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A personal and lyrical rediscovery of the history of England through archaeology and the imagination.
Born in 1947 Richard Morris grew up in Birmingham and studied English at Oxford. He began his career in archaeology as a member of the team excavating under York Minster in 1971. In the 1990s he was director of the Council of British Archaeology, where he helped to launch the popular magazine BRITISH ARCHAEOLOGY. He has taught at the universities of York, Leeds and Huddersfield. He is a Frend Medallist of the Society of Antiquaries of London. In 2003 was appointed OBE for services to archaeology. His interests in churches, settlement, historical topography, cultural history and aviation are reflected in many essays, articles and books. He lives in Yorkshire.
The press release for this remarkable book announces that it
'defies categorisation'. It is not wrong. Longlisted for the Samuel
Johnson prize, Time's Anvil contemplates what is now England over a
span of 750,000 years.
Sometimes we are left with snapshots, including the varying view
from Paviland Cave over the last 29,000 years; elsewhere the text
lingers, as with the felling of the Old Wood. Along the way we meet
eminent practitioners of many disciplines, as archaeology itself
emerges and the stories it tells evolve. 'Archaeology', we are
told, 'might be seen as but a late ripple in the cult of
ancestors'. An acquired taste, perhaps, but presenting archaeology
in this way has created an especially thought-provoking read
*ARCHAEOLOGY.CO.UK*
This is a remarkable, and in many respects a very courageous book -
he puts himself on the line
*THE TIMES*
For Morris, this book is an 'expedition' into the past, and as such
it is both expansive and singular. But TIME'S ANVIL is also an
impassioned history and defence of archeology, a history of
humanity in England, and a heartfelt meditation on transience and
mortality
*INDEPENDENT*
[An] undeniably curious book...the story of archeology, mixed with
the author's personal and family history, and interspersed with a
smattering of scientific discourse, and a fair bit of poetry
*BBC HISTORY*
I should have told you about this superb piece of work months
ago... It is a wonderful reminder of the extent of human knowledge
and how little we can know about our own past. It is possible to
hold a Saxon's helmet in your hand but you can't hear the man who
wore it speak. This is a wise book, worth the investment.
*THE BIG ISSUE*
This fascinating book - a combination of the author's autobiography
and a biography of the science of archaeology in England since the
17th century - suggests that some historical truths are found and
proved, rather than created, by archaeology
*CHURCH TIMES*
Combining literature and myth with science, it explores how the
past is read and the relevance and role of archaeology while
challenging assumptions about our history
*CHOICE*
A richly textured, and very moving, hybrid of a book: silted,
layered, as studded with jewels as the mud around an Anglo-Saxon
tomb. The ground beneath your feet - or the keepsakes cleared from
a relative's home - will never feel the same again,
*Boyd Tonkin, INDEPENDENT*
This book allows us to regain possession and to make archeology
personal again.
*THE TIMES*
He makes the point that history is always changing, as we find new
things, or come to see old things in new ways.
A thoughtful book, intelligent book.
*THE SCOTSMAN*
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