A Distant Prospect of Wessex: Archaeology and the Past in the Life and Works of Thomas Hardy; By Martin JP Davies
A very long revue in Britarch on this thesis turned book (fascinating and readable) it traces the archaeological threads in Hardy's stories. Apparently he was friends with General Pitt Rivers (Britains first inspector of Ancient Monuments). Not sure if Hardy's house Max Gate was built on top of a neolithic monument, but there was a megalithic stone unearthed, which gave rise to the poem "The Shadow of the Stone".
Mandatory pic of Stonehenge on the front...
http://www.plodit.com/buy-a-distant-prospect-of-wessex-archaeology-and-t--9781905739417.html
Forgot about this thread or I would have posted a postscript that all three of the books I mentioned (On Deep History and the Brain, Conceiving God: The Cognitive Origin and Evolution of Religion, and especially After the Ice: A Global Human History 20,000-5000 BC) were fantastic, all have made a lasting impression. I can feel my brain subtly rewiring itself, long held opinions gently unravelling.
Steven Mithen’s After the Ice: A Global Human History especially is a close “must have” for anyone interested in the archaeology of this period. A fair few here I would think…
