Author: Peter Hargreaves

This is a model study of an obscure, but critical, historical period. The significance of its conclusions, and adoption of the research method followed, should extend  beyond the Anglo-Saxon Fenlands. Following the Roman withdrawal, the established view is of Anglo-Saxon immigration and take over, particularly in the East of England. Germanic warriors carved out territories … Continue reading Review: The Anglo-Saxon Fenland by Susan Oosthuizen (2017) Assessment 9 out of 10

A weak Book. I finished it, only because it was a quick read. There are too many Americanisms, “pass “for “pass away”, “an attending” for “an attending doctor”.  Medical terms are used without definition or a glossary. You wonder, “What was the target audience? Was it assumed the average reader understood them?” Much of the … Continue reading Review: Modern Death; how Medicine changed the End of Life by Haider Warraich (2017) Assessment 2 out of 10

The book is a deceptively easy read, understating the considerable research and thought which has gone into it.   I read this book, as I have been impressed by Mithen’s other works on prehistory. Its subject matter encompasses the evolution of language, the African origins of modern humans and their relationship with archaic Homo sapiens and … Continue reading Review: The Singing Neanderthals; the Origins of Music, Language,Mind and Body by Steven Mithin(2005) Assessment 9 out of 10

This is a big Book, one to return to, following up different locations and themes. I read this book, impressed by two of Steven Mithen’s other works, “The Prehistory of the Mind” and “the Singing Neanderthals”. They advance theory on the evolution of the mind, language and music. “After the Ice” is different. Its subtitle,” … Continue reading Review: After the Ice; a Global Human History 20,000-5,000 BC by Steven Mithen (2004) Assessment 9 out of 10

A beautifully written and thought provoking study of European and British Prehistory, showing how monuments reflect complex and inter-related changes, over the longue durée, in ideology, economy and society. Mesolithic hunter-gatherers thought of themselves as one with the “wild”. Domestication of plants and animals and construction of monuments was therefore unthinkable. Neolithic farmers brought agriculture … Continue reading Review: The Significance of the Monuments; on the Shaping of Human Experience in Neolithic and Bronze Age Europe by Richard Bradley(1998) Assessment 9 out of 10

Disappointing. Has that curate’s egg quality of being good in parts. There are good chapters: -Colin Renfrew puts forward the big idea sedentism explains the “sapient paradox”, that new behaviour, evidenced in the archaeological record, appeared only gradually and with a long delay after appearance of modern Homo sapiens. -the always marvellous Steven Mithen writes … Continue reading Review: Archaeological Theory Today by Ian Hodder (editor) (2001) Assessment 3 out of 10

Wonderful, goes beyond Archaeology to provide a history of attitudes to death. Whilst discoveries have continued since its publication, this book remains a wonderful text. Its goes beyond archaeology to provide a history of attitudes to death and burial. There is so much here. To what extent do changing funerary rituals reveal social structure or … Continue reading Review: The Archaeology of Death and Burial by Mike Parker Pearson (2003) Assessment 8 out of 10

Rather disappointing There is quite a lot on the evidence from particular sites, but I was hoping for a much bigger study of the landscape and how its development marked changing ritual, society and economy. The suggestion Stonehenge may have been an oracle is interesting but neither substantiated nor fully explored.

Thought provoking, if not the easiest read. Bradley suggests that pits, where grain was stored over the winter, were a metaphor for regeneration. The grain was buried and then planted in spring, coming back to life. Pits were cleaned and reused until they became the place of special deposits. These included animals and quern stones, … Continue reading Review: Ritual and Domestic Life in Prehistoric Europe by Richard Bradley (2005) Assessment 8 out of 10

An extremely readable account, revising the Stonehenge Timeline. The Stonehenge Riverside Project, which Parker-Pearson led from 2003 to 2009, stressed the unifying importance in the Landscape of the River Avon, proving the Avenue connected it to Stonehenge and a short, 150 metre long, but wide, causeway connected it to Durrington Walls. Durrington Walls is an … Continue reading Review: Stonehenge; Exploring the Greatest Stone Age Mystery by Mike Parker Pearson (2013) Assessment 7 out of 10