A History of Ancient Britain
2011 • 373 pages
Ratings2
Average rating4.5
15
Ratings2
Average rating4.5
Who were the first Britons, and what sort of world did they occupy? In A HISTORY OF ANCIENT BRITAIN Neil Oliver turns a spotlight on the very beginnings of the story of Britain; on the first people to occupy these islands and their battle for survival. There has been human habitation in Britain, regularly interrupted by Ice Ages, for the best part of a million years. The last retreat of the glaciers 12,000 years ago brought a new and warmer age and with it, one of the greatest tsunamis recorded on Earth which struck the north-east of Britain, devastating the population and flooding the low-lying plains of what is now the North Sea. The resulting island became, in time, home to a diverse range of cultures and peoples who have left behind them some of the most extraordinary and enigmatic monuments in the world. Through what is revealed by the artefacts of the past, Neil Oliver weaves the epic story - half -a-million years of human history up to the departure of the Roman Empire in the Fifth Century AD. It was a period which accounts for more than ninety-nine per cent of humankind's presence on these islands. It is the real story of Britain and of her people.
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Overall greatly enjoyed. Have watched the TV documentaries [ series : A History of Ancient Britain; A History of Celtic Britain; Sacred Wonders of Britain; The Celts [Blood, Iron and Sacrifice with Alice Roberts]. This book is 2012, which is contemporaneous with the first two series or thereabouts; but also forms the content for the others. So I had an idea of what I was in for before I turned a page. This didn't spoil the read for me, rather it allowed me to visualize thus enhancing the text. For example the fascinating Dover Boat sequence or the handling of the “Red Lady” of Paviland. As a young lad with a fascination for ancient history, I dragged my parents on our camping holidays around some of the sites Oliver gives an account for so that was an added dimension for me. How much of the history of the Great Orme, for example, that has been revealed in the 50 years since I last visited was awe-inspiring. I suspect that some of his daydreaming, “philosophizing” time-traveling jaunts may annoy some readers as it may work better to the camera than it does on the written page but it doesn't seriously distract and personalizes the history. Sometimes I did get dizzy from skipping from site to site as he built up the detail and by the last chapter “Romans” I had more detail than I could retain. It would have been nice to see a timeline or two as I did occasionally get lost.
Going to watch the videos again [plus a newer one on the Orkneys] just to see if I get any further enhancement having now read the book.
