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Britain BC: Life in Britain and Ireland Before the Romans
 
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Britain BC: Life in Britain and Ireland Before the Romans (Paperback)

by Francis Pryor (Author)
4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (20 customer reviews)
RRP: Ł10.99
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Product details

  • Paperback: 488 pages
  • Publisher: HarperPerennial; New Ed edition (6 Sep 2004)
  • Language English
  • ISBN-10: 000712693X
  • ISBN-13: 978-0007126934
  • Product Dimensions: 19.6 x 13 x 3.8 cm
  • Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (20 customer reviews)
  • Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank: 20,269 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

    Popular in these categories:

    #3 in  Books > History > World History > Pre-500
    #43 in  Books > History > Ancient History & Civilisation

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Francis Pryor
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Product Description

Review

'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 Praise for Francis Pryor's television series 'Britain B.C.': '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

Product 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 that 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.
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Britain BC: Life in Britain and Ireland Before the Romans
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Customer Reviews

20 Reviews
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4.2 out of 5 stars (20 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Splendidly readable stuff, 9 Aug 2008
By John Hopper (London, UK) - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)    (VINE VOICE)   
Well researched and very readable account of the archaeology of pre-Roman Britain. I found the early chapters especially interesting, e.g. the Boxgrove site showing the earliest evidence of human habitation in Britain 500,000 years ago, and the remarkable inventiveness of early hunter-gatherers. It did get a bit dry and technical at times in discussing the details of Neolithic and later monuments. The author also sometimes gets a little carried away in describing his or others' theories which seem to me perhaps a bit simplistic, e.g. the wood=life and stone=death theory of late Neolithic/early Bronze age monuments, verging on interpreting facts to fit the theory; the design of Iron age roundhouses mirroring the rising and setting sun also sounded too rigid to me. The author is quite convincing in dismissing the idea of a mass invasion of Neolithic farmers and prefers the theory that it was the idea of farming that swept across Europe to Britain. He cites as evidence DNA from Palaeolithic bones in Cheddar Gorge natching DNA from some modern inhabitants of the same area; on the other hand, there is also DNA evidence from the descendants of "Jasmine, the younger daughter of Eve" from Syria making up a sizeable slice of the British farming population in Neolithic and later society. All in all, a wonderful read that could get almost anyone interested in archaeology and pre-history.
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64 of 71 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Debunking Bad History, 26 Jan 2006
By A Customer
Francis Pryor's Britain BC is not a book for those who cling on to old ideas concerning the prehistory and early history of Britain. This is an adventurous book written to bring daring new ideas based on data from archaeological fieldwork. If the old stories of waves of invaders replacing one after an other don't work for you - from Neolithic revolutionaries, to La Tene Celts - if you ever suspected that there was something funamentally wrong with the traditional depictions of the Ancient British past - then read this book!

The author, backed by years of fieldwork experience as a professional archaeologist based in the East of England argues for the case for continuity - that there was no Neolithic Revolution, no invasion of Beaker folk, no mass arrival of continental 'Celts'. Francis Pryor is clearly passionate in his views that modern Britain owes more to prehistoric Britain than is generally accepted. Rome is portrayed as an alien empire that suppressed and stifled the self-identities of a growing and developing prehistoric Britain. Pryor suggests that far from being sparsely populated by painted savages - Late Iron Age Britain, following centuries or even millenia of metal-working, art, monument-building, and agriculture - was thriving and in the process of developing high art forms, tribal federations, trade and cultural links with the Continent, kingdoms, and Oppidi (sprawling ruralised towns) based on age old indigeneous traditions and identities.

Francis Pryor leads you through a series of prehistoric landscapes - the world of the Pre-Anglian Glacial hunters of Boxgrove, hunter-gatherers crossing the Great North Sea Plain, the vast open ritual landscapes of the Neolithic, the diversity of the archaeology of Iron Age Britain and Ireland. An excellent introduction and revision of prehistoric Britain and Ireland.

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21 of 23 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars why the antagonism?, 13 July 2007
This is a landmark book in terms of understanding Britain(ie the British Islands) in prehistory. All this talk of "missing celts" and "making Britain = England" is kind of missing the point somewhat. There WERE no celts in this period. No Welsh. No Scottish. No Cornish. Just BRITONS. Just lots of tribes and family groups living on this island. It wasn't until the Romans shut the Northern Britons off behind Hadrians wall that you get a notion of a "Scottish" country, land of the Picts. It wasn't until later again when the Saxons forced the Britons into the west, that you get a notion of Wales (Walas included modern-day Wales, Cumbria and Cornwall back then). As such, the notion of "celts" is a subject for Britain AD. They simply didn't exist in Britain BC. "Celt" is style of art of the period, found all across Europe. Not a type of people.

Francis has, and is doing, brilliant work in this field, this book should be required reading for anyone doing British history and/or archaeology. Also should be read by anyone with an interest in "celtic" spirituality and religion - everything the ancient Britons do has a religious aspect, and Francis is making the connections no-one else seems to be making (even though they seem obvious after he explains them)
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Most Recent Customer Reviews

3.0 out of 5 stars Interesting, overlong, silly in places
I have no doubt that Pryor is a good archaeologist. There is a lot of interesting stuff in this book, though as other reviewers have pointed out, it is rather over-detailed and... Read more
Published 3 months ago by Seán

5.0 out of 5 stars Britain BC - Francis Pryor
An outstanding book with comprehensive compasion for the subject with simple descriptions in "lay man's terms" of findings and life how it used to be before 'history'. Read more
Published 3 months ago by Mrs. J. E. Mclelland

4.0 out of 5 stars An interesting and readable book
Britain BC provides a good introduction to the pre-Roman era. Francis Pryor has a relaxed style of writing that gently leads you through his thoughts on prehistory. Read more
Published 3 months ago by Kitty Bean

5.0 out of 5 stars Britain BC: Life in Britain and Ireland before the Romans
If you know nothing or little about the pre-history of these islands this is an excellent book to introduce you to the topic. Read more
Published 6 months ago by G. Woodward

4.0 out of 5 stars Britain BC
This is a great big fat book and could look a bit intimidating but it is well-written in a friendly chatty style as well as being packed full of fascinating information and... Read more
Published 6 months ago by Angela L. Incigneri

5.0 out of 5 stars In praise of Mr. Prior and not those who try and interpret incorrectly what he says.
I loved this book, it confirmed many of my hunches, it is logical and it made me think.

The history of the British Isles and its people goes far deeper than the... Read more
Published 7 months ago by B. Thomas

3.0 out of 5 stars informative but................
enjoyed this book as far as it went BUT in to many chapters it is a celebration of Priors own field of expertise i.e. Read more
Published on 19 Jan 2008 by Lusophile

5.0 out of 5 stars At last, honest History.
The author gives an unbiased account of what IMO our pre-history is all about. One reviewer said 'this is an attempt to air brush the celts out' not so if if actually took the... Read more
Published on 23 Nov 2007 by Crow

4.0 out of 5 stars Interesting Read
Britain BC: Life in Britain and Ireland Before the Romans is a good read. As are all of the books written by Francis Pryor. Read more
Published on 19 Oct 2007 by "Smith" Reader

5.0 out of 5 stars Britain BC - Buy it
If you're interested in British prehistory go no further.

It speaks volumes that the only critics are people who are offended at not having their Celtic self identity... Read more
Published on 6 Mar 2007 by W. Rathouse

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