David Miles was the Director of the Oxford Archaeological Unit for many years, and worked on projects in Britain, France, Greece and the West Indies. In 1999 he became Chief Archaeologist at English Heritage, where he developed a maritime archaeology unit and a project to study the impact of slavery in England. He has written many books on archaeology, particularly on the Roman and Migration periods in Britain, and one on the origins of the British, The Tribes of Britain.
'Illuminating … As layered as the strata of an archaeological dig, this is a moving portrait of a people at a cultural and technological tipping point' - Nature 'Colourful and lively writing and an eye to current issues and idioms play their part … This is first-person scholarship at its most humane' - Literary Review '[Miles] presents his scholarly findings with glints of good-humoured individuality which make his book pleasantly readable, even by lay persons' - Spectator 'David Miles takes this archetypal artefact as a launchpad to explore a vast sweep of prehistory[…] with absorbing detail and an amiable turn of phrase … this new edition includes a thought-provoking afterword that brings the story up to date' - Current Archaeology