Cyril Fox – författare

Originally published in 1950, this book was produced as a memorial for the leading Cambridge historian and literary scholar Hector Munro Chadwick (1870-1947). Written by former pupils of Chadwick at Cambridge University, the text contains numerous contributions on various aspects of early culture in Northwestern Europe. The contributions discuss Anglo-Saxon, Norse and Celtic history, together with archaeological discoveries. Illustrative figures are also included throughout. This book will be of value to anyone with an interest in Chadwick and the history of Northwestern Europe.

Sir Cyril Fox (1882-1967) was an archaeologist and later Director of the National Museum of Wales and President of the Museums Association. Having entered Magdalene College, Cambridge as a mature student, his first year dissertation was judged to be more suitable as a PhD thesis, which resulted in him progressing straight to his PhD. His doctoral thesis, reissued here, transformed archaeological thought when it was first published in 1923. In it Fox pioneered the geographical approach to analysing ancient settlement patterns, linking the expansion of human settlement in the Cambridge area from the Neolithic era to the Anglo-Saxon period with favourable environmental conditions. His thesis emphasised the importance of treating archaeological finds as clues to past human settlement instead of being the main focus for archaeological analysis. This approach became the methodological framework for later environmental and landscape archaeology.

This is a great work by one of the pioneers of modern archaeology. The period covered is from 1700 to 700 B.C. and is mainly concerned with the author’s field work in western Britain. It deals with burial ritual – dances, processions, "houses of the dead", the objects deposited, the building of the barrow; and it shows by line drawings and photographs how scientific excavation nowadays is planned and executed.The book gathers together an immense amount of research completed over a long span of years on burials and the ceremonial which attended them. Originally published in 1959.

This is a great work by one of the pioneers of modern archaeology. The period covered is from 1700 to 700 B.C. and is mainly concerned with the author’s field work in western Britain. It deals with burial ritual – dances, processions, "houses of the dead", the objects deposited, the building of the barrow; and it shows by line drawings and photographs how scientific excavation nowadays is planned and executed.The book gathers together an immense amount of research completed over a long span of years on burials and the ceremonial which attended them. Originally published in 1959.