Whilst it is not essential to do any background reading before the course begins, you may find it useful to do so. The reading list below contains books that you can read. You don’t have to read all of these and we don’t specify any that you must read. Instead, these are readings you can use to gain a preliminary understanding of topics, as well as to study in more depth those parts of the course you are particularly interested in. You may also want to take a look at magazines such as British Archaeology, World Archaeology and Current Archaeology.
Further suggestions about ways you can extend your understanding of topics through books, television etc may also be posted as appropriate here on the tutor’s personal blog, as well as on the WEA East Midlands Region History Space.
Cunliffe, B. 2013. Britain Begins. Oxford University Press.
Darvill, T. 2010. Prehistoric Britain. Routledge.
Gosden, C. 2003. Prehistory: A Very Short Introduction. Oxford University Press.
Malone, C. 2001. Neolithic Britain and Ireland. The History Press.
Miles, D. 2016. The Tale of the Axe: How the Neolithic Revolution Transformed Britain. Thames & Hudson Ltd.
Murphy. A. 2012. Newgrange: Monument to Immortality. Liffey Press.
Oliver, N. 2012. A History of Ancient Britain. W&N. (accompanies BBC TV documentary series of the same name. Documentary also available on DVD).
Parker Pearson, M. 2014. Stonehenge: A New Understanding. Experiment.
Pryor, F. 2004. Britain BC: Life in Britain and Ireland Before the Romans. Harper Perennial.
Richards, C, Jones, R and Jeffrey, S. 2016. The Development of Neolithic House Societies in Orkney. Windgather Press.
Thomas, J. 1999. Understanding the Neolithic. Routledge.
