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Before Scotland: The Story of Scotland Before History delves deep into the little-known world of the Picts, Scots, and others who lived before written records. It is a far-ranging book, jumping back and forth from a discussion of an ice age 24,000 years ago to a sidebar on the turn-of-the-century Russian painter Wassily Kandinsky. Scotland itself is the only connection between passages on the disparate topics of geology, ancient and modern history, archeology, biology, and anthropology. Before Scotland resists the current fashion in nonfiction to turn history into narrative. It generally reads like a graduate-level textbook, with a touch of bone-dry humor thrown in for good measure. In a typical reference-laden passage, the author describes a foreign name for Scotland, writing, "Lucan, Pliny the Elder, Tacitus and Ptolemy all wrote of Caledonia, and the name has shown considerable staying power. Not only has it survived in place-names like Dunkeld, the nearby mountains of Schiehallion and elsewhere, it is also frequently used in the brands of commercial companies as a pungent and meaningful alternative to 'Scotland' or 'Scottish.' And its poetic atmosphere is often found in popular music and poetry. Exiles appear to be homesick more readily for Caledonia." Occasionally witty and genuinely informative, Before Scotland will greatly interest historians, linguists, and anyone curious about how the natural world has evolved in Scotland through the centuries. --Jennifer Buckendorff
--Ce texte fait référence à l'édition
Relié
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Book Description
Dramatic geological events and impressive human endeavor—a revealing history of the land that became Scotland.
Alistair Moffat's gripping narrative begins 10,000 years ago, when the power of icebreak and meltwater at the close of the Ice Age produced the familiar Scottish geography of mountains, glens, flatlands, and rugged coasts. As the permafrost gave way to vegetation, herding animals moved north, closely followed by bands of hunters. In fact, modern DNA studies show that almost eighty percent of the present population of Britain are the direct descendants of these first hunter-gatherer-fishers.
By 3800 BC farmers had become established, creating remarkable timber halls—whose remains have newly come to light—and later the great standing stones at Callanish, the Ring of Brodgar, and elsewhere. And by the first millennium BC a sophisticated Celtic culture animated the whole island, reemerging in the fifth century AD after the brutal Roman occupation.
In the north of Scotland, Pictish culture flourished. Seen against the continuum of 8,000 years of prehistory, the Picts appear less mysterious, their beautiful, unique symbol stones forming a late sequence in a long tradition of sanctity. North Britain began to change into Scotland with the success of the Gaelic kings of Argyll—the name "Scot" originally meant a seaborne raider or pirate. By AD 900 King Constantine II had consolidated the ambitions of the Scots and created the basis of the polity that has come down to us.
One of the pleasures of this outstanding book is the light touch with which the author displays his breadth of knowledge, interweaving the main narrative with discussion of intriguing, often quirky topics such as cave drawings of dancing girls, natural birth control, the myth of Atlantis, and the Zoroastrian Towers of Silence. 20 color illustrations and 2 maps. --Ce texte fait référence à l'édition Relié .
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