Roberts - The Celts : search for a civilization

Praise for Alice Roberts

Clear-spoken and enthusiastic Telegraph

The Celts are here and all around us, even today. The Romans might have tried to snuff them out, but the flames were not wholly extinguished. Alices book will make them easier to find Neil Oliver

She is a gift to broadcasting because she, like physicist Professor Brian Cox, is enthusiastic, easy on the eye and can explain complicated ideas with simplicity Radio Times

Robertss lightness of touch is joyous, and celebratory Observer

The biggest gap in biology is that between DNA (which is just chemistry) and living creatures. Somewhere, the answer must reside in the embryo and in this book Alice Roberts has set out to find it. With wit and enthusiasm, she succeeds Steve Jones Geneticist and author of The Single Helix

Alice Roberts is our preeminent science storyteller Adam Rutherford Geneticist, broadcaster and author of Creation

Televisions top osteoarchaeologist Mirror

About the Author

Alice Roberts is an anthropologist, osteoarchaeologist broadcaster, author and Professor at the University of Birmingham. She has presented Coast , The Incredible Human Journey and Digging for Britain on BBC2, and appeared as an expert on Time Team . She writes a regular column for the Observer and is passionate about various aspects of anthropology including human health, evolution and history. Her previous book The Incredible Unlikeliness of Being was shortlisted for the Wellcome Book Prize. She lives in the West Country with her husband, two children and a large variety of spiders.

Also by Alice Roberts

The Incredible Unlikeliness of Being: Evolution and the Making of Us

Evolution: The Human Story

The Incredible Human Journey

The Complete Human Body

Dont Die Young: An Anatomists Guide to Organs and Your Health

First published in Great Britain in 2015 by Heron Books

an imprint of

Quercus Publishing Ltd

Carmelite House

50 Victoria Embankment

London EC4Y 0DZ

An Hachette UK Company

Copyright 2015 Alice Roberts

Published by arrangement with the BBC.

The BBC logo is a trademark of the British Broadcasting Corporation

and is used under licence. BBC logo BBC 1996

Map illustrations 2015 Jamie Whyte

Chapter title illustrations Victor Ambrus

Images BBC and Alice Roberts unless otherwise stated

The moral right of Alice Roberts to be

identified as the author of this work has been

asserted in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act, 1988.

All rights reserved. No part of this publication

may be reproduced or transmitted in any form

or by any means, electronic or mechanical,

including photocopy, recording, or any

information storage and retrieval system,

without permission in writing from the publisher.

A CIP catalogue record for this book is available

from the British Library

HB ISBN 978 1 78429 332 1

EBOOK ISBN 978 1 78429 334 5

Every effort has been made to contact copyright holders.

However, the publishers will be glad to rectify in future editions

any inadvertent omissions brought to their attention.

Quercus Editions Ltd hereby exclude all liability to the extent permitted

by law for any errors or omissions in this book and for any loss, damage

or expense (whether direct or indirect) suffered by a third party relying on

any information contained in this book.

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

Typeset by Hewer Text UK Ltd, Edinburgh

Printed and bound in Great Britain by Clays Ltd, St Ives, plc

The ocean is in flood, the sea is full, delightful

is the home of ships,

The wind whirls the sand around the estuary,

Swiftly the rudder cleaves the broad sea.

Extract from an early Celtic poem

Song of the Sea

Contents

Celtic Timeline

BC