of prehistoric Britain. Engagingly written, makes the archaeology accessible. As well as the prehistory, there is also a history of archaeological thought as generations of scholars have interpreted the past.
Covers a huge period of time, puts our current society in perspective.
Covers a huge period of time, puts our current society in perspective.
December 18, 2015
Many books on archaeology are not much more than dry catalogs of artifacts and sediment levels. Francis Pryor goes against that by taking readers into the trenches and sharing the thrill of discovery. In detailing how fragmentary evidence can be interpreted to shed light on everyday life, he shows that the inhabitants of ancient Britain, while separated from us by millennia, were really not all that different from us. More importantly, in chronicling the social and technological development of the prehistoric Britons, Pryor proves that they were hardly the "barbarians" encountered by the Romans.
May 15, 2015
Very enjoyable IMO. (Whereas "a bit dry" was the verdict of an acquaintance less interested in the academic side of archaeology, more in simply looking at sites). Sometimes Pryor pushes his own theories at the expense of surveying other takes on a topic, but his views are generally likeable. Still much more thorough and respectable than the average popular non-fiction book - especially when compared to bigger areas like science and history. Could perhaps do with an updated revised version now, 10+ years after first publication.
September 16, 2018
The believe that the population from the Neolithic right through to the Iron Age was egalitarian and lived more or less in harmony with the environment, is the one I do share with Mr Pryor.
I have also hugely enjoyed Mike Parker Pearson's report on Stonehenge and I thank academics like them to put archeological technical reports in a language that everyone can understand. It would certainly help more people to understand where we are all coming from and that the road we have currently taken might not be the most sustainable.
I have also hugely enjoyed Mike Parker Pearson's report on Stonehenge and I thank academics like them to put archeological technical reports in a language that everyone can understand. It would certainly help more people to understand where we are all coming from and that the road we have currently taken might not be the most sustainable.
November 6, 2017
Even though this book took me MONTHS to finish, it was still a fascinating and insightful read. It's full to the brim with information and dense description but is still readable and interesting to the layman. I appreciate Pryor's repeated admonishments of viewing the past through a modern lens, and his emphasis that we should leave present-day conceptions at the door when studying cultures that are thousands of years old.
If anyone wants to get their feet wet learning about this period, this is the book to do it.
If anyone wants to get their feet wet learning about this period, this is the book to do it.
August 9, 2019
Took a bit of re reading as it's my first non fiction. But that said, wow, what an intro to a subject that has always fascinated me. Had no idea he was involved with time team, therefore no pre-judgment. Will have to read fully again as some bits confused me.
Why use term Viking? I thought it was an action, a behaviour "GOING Viking " not a people. That they were Danes, Norse. I'm new at this 😊.
Now I'm hungry to visit the sites, read more, get a trowel, soft brush and knee pads.
Britain AD next....
Why use term Viking? I thought it was an action, a behaviour "GOING Viking " not a people. That they were Danes, Norse. I'm new at this 😊.
Now I'm hungry to visit the sites, read more, get a trowel, soft brush and knee pads.
Britain AD next....
September 27, 2025
Returned by library, can not give an honest review.
May 31, 2023
When the author completely focused on the archaeology findings this is a very well written book. Make no mistake this is for the most part an archaeological book if for some unknown reason that isn't clear because it's very clear in the forward what this book is going to be about. Which for a good part of the book will be looking at graves because that's what archaeologists do. Anyway, when, unfortunately for the reader, the author comes off topic, even if its ever so slightly he comes across as a pompous ass. Merely because there was no woman to call him and his colleague sexist for wanting to pork an Neanderthal woman doesn't mean it wasn't sexist at that time. His attitude towards women in general, apart from his wife, lucky old her, is rather dated. He doesn't state his reason for believing women in the ancient times would not be involved in fertility objects objectively. Neither does he make it clear why he doesn't believe children would have been involved with rituals or any other activity from the far past. His snide comments about modern health and safety is absurd, especially when he was almost a reason for extra protective measures as a child. For all he doesn't know a child may have been trapped where he was but couldn't get out. Simply because he didn't hear of it doesn't mean it didn't happen. At no point in this book does the reader understand that his "intuitive" gleanings is anything anyone should pay attention to. As it is considering he is antiquated these sneering comments are not surprising. This would be higher rated if he had not attempted the personable approach to being an archaeologist. Much of it was repetitive and didn't really bring anything of value to the reader. The throw away comment that the British empire wasn't as bad as everyone else was ridiculous. While the burning of important Colonial papers happened after this book was published he can't be as naive to think that atrocities were not happening behind closed doors? In the same way there were no "good enslavers" there was "no we weren't as bad as all that" empires.
November 9, 2018
This is an interesting look at Britain from the earliest hominins to the Roman invasion. A surprising amount can be learned from a couple of broken artifacts and faint traces of former habitation. Even the best interpretations can end up wrong, of course, but that is why archaeologists continue to dig and discover, to correct and fine tune their ability to understand the past.
The time span of this book is half a million years, starting with our ancient ancestors. Very little is known about them, and all the evidence we have ever collected would probably fit inside a single suitcase, but they walked the woodlands and seashores of Britain for several hundred thousand years, except during the periods of glaciation when the land was not habitable. They were eventually replaced by Neanderthals and then by homo sapiens. Cultures came and went, tools slowly developed and societies became recognizable, first as hunter-gatherers, then as pastoralists and agriculturalists. We can guess at certain aspects of their social behaviors, but we have only tantalizing glimpses of who they were, what the worshiped, how they lived.
The closer we approach to the present the more evidence we have, and one of the book’s best parts is when the author extrapolates from multiple, seemingly unrelated facts to create a coherent social structure, with festivals, religious rituals, and funerary rites. Oh to have seen Stonehenge at its height, but even its culture rose, prospered, and vanished millennia before anything resembling modern Britain arose.
As other commentators have mentioned, the book does sometimes lose itself in the minutiae of archaeology digs, and the non-specialist reader’s attention starts to wander, but the author’s experience and enthusiasm are always clear.
I enjoyed this book, and it made me want to read more about the early history of Britain. The bronze age, in particular, seems like a period that I would like to learn more about.
The time span of this book is half a million years, starting with our ancient ancestors. Very little is known about them, and all the evidence we have ever collected would probably fit inside a single suitcase, but they walked the woodlands and seashores of Britain for several hundred thousand years, except during the periods of glaciation when the land was not habitable. They were eventually replaced by Neanderthals and then by homo sapiens. Cultures came and went, tools slowly developed and societies became recognizable, first as hunter-gatherers, then as pastoralists and agriculturalists. We can guess at certain aspects of their social behaviors, but we have only tantalizing glimpses of who they were, what the worshiped, how they lived.
The closer we approach to the present the more evidence we have, and one of the book’s best parts is when the author extrapolates from multiple, seemingly unrelated facts to create a coherent social structure, with festivals, religious rituals, and funerary rites. Oh to have seen Stonehenge at its height, but even its culture rose, prospered, and vanished millennia before anything resembling modern Britain arose.
As other commentators have mentioned, the book does sometimes lose itself in the minutiae of archaeology digs, and the non-specialist reader’s attention starts to wander, but the author’s experience and enthusiasm are always clear.
I enjoyed this book, and it made me want to read more about the early history of Britain. The bronze age, in particular, seems like a period that I would like to learn more about.
March 9, 2023
2.5 ⭐️’s. This book irked me. I almost dnf’d, but decided to stick it out. The problem mainly lies with the title. Pryor calls this a book about the life of Britain and Ireland before Rome. However, he rarely ever gets into the details of how prehistoric Britons lived their lives, and Ireland rarely makes an appearance throughout the whole book. Why say Ireland if you aren’t going to include them most of the time? Instead, he jumps from archaeology site to archaeology site, describing his involvement, when met his coworkers, giving away personal information about them or making unnecessary comments about their relationship. The jumping around makes it difficult to follow, and incredibly boring. I don’t think I really learned anything about prehistoric peoples actual way of life, but I did learn a lot about flint and what Pryor did in the 1970s. It wouldn’t be so bad if he hadn’t kept staying he wanted to talk about people of the past, but then preceded to describe a dig layout instead without explaining what it meant for our knowledge of prehistoric people.
January 27, 2016
Pryor has written several books on his archaeological adventures. This one is more of an overview of many digs across Britain to knit together a history of Britain before the Romans arrived.
Thank goodness for gravel pits - they are the reason that many of these digs took place at all. Picture archaeologists furiously scraping in all kinds of weather ahead of a looming mechanical digger.
Across these many sites, there comes a clear picture of people living and making culture. Pryor believes strongly that large liminal sites had a living side and a dead side, with ritual areas between them, or even on either side of markers (of wood, stone, natural landscape). He also gives us some great stories on how the detective work is done.
And I'll not look at my pictures of Newgrange the same way again - since it's pretty outside is pretty much made up.
Thank goodness for gravel pits - they are the reason that many of these digs took place at all. Picture archaeologists furiously scraping in all kinds of weather ahead of a looming mechanical digger.
Across these many sites, there comes a clear picture of people living and making culture. Pryor believes strongly that large liminal sites had a living side and a dead side, with ritual areas between them, or even on either side of markers (of wood, stone, natural landscape). He also gives us some great stories on how the detective work is done.
And I'll not look at my pictures of Newgrange the same way again - since it's pretty outside is pretty much made up.
July 20, 2011
Francis Pryor, a sometime contributor to Channel 4's Time Team, presents us with a highly readable, fascinating study of Britain's prehistory, from the Stone Age right up to the Roman occupation of AD46. What is revealed is far from the savage tribes that conventional history would have us believe (we are still taught that the Romans brought 'civilisation' to us, conveniently ignoring the complex, sophisticated culture that these islands already possessed). Pryor traces the development of the Britons through the Stone, Bronze and Iron ages, putting forward persuasive theories about the role of religion, death and the landscape in our ancestors lives. Highly recommended for anyone with an interest in the history of this land and its peoples.
January 6, 2012
Francis Pryor is well known to those with an interest in archaeology in Britain through his appearances on Time Team and the series which accompanied this book. A prehistorian, by accident or design, Francis brings a great deal of authority to this book and presents it in a way that is thoroughly accessible.
No one writes archaeology for a popular audience as well as Francis and here, as ever, he combines his research with an approach thoroughly grounded in good-sense and laces it all with gentle humour.
No one writes archaeology for a popular audience as well as Francis and here, as ever, he combines his research with an approach thoroughly grounded in good-sense and laces it all with gentle humour.
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