Britain 3000 BC

Rodney Castleden explores the purpose of great prehistoric projects like Avebury and Stonehenge and the nature of the society which built them

Were prehistoric people like us? How did they live, what did they think and how did they see their world?

3000 BC was a moment of great significance in the British Isles. Avebury, Stonehenge and many other major monuments were at vital stages in their construction and use at this time, while writing - often regarded as the ultimate hallmark of civilization - made its first appearance in Europe. Rodney Castleden uses the evidence of archaeological investigations to recreate the society, customs, economy, religion and ritual of Britain 3,000 years ago and to reveal the lost world of prehistoric people.

From the well-built stone houses of Skara Brae to the more primitive wooden huts of Honington in Suffolk, Britain 3000 BC enters the dwellings and lifestyles of neolithic communities and delves into the nature of their society. Trading networks which entailed remarkable journeys and the surge of monument building are, as Rodney Castleden reveals, further indications of the preoccupations and values of prehistoric people. Intricately decorated chamber tombs, long barrows and wooden mortuary buildings show a positive obsession with death. Willingness to engage in projects that individuals would never see completed - such as Stonehenge - and willingness to expend unlimited amounts of effort on their monuments reveal that our distant ancestors had an acute sense of place and a dawning sense of historic time.

Britain 3000 BC will be fascinating reading for everyone who is interested in prehistory, in archaeology and in the magnificent monuments this ancient society left behind.