Sponsor of the 2020 Book of the Year Award
Life and death in the countryside of Roman Britain wins Current Archaeology‘s prestigious Book of the Year award for 2020
Winner of the award for Book of the Year 2020 was Life and death in the countryside of Roman Britain, by Alexander Smith, Martyn Allen, Tom Brindle, Michael Fulford, Lisa Lodwick, and Anna Rohnbogner, published by the Society for the Promotion of Roman Studies. This final volume in the New Visions of the Countryside of Roman Britain series concentrates on poorer rural populations, exploring evidence for themes including clothing, diet, religion, and health.
Accepting the award were Mike Fulford, Tom Brindle, and Martyn Allen. Mike said: “It’s a wonderful tribute to an amazing project, and it’s lovely to have recognition for the final volume of the project.”
Below are all the nominees in this category:
Excavations at Oxford Castle, 1999-2009
J Munby, A Norton, D Poore, and A Dodd (eds)
Published by Oxford University School of Archaeology
(CA 356)
This absorbing book presents the results of a decade of work at Oxford Castle, from Anglo-Saxon defences to a post-medieval execution cemetery and 18th- and 19th-century prison reform.
Read the full review here.
The Beaker People: isotopes, mobility, and diet in prehistoric Britain
M Parker Pearson, A Sheridan, M Jay, A Chamberlain, M Richards, and J Evans (eds)
Published by Oxbow Books
(CA 354)
This substantial volume presents impressive data with nuanced interpretations and is essential reading for anyone wishing to understand the Beaker phenomenon.
Read the full review here.
Formative Britain: an archaeology of Britain, fifth to eleventh century AD
Martin Carver
Published by Routledge
(CA 352)
This sweeping book presents a comprehensive account of Britain’s early medieval past, illuminating its people and settlements and proposing a thought-provoking chronology.
Read the full review here.
The Pioneer burial: a high-status Anglian warrior burial from Wollaston, Northamptonshire
Ian Meadows
Published by Archaeopress
(CA 352)
An informative book drawing together evidence from the excavation of this richly furnished 7th-century burial and analysis that has shed light on its warrior occupant.
Read the full review here.
Neolithic and Bronze Age Funerary and Ritual Practices in Wales, 3600-1200 BC
Geneviève Tellier
Published by BAR Publishing
(CA 349)
For the first time, all available human burials from the middle Neolithic to the middle Bronze Age in Wales have been catalogued, analysed, and presented in one volume, with meticulous detail.
Read the full review here.
Neolithic Britain: the transformation of social worlds
Keith Ray and Julian Thomas
Published by Oxford University Press
(CA 348)
This work offers a new approach to the Neolithic, focused on links between domesticity and death and burial, and provides an up-to-date overview of the period and what it represents.
Read the full review here.
Life and Death in the Countryside of Roman Britain
A Smith, M Allen, T Brindle, M Fulford, L Lodwick, and A Rohnbogner
Published by Society for the Promotion of Roman Studies
(CA 347)
This final volume in the New Visions of the Countryside of Roman Britain series concentrates on poorer rural populations, exploring evidence for themes including clothing, diet, religion, and health.
Read the full review here.
Legacies of the First World War
Wayne Cocroft and Paul Stamper (eds)
Published by Historic England
(CA 346)
This thought-provoking and well-illustrated book explores England’s coastal defences, war hospitals, memorials, and practice trenches.
Read the full review here.
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