Britain BC: Life in Britain and Ireland Before the Romans

Description

An authoritative and radical rethinking of the whole of British history before the coming of the Romans, based on remarkable new archaeological finds. So many extraordinary archaeological discoveries (many of them involving the author) have been made in the last thirty years that our whole understanding of British prehistory needs to be updated. So far only the specialists have twigged on to these developments; now, for the first time, Francis Pryor broadcasts them to a much wider, general audience. Aided by aerial photography, coastal erosion (which has helped expose such coastal sites as Seahenge) and new planning legislation which requires developers to excavate the land they build on, archaeologists have unearthed a far more sophisticated life among the Ancient Britons than has been previously supposed. Far from being the barbarians of Roman propaganda, we Brits had our own religion, laws, crafts, arts, trade, farms, priesthood and royalty, the stories of which Francis Pryor tells with passion, wit and intelligence.

Dr Francis Pryor has spent thirty years studying the prehistory of the Fens. He has excavated sites as diverse as Bronze Age farms, field systems and entire Iron Age villages. From 1980 he turned his attention to pre-Roman religion and has excavated barrows, 'henges', and a large ceremonial centre dating to 3800 bc. In 1982, while working in a drainage dyke at Flag Fen, on the outskirts of Peterborough, he discovered the waterlogged timbers of a Bronze Age religious site. In 1987, with his wife Maisie Taylor, he set up the Fenland Archaeological Trust, which opened Flag Fen to the public.

'There are enough curious facts, contentious theories and bizarre hypotheses here to hold the interest of anyone concerned with the unique and peculiar story of these islands' Independent on Sunday From the reviews of Francis Pryor's television series on BRITAIN BC: 'Fascinating...the evangelical Pryor paints a vivid portrait of pre-Roman society that tackles received wisdom about what was going on here in the stone, bronze and iron ages' Daily Telegraph 'Pryor leaps about the country at a cracking pace, his big personality making sure we never get bored by the scant and rarefied scraps that are his stock-in-trade' Observer