ISBN: 0-521-09808-4
Description: softcover, 116 pp. (21,5x14), drawings, photos, plans
Condition: very good
Weight: 185g.

Desmond Collins, Background to Archaeology. Britain in its European Setting, Cambridge University Press 1973


A concise, clearly-written introduction to the early past of Britain and Europe from the beginnings up to the twelfth century A.D., which presents the most recent findings of archaeological research in a readily understandable form. Written for readers with no specialist knowledge of the subject, a major virtue of this book is the way in which it brings into focus all the separate strands of evidence to present a coherent narrative development.
The account starts with a brief survey of human evolution, and a consideration of the evidence of tool-making in the Old Stone Age. The second chapter describes the origins and spread of farming and the subsequent development of metallurgy and full urban civilization. Chapter 3 surveys the contribution made by the urban civilization of Rome to the development of Europe, and Chapter 4 carries the account through the Migration Period to the re-estahjishment of urban culture in northern Europe, concluding with a brief description of conditions in the twelfth century. The book includes suggestions for further reading, a glossary, an index and many illustrations.


Acknowledgements
Foreword by Professor J. D. Evans
Note on dating
1    Early man by Desmond Collins
2    From the beginnings of farming to the spread of civilisation by Ruth Whitehouse
3    The Roman period by Martin Henig
4    Medieval Europe by David Whitehouse
Select bibliography
Glossary
Index