Before Scotland: The Story of Scotland Before History - Hardcover

Moffat, Alistair

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 050005133X ISBN 13: 9780500051337

Publisher: Thames and Hudson, 2005

Synopsis

There is still a tendency today to regard history as `the story of man's progress from prehistoric savagery to modern sophistication', and yet the people who lived in Scotland 10,000 years ago would have acted and thought in similar ways to us. So argues Alexander Moffat in the introduction to his fascinating and very easy to read survey of Scotland's environment and the people who affected it from the end of the Ice Age to AD 900 when the term `Alba' was created. The study clearly guides us through the formation of Scotland's dramatic landscape and the arrival of the first hunter-gatherer-fisher settlers, tempted by the warming climate. Moffat presents the archaeological evidence for the first buildings, boats, and artefacts but he also looks beneath the surface to consider how human needs, sensibilities and beliefs shaped these remains, such as the layout of a house and the construction of the earliest stone monuments in Britain. Throughout, side panels present Moffat's reflections and digressions on a whole range of topics, such as examples of modern echoes of ancient behaviour, catastrophes, the age of the earth, Himalayan prawns, the creation of a perfect henge circle and Native Americans. This is a good book that cannot fail to convey to the general reader the author's expert enthusiasm for Scotland's past.

About this title

Review:

Before Scotland: The Story of Scotland Before History delves deep into the little-known world of the Picts, Scots, and others who lived before written records. It is a far-ranging book, jumping back and forth from a discussion of an ice age 24,000 years ago to a sidebar on the turn-of-the-century Russian painter Wassily Kandinsky. Scotland itself is the only connection between passages on the disparate topics of geology, ancient and modern history, archeology, biology, and anthropology. Before Scotland resists the current fashion in nonfiction to turn history into narrative. It generally reads like a graduate-level textbook, with a touch of bone-dry humor thrown in for good measure. In a typical reference-laden passage, the author describes a foreign name for Scotland, writing, "Lucan, Pliny the Elder, Tacitus and Ptolemy all wrote of Caledonia, and the name has shown considerable staying power. Not only has it survived in place-names like Dunkeld, the nearby mountains of Schiehallion and elsewhere, it is also frequently used in the brands of commercial companies as a pungent and meaningful alternative to 'Scotland' or 'Scottish.' And its poetic atmosphere is often found in popular music and poetry. Exiles appear to be homesick more readily for Caledonia." Occasionally witty and genuinely informative, Before Scotland will greatly interest historians, linguists, and anyone curious about how the natural world has evolved in Scotland through the centuries. --Jennifer Buckendorff

About the Author:

Alistair Moffat is a writer and television producer and announcer. His many books include Arthur and the Lost Kingdoms and The Sea Kingdoms: The Story of Gaelic Britain and Ireland.

About this edition

• Publisher: Thames and Hudson
• Publication date: 2005
• ISBN 10: 050005133X
• ISBN 13: 9780500051337
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 352