Publication 21st November 2024, Logaston Press
This long awaited new edition describes 100 of the most significant chambered tombs in Wales, in eight regional groupings. Author Dr George Nash discusses the Neolithic period and the five types of chambered tomb known from the time of our early farming ancestors.
The most conspicuous legacy of the Neolithic period (c.4,000–2,000 BCE) are the enigmatic tombs and monuments that mark the landscape, many characterised by their use of colossal stones – megaliths.
In Wales, more than 250 Neolithic burial-ritual sites endure, and this book explores 100 sites for which significant remains can be seen. The author examines the various regional architectural styles deployed to venerate and house the dead, identifying five different styles of chambered tomb – Portal Dolmens, the Cotswold-Severn tradition, passage graves, gallery graves and earth-fast monuments – and exploring why these different styles developed in the ways and locations they did. Following recent site analysis, this book presents the latest knowledge and understanding of monument construction, burial practices and rites during the Neolithic period.
Sample spreads…click to view
Richly illustrated with photographs, drawings and maps, this important and thought-provoking book provides startling insights and greater understanding of these enigmatic and spiritual sites.
Dr George Nash elaborates;
“This book is about the ritual and symbolic act of burial of the dead by our Neolithic ancestors. The evidence in Wales and in other Neolithic core areas of Western Britain for this can be seen through a series of monuments that are generically referred to as ‘stone burial chambered tombs’. Despite their heritage value, it is clear that the original meaning of these monuments is often not fully understood. By revealing the way these tombs were constructed, and using modern archaeological techniques to explore how they were used, this book aims to conjure an evocative picture of their purpose during this distant time.”
Dr George Nash is an Associate Professor at the University of Coimbra, Portugal, and an Honorary Researcher within the Department of Archaeology, Classics and Egyptology, University of Liverpool. Dr
Nash has directed excavations at many Neolithic burial-ritual monuments, and is the author of numerous books on the Neolithic and prehistoric, and contemporary rock art.
Format: 288 pages, 240 x 210 mm, c.300 colour photographs, illustrations, maps and plans
ISBN: 978-1-910839-72-0
Paperback with flaps: £25.00
Publication: 21 November 2024
Fully updated and revised 2nd edition: first edition published as The Architecture of Death, 2006
UK orders available from: logastonpress.co.uk
For a review copy, to contact the author or for further information, please contact Su Wheeler on 01544 327182, mobile 07957 898963 or email info@logastonpress.co.uk
