This year’s winner of the Book of the Year award is  Shakespeare’s London Theatreland by Julian Bowsher.

A lively and popular guide to 16^th-17^th century London’s creative heartland, this book explores all the main performance venues of the period, drawing on excavations both old and new, from the Globe and the Rose to the recently rediscovered Curtain Theatre.

On receiving the award, Julian Bowsher said: ‘This award reflects the fact that Shakespeare and archaeology are two big subjects that the British public love. Shakespearean archaeology is a fantastic field, illuminating not just his life, but the theatres he worked in, and the lives of the actors who performed his plays, and there is a lot more to uncover for more years to come.

‘This award is an important accolade for Post-Medieval archaeology, and a testament to the hard work of a whole team of people at MOLA; archaeologists, finds specialists, illustrators, designers and editors.’

 

 

 

 

 

Below are all the nominees in this category:

	A Roman Frontier Post and its People: Newstead  1911-2011 (Fraser Hunter and Lawrence Keppie, CA 277) Published to mark the centenary of James Curle’s game-changing  excavation report on Newstead, this compilation  of papers by respected frontier scholars seeks to place the  Roman fort in the widest possible context, and to further  debate about a landmark site.
	The Romano-British Peasant (Mike McCarthy, CA 281) This interdisciplinary study brings life at the bottom of  the Romano-British pecking order vividly to life. The  author’s comparisons with the experience of Medieval  peasants may be controversial, but this is a thought-provoking  survey sure to stimulate valuable debate.
	Men from the Ministry: how Britain saved  its heritage (Simon Thurley, CA 282) Published in the midst of dramatic change for English  Heritage, this timely book explores both how state  protection for the historic environment and the magnificent  open-air museum that is the National Heritage  Collection have evolved — and why it is important.
	Shakespeare’s London Theatreland (Julian Bowsher, CA 282) A lively and popular guide to 16th- and 17th-century  London’s creative heartland, this book explores all  the main performance venues of the period, drawing  on excavations both old and new, from the Globe and  the Rose to the recently rediscovered Curtain Theatre.
	Under Another sky: journeys in Roman Britain (Charlotte Higgins, CA 283) This charming, Bill Brysonesque tour of Roman Britain  seamlessly crosses the road-trip and popular history genres.  Well-researched and often amusing, it offers a whimsical  look at our Roman heritage.
	Ancestral Journeys: the peopling of Europe from  the first venturers to the Vikings (Jean Manco, CA 285) A wide-ranging exploration of the ever-shifting kaleidoscope  that is the European gene pool, tracing waves of  migrants from the first modern humans to Viking colonists.  This is a skilful synthesis of the latest genetic research, combined with linguistics, archaeology, and climate studies.