The Celts: search for a civilization

History tells us a lot about the Greek and Roman empires. However they were not the only peoples living in Europe and western parts of Asia at that time. A general term for many of these, often different, groups of people is Celts but who were they and where did they come from?

Alice Roberts in The Celts: search for a civilization sets out to discover who the people we refer to as Celts really were and any cohesion that might exist between different groups of Celtic people. Existing knowledge about the Celts comes from references to them in Greek and Roman works. The Greeks and Romans each had a written language which provided their viewpoint on the world around them. However to the Greeks and Romans the Celts were inferior peoples, often considered invading savages.

In this book Alice Roberts sets out to explore what is known about the lives of the Celts through past and continuing archaeological excavations, historical information about these people, the ethnic and biological studies as well as linguistic investigations. Although similarities are often found there are also differences between Celtic peoples in parts of Europe.

In later chapters the author investigates recent theories that some of the earliest Celtic settlements may have been in Portugal and not eastern Europe. The settlements near the Mediterranean coast and the Atlantic Ocean were centres for trade throughout Europe, including Britain and Ireland, from earliest times. Peoples from these regions could have merged with people in countries they visited for trade. It is also believed that Celtic peoples crossed over into Britain via Scandinavian counties.

We will probably never know the full history of the various Celtic groups but study can still be done investigating archaeological finds, bones, art, and other clues to the lives of these people in our history and in the ancestors of Celtic groups today.

Ancestors: the prehistory of Britain in seven burials

Who were the first people to live in what is now called England? When did they come? Where did they come from? We will probably never know the answers to these questions but archaeology and anthropology can help uncover some information about the past.

Professor Alice Roberts, who first came to our attention in the early days of Time Team, uses the case studies of seven ancient burials dating back thousands of years that have been discovered in England. Many of these discoveries were made hundreds of years ago but re-examining the bones, rereading the accounts of the discoveries and using new scientific methods to analyse the bones can provide new information.

Alice Roberts discusses the story of the discovery of seven ancient burials and what they can tell us. By doing so she provides an insight into the world of archaeologists and anthropologists working in this field. She also discusses changes in burial practices through the centuries.

Grounded: a journey through landscapes, sanctuaries and sacred places

James Canton started writing Grounded during the COVID pandemic when England was in Lockdown. Restricted in where he could travel he decided to explore some of the special sites close to home including landscapes and religious sites. The plan was to research what had made these sites special over a period of time and why some sites may no longer be considered significant. In England many of the churches have been built on the sites of earlier churches and in some cases on sites that were considered special before Christianity. Why were these sites chosen for religious buildings?

Once restrictions had been lifted he was able to travel further afield and visited locations in Wiltshire including West Kennet Long Barrow and Coneybury Hill (close to Stonehenge but in  use a thousand years earlier). What was the significance of these sites that thousands of years ago people had chosen the site to bury the dead or to share a celebration. How could you begin to visualise what people living up to 6,000 years ago saw around them.

The author then examined some recent finds that were probably votive offerings including the Garboldisham Macehead, antler bone axes and wooden carvings such as the Dagenham Idol. One of the author's conclusions is that to the hunter gatherers in England the most sacred places could be those connected to the living. He suggests that people today should not see themselves as separate from nature. It is not possible to see the world as people in the past saw it but it is still possible to view glimpses of their world and what it might have meant to them. Being aware of our environment, including special places, helps us to remain grounded.