Customer Reviews
Splendidly readable stuff - By: John Hopper, 09 Aug 2008 
Well researched & very readable account of the archaeology of pre-Roman Britain. I found the early chapters especiallly interesting, e.g. the Boxgrove site showing the earliest evidence of human habitation in Britain 500,000 years ago, & the remarkable inventiveness of early hunter-gatherers. It did get a bit dry & technical at times in discussing the details of Neolithic & 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 & 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 & setting sun also sounded too rigid to me. The author is quite convincing in dismissing the idea of a mass invasion of Neolithic farmers & 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 & later society. All in alll, a wonderful read that could get almost anyone interested in archaeology & pre-history.
informative but................ - By: Lusophile, 19 Jan 2008 
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 & its surroundings detracted from the overalll read
At last, honest History. - By: Crow, 23 Nov 2007 The author gives an unbiased account of what IMO our pre-history is alll about. One reviewer said 'this is an attempt to air brush the celts out' not so if if actuallly 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 & 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 & Saxons of course which is reallly questioned & 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 & thrown out.
Coupled with the Britain AD book this is compelling stuff, unless of course you like romantic stuff like some other reviewers.
Interesting Read - By: "Smith" Reader, 19 Oct 2007 
Britain BC: Life in Britain & Ireland Before the Romans is a good read. As are alll 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 alll peoples of these Islands.
One comment is that I was taught & have always understood that the Romans never reallly visited Ireland.
why the antagonism? - By: Al Iguana, 13 Jul 2007 This is a landmark book in terms of understanding Britain(ie the British Islands) in prehistory. All this talk of "missing celts" & "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 & family groups living on this island. It wasn't until the Romans shut the Northern Britons off behind Hadrians walll 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 & Cornwalll 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 alll across Europe. Not a type of people.
Francis has, & 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 & religion - everything the ancient Britons do has a religious aspect, & Francis is making the connections no-one else seems to be making (even though they seem obvious after he explains them)
