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Homo Britannicus. the Incredible Story of Human Life in Britain Chris Stringer London: Allen Lane, Penguin Group, 2006, 319 Pp

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Homo Britannicus. the Incredible Story of Human Life in Britain Chris Stringer London: Allen Lane, Penguin Group, 2006, 319 Pp Homo Britannicus. The Incredible Story of Human Life in Britain Chris Stringer London: Allen Lane, Penguin Group, 2006, 319 pp. (hardback), £25.00. ISBN-13: 9780713997958. 242 pp (paperback), £8.99. ISBN-13: 9780141018133. Reviewed by JOHN MCNABB Centre for the Archaeology of Human Origins, University of Southampton, Hampshire SO17 1BJ, UNITED KINGDOM; [email protected] should lay my cards on the table at the outset. I am an must confess I get a little annoyed. Yes, current AHOB per- I ‘associate’ of the Ancient Human Occupation of Britain sonnel may have worked on the sites (in some cases be- (AHOB) project, but I am not an employee, nor do I re- fore they were AHOB members), but so have a lot of other ceive any financial assistance from them. Associates can be people; so these are definitely not AHOB sites. This is not called on if there is need for their expertise (which in my the place to enlarge on this point other than to highlight a case there is not). I wanted to make this clear in case any- general concern (one that I have heard from other people as one visiting the AHOB website wonders what an associate well). How we present the subject to the general public is of the project was doing reviewing a project book. important and must be done carefully. Reading this book It is also important to situate the book in its appropri- you could easily walk away from it with a belief that only ate context right from the beginning. The book is intended AHOB is working in the subject, or perhaps that AHOB are as a popular review of the evidence for the Paleolithic occu- the only ones doing the cutting edge research these days. pation of Britain. It is found in the popular history section, I am sure no one in AHOB or anyone else in the ‘know’ or ‘pop science’ shelves of major book retail chains. One of believes that, or would want to give that impression to the its other agendas is to promote the AHOB project, which it general public. The reason we need to be careful is that does very effectively. whether we intend it or not, books like this do influence A short prologue sets the scene for the chapters how the public perceive our subject. The public represent that follow, laying out the scope and general pattern the our ultimate paymasters. Politicians (only interested in ex- book will follow. Then comes an introduction to the history ploitable short-term results) and those who represent the of the study of human origins (particularly in Britain). This public’s interest are the conduits through which funding is largely focused on the accepted version of events and de- reaches the discipline. As non-specialists they too are in- veloped through personalities and key figures rather than fluenced by what they read. It does not take a big stretch of broader historical processes, but none the worse for that. the imagination to conceive of public and private funding It is a good solid chapter with a fair balance of paleoan- bodies coming to believe that in times of financial difficulty, throplogy and archaeology. Why it is an introduction is the best work can only be done through large all-inclusive beyond me, it should have been the first chapter. projects that effectively preclude the smaller projects from Chapter 1 looks at the earliest occupation of Britain access to ever dwindling resources. prior to the Anglian glaciation of ca. 450,000 years ago. It The next chapter uses the Anglian glaciation as a sets the scene with some dramatic hominin fossil discover- springboard to introduce glacial theory, notions of orbital ies from Dmanisi in Georgia, Atapuerca in Spain, and else- forcing, and a basic introduction to the cyclical nature of where, then moves on to equally dramatic archaeological Pleistocene climate. I can imagine this is a difficult chapter and paleontological discoveries from the rapidly eroding to write, the hard thing to decide is just what to leave out, cliff-line of East Anglia, eastern England, where AHOB ex- while including enough to make sure the punter has got cavations have taken place. The sections are clearly written the big picture. To my mind this chapter is a little rushed and informative, and much of it will be new to interested and does not quite succeed in this, but it is very much a members of the general public, so the chapter acts as an matter of personal opinion. What might have helped was a important platform for bringing out data that has up until diagram of glacial/interglacial time. The classic AHOB dia- now only circulated in the specialist literature or more fo- gram is present in the back of the book (p.300 in the hard cused student text books. It presents this information in an back), but it is not really referenced enough in the text, and easily digestible form. it does not convey the glacial vs. interglacial character of But here I will highlight my first criticism of the Pleistocene climate all that well. This can be difficult for book. There is a tendency in the chapter, and indeed then non-specialists to engage with at first, and a simple but throughout the book, to focus on AHOB contributions clear visual aid memoir, which runs through a text can make only. Obviously in a promotional vehicle this is to be ex- all the difference. pected, but other work and other workers are not credited On the other hand the chapter engages with detail and as much as they should be in my opinion. When I read that gives the reader data, while discussing the framework in sites like High Lodge and Warren Hill are AHOB sites, I which it is set. This engagement with detail is a very strong PaleoAnthropology 2009: 266−268. © 2009 PaleoAnthropology Society. All rights reserved. ISSN 1545-0031 doi:10.4207/PA.2009.REV75 BOOK REVIEW • 267 plus-point for this chapter and is, equally, a hallmark of the Britain and the British Creswellian and later assemblages. whole book. Stringer is to be congratulated for resisting the Much of this is drawn from Stringer’s pre-AHOB days and temptation to write a ‘low-fat’ sound bite style pop-science represents work that he and colleagues such as Roger Ja- text. The public is smart and it can cope with complexity; it cobi, Andy Currant, and others have developed over many deserves more books like this. years. These two chapters say a lot more, because there is Chapter 3, ‘The Great Interglacial,’ is a solid rendering more to be said. There is also some interesting detail and of much of the basic information on MIS 11, using Swans- speculations, and some new observations on the discover- combe as the springboard this time. The chapter links to ies in Gough’s Cave at Cheddar—at least I had not come Homo heidelbergensis, and the archaeology discussed is that across them before (I also was not aware that Kendrick’s of this particular hominin. Again there is attention to detail, Cave in Llandudno, North Wales, was considered contem- and I think a successful attempt to framework this in terms porary with the Creswellian!—though the grounds for this of H. heidelbergensis behavior. It is appropriate here to men- were not made clear ). The chapter concludes with a good tion the figures and plates. In the hardback they are just summary of the DNA evidence for the post-glacial occupa- fantastic. Clear, large format images, and positioned well tion of Britain by successive haploid groups. This really is so as to enhance the text. I thought the placement of the fascinating stuff, and its write-up is simple but informative. images in this chapter were the most effective of the whole Again, throughout these chapters there is detail and data, hardback edition. Do I have a gripe about this chapter? and, refreshingly, ambiguity in the record is not ignored or Well, yes. Brushing aside occasional AHOB imperialism papered over. (you would think the only valuable work done at Hoxne For the more traditionally minded Paleolithic archae- was AHOB’s! – not that it was not good), this chapter fair ologist, Chapter 7, on the impact of modern global climate screamed for a river terrace diagram and some background change may seem out of place, but I think it is very much in explanation. I think an important gap in the book as a whole place. It is a chilling read, and Stringer is quite uncompro- is the lack of engagement with geology and, in particular, mising. Politicians, the God-like power the market place river terrace data. This is so central to what we do that it seems to hold over the modern mind, and old-fashioned should have been integrated into the text more—AHOB is greed (on the part of all of us) are the stumbling blocks not short of geologists, on the contrary it has got some quite to essential change. The book was published before G.W. good ones. Bush and the Republican party lost the American election, Chapter 3 closes with Levallois and the theme is picked but Stringer highlights comments by the then president de- up in the next chapter. Without a simple glacial/intergla- nying the reality of climate change, and intimates that his cial diagram some readers may loose the progression from senior science advisors appeared more motivated by con- briefly introduced Levallois and MIS 9 (end of Chapter 3), cerns over the global markets than the cost to our grand- into Purfleet (continuing MIS 9) at the start of Chapter 4, children‘s quality of life.
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