The Great British Dig: History in Your Back Garden

(Hardback)

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Description

Beneath our feet is a lost world of human stories, just a few shovelfuls away from being revealed for the first time in hundreds and sometimes thousands of years. When we think of archaeological digs we might imagine a muddy field, but in hit new TV show The Great British Dig, a team of experts descended on streets and back gardens the length and breadth of the country to discover the treasures we have been living right on top of without ever realising. In this book, The Great British Digs on-screen expert Dr Chlo Duckworth digs even deeper, exploring the teams techniques in more detail, and offering new insights and explanations about the discoveries made. This archaeological detective work sheds new light on the areas the show visited, revealing how people lived, what significant events occurred there, and how much truth there was behind local legends. As well as revealing Roman villas, Viking burial grounds, Norman castles, medieval monasteries, Tudor palaces, old prisons, secret Second World War military bases and prisoner-of-war camps, Chlo includes lots of information for anyone wanting to give it a go themselves. The book is packed with features, tip boxes and practical advice about digging in your own back garden, researching your local area for clues about what might have been there centuries ago, and identifying and dating things you may find. The book is highly illustrated, including some images never seen on screen, as well as archive photos and illustrations that bring history to life, and identification guides to pottery, tools, coins and other things you might come across yourself.

Reviews

A beautiful book, bursting with accounts of archaeological digs, practical information and rich historical context. It will be treasured by fans of history and archaeology. * Dan Snow, historian and TV presenter *
My first brush with the wonderful world of archaeology was, as a child, discovering tiny pieces of pottery in my own back garden. With excavations in gardens all over the UK, this book reveals the astonishing breadth of British archaeology in a brilliantly accessible way. * Professor Alice Roberts, anthropologist, author and TV presenter *
This book gives a brilliant blow-by blow account of how archaeologists approach excavations. By using a combination of science, interpretation and research it clearly shows how the process of archaeological digging actually happens and doubles up as a how-to guide. * Raksha Dave, President of the Council for British Archaeology *
BOOK OF THE MONTH - With fascinating explorations of sites from the show and advice on your own findings, The Great British Dig will help you to explore the fascinating history that can be found close to home. * Countryside magazine *
A joy to read. Beautifully presented and crammed with colour photos. Duckworths brightly conversational prose zips along, offering behind-the-scenes insights and dashes of humour. * Current Archaeology *
An accessible and engaging introductory handbook - a no-nonsense guide that is bound to get you thinking like an archaeologist and make you want to dive into some muddy detective work in no time. * Minerva *
An engaging, accessible introduction to practical archaeology, and arms the home enthusiast with the knowledge to start their own dig. * Who Do You Think You Are magazine *
A good archaeological primer. * British Archaeology *
Visually splendid. Enthusiastically written. Easy to follow. Lots of practical advice. Ground-breaking stuff. * Best of British *
Practical advice a must-read for fans of the series. * This England *
This book acts as a great reminder of why many of us fall for archaeology in the first placean accessible and engaging introductory handbook * Minerva *

Author Bio

Dr Chlo Duckworth is one of the expert co-presenters on The Great British Dig. She is a lecturer in Archaeology at Newcastle University, and posts popular archaeology-related videos on YouTube and TikTok as ArchaeoDuck. In 2017 she was part of the BBC Expert Women project and in 2019 she was a presenter at the New Scientist Live Show.