Description
Britain’s pagan past, with its mysterious monuments, atmospheric sites, enigmatic artifacts, bloodthirsty legends, and cryptic inscriptions, is both enthralling and perplexing to a resident of the twenty-first century. On this ambitious and thoroughly up-to-date book, Ronald Hutton reveals the long development, rapid suppression, and enduring cultural significance of paganism, from the Paleolithic era to the approaching of Christianity. He draws on an array of recently came upon evidence and shows how new findings have radically transformed understandings of belief and ritual in Britain before the coming of organized religion.
Setting forth a chronological narrative, along the best way Hutton makes side visits to explore specific locations of ancient pagan activity. He includes the well known sacred sites―Stonehenge, Avebury, Seahenge, Maiden Castle, Anglesey―in addition to more difficult to understand locations around the mainland and coastal islands. In tireless pursuit of the elusive “why” of pagan behavior, Hutton astonishes with the breadth of his figuring out of Britain’s deep past and inspires with the originality of his insights.
