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A review by duchessofreadin
Ancestors: A prehistory of Britain in seven burials by Alice Roberts
4.0
While this was a very interesting read, I have a few reservations with some of the thoughts of the author.
First, we cannot place modern strictures on the past. While we see something as racist today, it was not then - and she refers to things often in one of her chapters - but as a historian, we cannot and should not place our modern rules on the past. We have to look at the way things were then. Second, she goes off on a rant on women's rights, different genders, etc. I passed over some of her rant, as - it really didn't have a bearing on this book at all.
Overall, taking out the things above, this was an interesting read. I enjoyed the details of the grave sites, and the items that were found within. There is much that we can learn from the past by looking in the graves (again, not placing modern strictures), and learning more about the peoples that were in our past. I really liked the descriptions of the goods that were found, and the condition of some of the bones that were described throughout. Brings some interesting theories on some of the pieces that were found.
First, we cannot place modern strictures on the past. While we see something as racist today, it was not then - and she refers to things often in one of her chapters - but as a historian, we cannot and should not place our modern rules on the past. We have to look at the way things were then. Second, she goes off on a rant on women's rights, different genders, etc. I passed over some of her rant, as - it really didn't have a bearing on this book at all.
Overall, taking out the things above, this was an interesting read. I enjoyed the details of the grave sites, and the items that were found within. There is much that we can learn from the past by looking in the graves (again, not placing modern strictures), and learning more about the peoples that were in our past. I really liked the descriptions of the goods that were found, and the condition of some of the bones that were described throughout. Brings some interesting theories on some of the pieces that were found.