Digging up Britain
Ten discoveries, a million years of history
Published on 19. September 2019
Book
Hardback
304 pages
978-0-500-05190-0 (ISBN)
Description
Britain has long been fascinated with its own history and identity, as an island nation besieged by invaders from beyond the seas: the Romans, Vikings and Normans. The long saga of prehistory is often forgotten. But our understanding of our past is changing. In the last decade, astounding archaeological discoveries have shed new light on those who have gone before us, radically altering the way we think about our history. This book presents ten of the most exciting - and surprising - of these discoveries.
Mike Pitts leads us on a journey through time from the more recent and familiar to the most remote and bizarre, just as archaeologists delving into the earth find themselves moving backwards through the years until they reach the very oldest remnants of the past. At each of these sites we hear from the people who found and recovered these ancient remains, and follow their efforts to understand them. Some are major digs, carried out to record sites before they are covered over by new developments. Others are chance finds, leading to revelations out of proportion to the scale of the original projects. All are extraordinary tales of luck and cutting-edge archaeological science that have produced profound, and often unexpected, insights into people's lives on these islands between a thousand and a million years ago.
Mike Pitts leads us on a journey through time from the more recent and familiar to the most remote and bizarre, just as archaeologists delving into the earth find themselves moving backwards through the years until they reach the very oldest remnants of the past. At each of these sites we hear from the people who found and recovered these ancient remains, and follow their efforts to understand them. Some are major digs, carried out to record sites before they are covered over by new developments. Others are chance finds, leading to revelations out of proportion to the scale of the original projects. All are extraordinary tales of luck and cutting-edge archaeological science that have produced profound, and often unexpected, insights into people's lives on these islands between a thousand and a million years ago.
Reviews / Votes
'Highly readable and hugely enjoyable ... Pitts writes authoritatively throughout' - British Museum Magazine 'Makes it clear that archaeology is as much about the present as it is the past; we have much to learn from our distant ancestors who have helped shape our individual and national identity' - Jeremy Deller, Turner Prize-winning artist and creator of 'Sacrilege' 'Lucid and informative ... conveys both the thrill of discovery and the painstaking, puzzling interpretation work that follows it. ... If you've ever wondered how we know so much about who we used to be, this is the book for you' - Greg Jenner, historian and bestselling author of 'A Million Years In A Day' 'If you thought there was something a bit dusty about archaeology, think again' - This England 'Astounding' - Britain 'Expertly informed and beautifully written, Digging Up Britain is a compelling, sometimes teasing archaeological Odyssey back through the diversity, complexity and sheer strangeness of lives lived by Britain's past inhabitants' - Carenza Lewis, archaeologist and Professor of Public Understanding of Research at the University of Lincoln 'Many books claim to detail Britain's ancient past, but few are as absorbing, entertaining and subversively informative as this one ... a well-argued and beautifully illustrated book' - BBC History 'This book covers the most exciting excavations of the past ten years ... these discoveries illuminate a diverse array of cultures and customs to be found in the country' - Timeless Travels 'The popular archaeology book we have been waiting for ... Pitts has presented readers with a vision of a modern discipline, engaged and relevant politically, socially, intellectually and economically' - British Archaeology 'Shows how the deep past of habitation on this island is not necessarily of one progressive evolution, but a series of repeated journeys, pulsing with intermittent frequency down the millennia' - Times Literary Supplement 'By taking us backwards in time, Digging Up Britain has the quality of really good science fiction' - Tom HollandMore details
Language
English
Place of publication
London
United Kingdom
Product notice
sewn/stitched
Cloth over boards
Illustrations
55 Illustrations, black and white; 24 Illustrations, color
Dimensions
Height: 240 mm
Width: 161 mm
Thickness: 33 mm
Weight
656 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-500-05190-0 (9780500051900)
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Schweitzer Classification
Person
Mike Pitts is an archaeologist and award-winning journalist. He has been the editor of Britain's leading archaeological magazine, British Archaeology, for over a decade.