Sited at the furthest limits of the Neolithic revolution and standing at the confluence of the two great sea routes of prehistory, Britain and Ireland are distinct from continental Europe for much of the prehistoric sequence. In this landmark 2007 study - the first significant survey of the archaeology of Britain and Ireland for twenty years - Richard Bradley offers an interpretation of the unique archaeological record of these islands based on a wealth of current and largely unpublished data. Bradley surveys the entire archaeological sequence over a 4,000 year period, from the adoption of agriculture in the Neolithic period to the discovery of Britain and Ireland by travellers from the Mediterranean during the later pre-Roman Iron Age. Significantly, this is the first modern account to treat Britain and Ireland on equal terms, offering a detailed interpretation of the prehistory of both islands.

Author Biography

Richard Bradley is Professor of Archaeology at the University of Reading. A fellow of The British Academy and recipient of an honorary doctorate from the University of Lund, he is the author of Ritual and Domestic Life in Prehistoric Europe, The Past in Prehistoric Societies: An Archaeology of Natural Places, The Significance of Monuments, and Rock Art and the Prehistory of Atlantic Europe.