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Buried

An alternative history of the first millennium in Britain

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Buried

By: Alice Roberts
Narrated by: Alice Roberts
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Summary

 Funerary rituals show us what people thought about mortality; how they felt about loss; what they believed came next. From Roman cremations and graveside feasts, to deviant burials with heads rearranged, from richly furnished Anglo Saxon graves to the first Christian burial grounds in Wales, Buried provides an alternative history of the first millennium in Britain. As she did with her pre-history of Britain in Ancestors, Professor Alice Roberts combines archaeological finds with cutting-edge DNA research and written history to shed fresh light on how people lived: by examining the stories of the dead.

PRE-ORDER CRYPT, THE FINAL BOOK IN ALICE ROBERTS' BRILLIANT TRILOGY – OUT FEBRUARY 2024. Ancient Archaeology Europe Great Britain Religious Studies Rome Tradition England Thought-Provoking
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Critic reviews

'Buried is a tender, fascinating act of listening –– of listening to the tales the dead have to tell us about the landscapes we share with them, the histories we have constructed around them, and the futures we imagine for ourselves. Lucid and illuminating, Alice Roberts here opens new perspectives on to first-millennium Britain, from the appearance of churchyards in the sixth century, to Romano-British 'decapitation' burial practices. I learned so much from this book, and hearing my description of Alice's excavations and investigations, my nine-year-old confirmed absolutely his ambition to become an aDNA (ancient DNA) scientist when he grows up.' (Robert Macfarlane)
‘Roberts’s legions of fans will find themselves delighted by a book that is both accessible and expert, wears deep learning lightly, and provides a solid introduction to an often murky age in Britain’s early medieval past.’
‘Intriguing and informative [….] Fascinating’
All stars
Most relevant
I've read all of Alice's book, this one is great with an exception amount of detail. But Alice does have a knack for throwing random punches at religion and politics. I am niether religious or politically inclined but I find it distasteful all the same. Your disbelief in God doesn't affect the archaeology so why bother mentioning it at all? Alot of pop culture Scientists love to throw jabs at religion when ever they get the opportunity. I'm willing to bet money that's she'll do it again in her next book.

Love, Alice but..

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I really enjoy her books. They are academic enough for me and not too technical. The author does have a ‘thing’ about the Christian religion and some of her historical sophistication gets lost in her evident dislike of Christianity. However, I found her very bracing retelling of the ‘mythological’ history of history bracing, inspiring and fascinating. Her epilogue includes a very heartfelt sermon that will resonate with many and not just the humanist faith community.

Excellent

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Thoroughly enjoyable and illuminating. Adds intriguing insight into the first millenium and a pleasure to hear read by the author.

Fascinating

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First up, ignore the bad reviews; they are perhaps written by people not used to popular science books. Alice is full of enthusiasm for the new approaches to analysing the past, but she isn't disrespectful about past techniques or past archeologists, she just puts things in the appropriate context, as new popular science books tend to do. Also, the criticisms of "woke" and "religion bashing" are just ludicrous, and again seem to me to be from reviewers unfamiliar with how modern scientists speak and think.
Secondly, this books is just fascinating - loads of insightful detail about past practises with that oh so cautious reluctance to extend beyond hypotheses.
Thirdly, it could not be read any better. I will be getting Alice's other books on Audible

A stunningly good audiobook!

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I enjoyed hearing about the ancient burials and what we think are the differences. I also enjoyed the discussion about Anglo Saxon background. I learnt a lot from the book.

The difference of burials in the past

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