Images of Prehistory

This large format collection of stunning and atmospheric images of Britain's prehistoric past is a showcase for the work of one of the country's leading landscape photographers. Accompanied by a text and commentary at once authoritative and accessible, it will attract anyone interested in landscape photography and archaeology. After a brief illustrated introduction, the book falls into two parts. A Portfolio from Prehistory vividly illuminates the principal themes of prehistoric life: earning a living from the land, building to provide shelter, defending the community, and erecting tombs and devising rituals to honor the dead and ensure contact with the ancestral past. Prehistory in Landscapes then offers a sharper regional focus to illustrate the sheer density and variety of the prehistoric remains that survive on the uplands of Britain: on Orkney, and in North Wales, the Avebury area of Wiltshire and West Cornwall. Mick Sharp's sensitivity to skies, stone, subtle light and rugged landscape counterpoints perfectly with Peter Fowler's affectionate but trenchant commentary. Together they make Images of Prehistory a potent memorial to a vanished way of life. Peter Fowler, Professor of Archaeology at the University of Newcastle upon Tyne is known for his writings and broadcasting on the history of the British landscape. Mick Sharp, a professional photographer and archaeologist, runs a photographic library devoted to archaeology and the history of the landscape.