BBC History Magazineįew archaeologists have the breadth of knowledge or the nerve to write on such a canvas and Sir Barry Cunliffe has created an up-to-the-minute and accessible snapshot of recent advances in excavated data and palaeobiological research for both his profession and the general reader. This beautifully produced and informative work of synthesis and interpretation will provide an ideal starting point for those interested in the British past and a useful point of re-engagement for those who feel that they are already over-familiar with the basic narrative. And, as Cunliffe shows, today's archaeologists are driven by the same desire to understand the past - the only real difference is that we have vastly more evidence to work with.Ĭunliffe steers a masterful course thorugh more than 11 millennia of human development. Britain Begins also explores the development of these early myths, which show our ancestors attempting to understand their origins. But before the development of the discipline of archaeology, people used what scraps there were, gleaned from Biblical and classical texts, to create a largely mythological origin for the British. The story told by the archaeological evidence, in later periods augmented by historical texts, satisfies our need to know who we are and where we come from. Underlying this narrative throughout is the story of the sea, which allowed the islanders and their continental neighbours to be in constant contact. Using the most up to date archaeological evidence together with new work on DNA and other scientific techniques which help us to trace the origins and movements of these early settlers, Barry Cunliffe offers a rich narrative account of the first islanders - who they were, where they came from, and how they interacted one with another. From that time onwards Britain and Ireland have been continuously inhabited and the resident population has increased from a few hundreds to more than 60 million.īritain Begins is nothing less than the story of the origins of the British and the Irish peoples, from around 10,000BC to the eve of the Norman Conquest. The last Ice Age, which came to an end about 12,000 years ago, swept the bands of hunter gatherers from the face of the land that was to become Britain and Ireland, but as the ice sheets retreated and the climate improved so human groups spread slowly northwards, re-colonizing the land that had been laid waste. Oxford Research Encyclopedias: Global Public Health.
The European Society of Cardiology Series.Oxford Commentaries on International Law.
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