Off The Bookshelf UK - Books Britain BC: Life in Britain and Ireland Before the Romans Britain BC: Life in Britain and Ireland Before the Romans New & Used Britain BC: Life in Britain and Ireland Before the Romans

Search Books - select a category

Buy Britain BC: Life in Britain and Ireland Before the Romans online at Discounted New and Used prices. Delivered to your door with Off-The-Bookshelf.

Britain BC: Life in Britain and Ireland Before the Romans
by: Francis Pryor

List Price: £9.99

Off The Bookshelf's Price: £6.99

You Save: £3.00 (30%)
Prices subject to change.

Used Price: £3.47
Third Party New Price: £3.39

Availability: Usually dispatched within 11 to 14 days Binding: Paperback
Dewey Decimal Number: 941
EAN: 9780007126934
ISBN: 000712693X
Label: HarperPerennial
Manufacturer: HarperPerennial
Number Of Pages: 488
Publication Date: September 06, 2004
Publisher: HarperPerennial
Studio: HarperPerennial
Sales Rank: 11199

Related Items:

Britain AD: A Quest for Arthur, England and the Anglo-Saxons

Homo Britannicus: The Incredible Story of Human Life in Britain

Seahenge: A Quest for Life and Death in Bronze Age Britain

The Origins of the British: A Genetic Detective Story

Customer Reviews

Average Rating: out of 5 stars

Rating:

- Splendidly readable stuff
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 ... Read More:

Rating:

- 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. Flag Fen -whilst I appreciate that one has to write about what one knows best the constant referals to Flag Fen and its surroundings detracted from the overall read

Rating:

- 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 time to study what he is saying, if anyone is guilty of air brushing it was the Victorians who ignored pre-history altogether and there is the fact he starts off by saying celtic traders from the Basque region in Spain were likely to have been the first people to come to our shores. There is a lot of rubbish about the Celts and Saxons of course which is really questioned and in my view very believable. The term 'Celts' was not used to mean people here untill 400 years or so ago so there are a few myths to be questioned and thrown out.
Coupled with the Britain AD book this ... Read More:

Rating:

- 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.

It is possible to see how keen the author is for his subject, that comes across clearly. By beening so keen the reader does also start to feel the same away about this history, which is the history of all peoples of these Islands.

One comment is that I was taught and have always understood that the Romans never really visited Ireland.

Rating:

- why the antagonism?
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 ... Read More:

Books : Britain BC: Life in Britain and Ireland Before the Romans