Seahenge: New Discoveries in Prehistoric Britain - Review

Contemporary Review, Sept, 2001

Seahenge: New Discoveries in Prehistoric Britain. Francis Pryor. HarperCollins. [pound]19.99. 337 pages. ISBN 0-00-710191-0. The author of this book is a well established authority on excavations of Bronze Age religious sites and on religion in the British Isles during that period. In 1998 a circle of prehistoric timbers was exposed by the tides on a Norfolk beach. The circle, soon to be nicknamed 'Seahenge' was not unique but it was to involve Mr Pryor in a voyage of discovery. In this book he records not only his work at Seahenge but his experiences as an archaeologist working at four specific sites. His experiences lead him to suggest that religious changes at the end of the Bronze

Age, say 700 BC, meant that religion was becoming more social and less family centred. He argues that this reflects the growth of larger social units, that is, villages and towns, which replaced more isolated farms, and shows a new emphasis on power and authority. Even so, there was no organised religion as we know it today. Dr uid 'priests' are myths and there was no one religion in pre-Christian Britain. Archaeology has never been made more interesting.