Images of Prehistory: Views of Early Britain - Hardcover

Fowler, Peter; Sharp, Mick

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0521356466 ISBN 13: 9780521356466

Publisher: Cambridge University Press, 1990

Synopsis

This large format collection of stunning and atmospheric images of Britain's prehistoric past is a showcase for the work of one of the country's leading landscape photographers. Accompanied by a text and commentary at once authoritative and accessible, it will attract anyone interested in landscape photography and archaeology. After a brief illustrated introduction, the book falls into two parts. A Portfolio from Prehistory vividly illuminates the principal themes of prehistoric life: earning a living from the land, building to provide shelter, defending the community, and erecting tombs and devising rituals to honor the dead and ensure contact with the ancestral past. Prehistory in Landscapes then offers a sharper regional focus to illustrate the sheer density and variety of the prehistoric remains that survive on the uplands of Britain: on Orkney, and in North Wales, the Avebury area of Wiltshire and West Cornwall. Mick Sharp's sensitivity to skies, stone, subtle light and rugged landscape counterpoints perfectly with Peter Fowler's affectionate but trenchant commentary. Together they make Images of Prehistory a potent memorial to a vanished way of life. Peter Fowler, Professor of Archaeology at the University of Newcastle upon Tyne is known for his writings and broadcasting on the history of the British landscape. Mick Sharp, a professional photographer and archaeologist, runs a photographic library devoted to archaeology and the history of the landscape.

About this title

Book Description

A collection of stunningly atmospheric images of Britain's prehistoric past which, accompanied by authoritative text and lively commentaries that perfectly complement the images, will attract both connoisseurs of photography and lovers of archaeology and landscape.

About the Author

Peter Fowler absorbed the elements of field archaeology informally from several gifted teachers before he graduated in History at Oxford. Later he came under the inspiring influence of Colin Bowen, field archaeologist par excellence, who helped develop what became the author's lifelong interest in fields, farming and landscape. His principal career moves took him from the Royal Commission on Historical Monuments (England) into Adult Education at Bristol University - where he became Reader in Archaeology - back to the Royal Commission as Secretary, and then to the University of Newcastle upon Tyne as Professor of Archaeology. He eventually resigned his Chair to pursue full-time writing and research. This book is a sequel to The Farming of Prehistoric Britain (1983), also published by Cambridge University Press.

Edition details

• Publisher: Cambridge University Press
• Publication date: 1990
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0521356466
• ISBN 13: 9780521356466
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 224