Mick Aston (1946–2013)

I'm a big fan of archaeology and the British program "Time Team" is endlessly fascinating, to me. In the series, actual archaeologist and other specialists perform digs. Each episode covers a fast 3-day dig (usually somewhere in England) to discover something expected or known-but-lost. I learned a lot about the history of England, from the prehistoric to early 20th century.

This book is from that Team. Various experts (including Time Team's resident artist) give both learned opinion and specific examples from actual fieldwork. The basic setup is an invented town (Timechester), which allows a single location that can be given a history throughout the last 452,000 years. Give or take.

Everything is based on actual knowledge of numerous locations throughout the British Isles, transferred to Timechester.

Each chapter is a time period, from the Paleolithic (450,000 BCE), which is mostly a description of the location and some fauna and nomadic peoples who used it, Neolithic, Bronze Age, Iron Age, Roman, Anglo-Saxon, High Medieval, Post-Medieval, Early Modern, to Present Day.

This is a good book for fans of archaeology, fans of extended British history, and fans of Time Team.

A great work that will continue to be of value, for many years to come!… (more)