Buried: An alternative history of the first millennium in Britain

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There is a lot of Alice Roberts here, but we get a lot of careful tentative comment on Brexit, identities, how cruel the world is, how bad slavery is. Lucid and illuminating' Robert MacfarlaneFunerary rituals show us what people thought about mortality; how they felt about loss; what they believed came next. In the year 43 CE, the Roman Empire was no longer content with simply trading with the inhabitants of a large island lying off the northwest coast of Europe. Beginning chapters with a particular archaeological find, Roberts gently provides the historical context in an easily accessible narrative style.

The preceding centuries saw a gradual transformation of burial practices, as former out-of-town cemeteries fell into disuse, and churchyards became the final destination of choice. I enjoyed the links to modern life, although it seems the author was careful to avoid offering her views on Brexit, despite linking the end of the Roman Empire on these isles and its impacts to what is happening today. I love Alice Roberts, her enthusiasm, the depth and breadth of her knowledge and expertise, and the gift she has for bringing the past to life.

It seems that the Celtic root of the name simply means ‘water’ – just as uisge still means ‘water’ in Gaelic (as in uisge beatha, ‘water of life’ – whisky).

Togidubnus may have spent his childhood in Rome, as any good client king-in-waiting should do – being instructed in Roman ways just like the princes of the British Empire’s colonies being trained at Eton. Alice Roberts examines several unusual burials from Roman and medieval times, and uses them to illustrate the diversity and the history of the first millennium AD in Britain. Alice Roberts demonstrates how a close examination of ancient bones, including the fast-developing technology of extracting DNA from them, can build a picture not just of an individual? There are some written records from Roman Britain itself, but these are quite specialised and narrow in what they reveal.Again, these are often linked to military communities, but they do offer us different insights into life – for Roman officials and army personnel – in Britain. It's fully signposted and very sensiitvely done, but it's very much worth knowing that the opening is about child mortality.