HOMO BRITANNICUS: The Incredible Story of Human Life in Britain

For a good many schoolchildren [too many, IMV], the history of Britain begins with Julius Caesar crossing the Channel. Confronted by resistance by the "blue people", he forcefully pushed the Island Kingdom into the historical arena. This outlook is regrettably shortsighted, as Chris Stringer makes vividly clear in this stunning account of pre-historic Britain. Although the first early human finds didn't occur there, the concept of "Stone Age" was vigorously debated in Britain as the artefacts and fossils emerged in view, particularly in the 19th and early 20th Centuries. Moreover, it was British scholars like John Hutton and Charles Lyell who took the lead in extending the age of the Earth. That extension led to speculation and investigation of who and what had come before, demolishing the view of yet another Englishman, James Ussher who had postulated an Earth "created" in October of 4004 BCE. In short, stratigraphy began replacing Scripture.

Stringer explains how Britain was subjected to several "invasions" long before the Roman political martyr was glorified, then assassinated. These invasions weren't for booty or slaves, but for dinner. Changes in climate resulted in changes in sea level, with Britain forming a peninsula of Europe many times over the millennia. Another result of climate led to large parts of that peninsula being sheathed in ice, rendering it uninhabitable to human or other invaders. They made it, finally, with the first human artefacts being dated at 700 000 years ago. They weren't dining on mutton, however. It was deer, rabbits, and astonishingly, hippopotamus. The image Stringer offers of hippos crossing the Mediterranean and swimming along the Atlantic littoral to reach what is now Suffolk, isn't one easily dismissed from memory. They thrived in "Britain", along with wolves, lions and other tropical animals. And they were hunted by the humans who had followed them from Africa - albeit by a different route. Until the cold returned. Then it was reindeer, woolly mammoth and fur-bearing rhinos. As the ice advanced, such species, along with their hunters, vanished from the landscape.

These cycles of habitability over the British Peninsula have occurred several times just in the period of human occupation. The worst ice age there was 450 000 years ago, and it was severe enough to keep the peninsula free of humans for 50 thousand years after its retreat. After a temperate period allowing new settlement, humans were again pushed into Europe only twenty thousand years later. Other shifts led to inexplicable vacating by humans for a lengthy period, even though life abounded in Europe. Neanderthal arrived about 60 thousand years ago. A large-brained species, they worked out how to keep warm by burning bones in their hearths. The accumulation of fossil evidence, subject to close analysis and dating techniques, is providing an entirely new story of early human habitation in Northwest Europe. Mobility was a major factor - it's almost presumptuous to title this book "Homo Britannicus".

As a founder of the Ancient Human Occupation of Britain [AHOB] research project, Chris Stringer is at once one of the driving forces and spokesmen of studies of the distant human past. For a time, it seemed this span reached back half a million years, but a recent underwater find at Pakefield pushed the earliest date back another 200 millennia. Stringer handles such challenges with ease. He's able to convey to the reader immense time leaps, yet apparently not leaving any gaps in the narrative. The information about palaeoclimates, changes in the British - European shoreline are well explained and supported by excellent maps depicting the era under discussion. How long have we known that the Thames was once a tributary of the Rhine? There are photographs - some portentous - about the conditions in Britain over time. One of the photos shows the edge of a village which will soon drop into the sea as a new climatic event - this one human enhanced - brings the sea ever further inland. The message is clear - climate has cleared humans from Britain or encouraged their settlement more than once. What does today's climate change portend for the British Isles - and for the rest of us? [stephen a. haines - Ottawa, Canada]

Not an easy read but worth it (5/6 people found this helpful)

Buy this in hardcover, the paperback (which i ordered by mistake) is too small and the pictures are rubbish. Its not exactly good reading, I personally dont like his writing style- bit erratic and jumpy, but the book is definately worth persevering with if you want the most up to date work in this field- and Chris Stringer is most definately the major star in this field at the moment (i exclude a big bunch of frankly loony Americans and the equally looney but eminantly loveable Francis Prior) Its all a bit BRITAIN orientated, which seeing as we were just a peninsular of europe for most of our history is a tad weird, why set boundaries anachronistically?? It passed the test though- I put it down and wanted more, which is all i can ask really.

Enjoyable but Slight (2/5 people found this helpful)

Over the last half-million years, the climate of Britain has swung back and forth many times between ice ages and warmer, lusher inter-glacial periods. During several periods of warmer climate, early humans came and settled here, but when the ice returned they either died out or were driven out. The story of early humans in Britain is one of repeated re-colonisation. Miraculously, these early occupations have left traces that can still be found, almost all of them in the south-east of England - traces further north and west having been erased by the ice sheets. This amazing fact illuminates the whole of this little book.

This story, though, is only the intersection of two much bigger stories. The first is the shaping of our landscape through the ice ages, itself only the last chapter of a much longer story. The second is the development and spread of early humans, first in Africa, and then later on in Europe. Investigation of sites of human occupation in Britain has contributed to both of these, but in both cases the evidence from British sites has to be examined along with evidence from many other places. As a result, the chronological chapters which form the best part of this book have to cram in a lot of background information in a short space - about the succession of small mammal species, for example, or physical methods of dating sites. It's an enjoyable read, but it left me wanting more information about almost everything. The strict chronological format makes for a repetitious feeling - here come those voles again! Is it the publisher who assumed that a British book-buying public only wants to read about Britain, and isn't interested in a wider European story? If so, they are wrong, at least as far as this reader is concerned. The only way to make sense of a 200,000-year-old site in Britain is to place it in the context of sites of similar ages in other countries. This must surely be routine for professional archaeologists, so why do they think the rest of us aren't interested too?

These chapters make up a great half of a book, but the rest of it is much weaker. The historical introduction covers well-known ground, and could have been omitted. The chapter on global warming makes some good points, but it's too much for such a small book. The subject is fascinating, but does it have to be presented at a level suitable for a TV documentary? It could have done so much more, without putting people off.

A very entertaining read - recommended (4/4 people found this helpful)

Palaeontologist Stringer entertainingly tells the story of Human life in Britan over the past 700,00 years.
It's amazing to learn how us Britons dealt with such severe climate changes, and outstanding to think that hippos once swam in the Thames.
Fancinating read, well written, beautiful photography, with a power underlying message that our occupancy of these islands cannot be guaranteed for ever.

disapointing (2/8 people found this helpful)

Just an indepth History of Archeology in the UK. Great if your interested in Bones, but if like me you are interested in anthropology and sociology then give this book a miss.

HOMO BRITANNICUS: The Incredible Story of Human Life in Britain

Chris Stringer

Reader Reviews:

AHOB advances an alert (3/3 people found this helpful)

Not an easy read but worth it (5/6 people found this helpful)

Enjoyable but Slight (2/5 people found this helpful)

A very entertaining read - recommended (4/4 people found this helpful)

disapointing (2/8 people found this helpful)

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