This detailed and comprehensive book offers fresh research and analysis of the British provincial kings during the Roman occupation. The author's extensive knowledge and expertise in this field provides a high level of academic authority. Building on the discoveries made in Roman Sussex, this book develops the theme that southern Britain was not so much conquered by Rome, as liberated. Looking at new archaeological evidence, new readings of the primary historical sources and a new examination of the writings of 'British' sources (such as Geoffrey of Monmouth), Bloodline: Celtic Kings in Roman Britain provides a wholly alternative theory as to the creation of Roman Britain, its treaties, invasion and assimilation into empire, and the role of friendly client kings from the time of Julius Caesar (55-54 BC) to the reign of the emperor Hadrian

    This 'Celtic Atlantic Bronze Age' theory represents a major departure from the long-established, but increasingly problematic scenario in which the story of the Ancient Celtic languages and that of peoples called Keltoi 'Celts' are closely bound up with the archaeology of the Hallstatt and La Tene cultures of Iron Age west-central Europe. The 'Celtic from the West' proposal was first presented in Barry Cunliffe's Facing the Ocean (2001) and has subsequently found resonance amongst geneticists. It provoked controversy on the part of some linguists, though is significantly in accord with John Koch's findings in Tartessian (2009). The present collection is intended to pursue the question further in order to determine whether this earlier and more westerly starting point might now be developed as a more robust foundation for Celtic studies. As well as having this specific aim, a more general purpose of Celtic from the West is to bring to an English-language readership some of the rapidly unfolding and too often neglected evidence of the pre-Roman peoples and languages of the western Iberian Peninsula. Celtic from the West is an outgrowth of a multidisciplinary conference held at the National Library of Wales in Aberystwyth in December 2008. In addition to 11 chapters, the book includes 45 distribution maps and a further 80 illustrations. The conference and collaborative volume mark the launch of a multi-year research initiative undertaken by the University of Wales Centre for Advanced Welsh and Celtic Studies [CAWCS]: Ancient Britain and the Atlantic Zone [ABrAZo]. Contributors: (Archaeology) Barry Cunliffe; Raimund Karl; Amilcar Guerra; (Genetics) Brian McEvoy & Daniel Bradley; Stephen Oppenheimer; Ellen Rrvik; (Language & Literature) Graham Isaac; David Parsons; John T. Koch; Philip Freeman; Dagmar S. Wodtko.

    Over the course of millennia humans have manipulated Britain's fauna. For reasons of fear, suspicion, or desire, or simply inadvertently, certain species were brought to extinction. In their place new animals were introduced: some transported purposefully by invading populations, others sent as royal gifts from far off lands, while several species arrived as stowaways. The story of each is fascinating, telling of the changing and multi-layered relationship between humans and animals. Drawing on new research in the fields of archaeology, ecology and history, this book examines how human society, culture, diet, lifestyles and even whole landscapes were fundamentally shaped by the animal extinctions and introductions that occurred in Britain since the last Ice Age. In its 22 chapters, a wide range of mammal, bird, fish, snail and insect species are considered. All of the chapters include new and original research presented by authors who are acknowledged experts on their specific topic. Extinctions and Invasions advances our understanding of Britain's natural history while dispelling the myths that have become established in both popular and academic literature. It is written in a style accessible to the general reader, while providing the depth of research needed by academic researchers. Extinctions and Invasions provides a valuable single source of information for archaeologists, natural historians and conservation biologists, as well as interested laypeople.