There have been many books about Birmingham's history but this one is different. It is based on the archaeological evidence from the first major excavations to be carried out in Birmingham city centre. The book is written in a lively, accessible style and contains over 100 illustrations, most in colour. It provides new evidence of Birmingham's origins and its growth as a market town and industrial centre in the medieval period. The book also offers a new perspective on the transformation of Birmingham into 'the first manufacturing town in the world' in the 18th and 19th centuries. A large part of the book is devoted to the excavation of St. Martin's Churchyard, which uncovered 857 burials - in simple graves and elaborate tombs - of the people who made the Industrial Revolution. The burials are explored in fascinating detail, together with analysis of the health of the population based on scientific study of the skeletons. New research reveals intimate details of the lives of the men and women of the town of a thousand trades. If you are interested in the history of Birmingham, this book is essential reading.

The sands and gravels laid down by rivers contain perhaps the most important archieves of the Ice Age that we possess, in the form of sediments, fossils and human artefacts. Quarrying opens up these archives. It enables Ice Age climates, environments, plants and animals to be reconstructed in remarkable detail. It shines a light on human evolution. However, quarrying is also destructive. Only if we know what to look for, and make a positive effort to adequately record and recover what is found, can the benefits of quarrying for research into the Ice Age be realised. This handbook, packed with practical information, and with more than 140 illustrations, contains full guidance on working in British quarries, what to look out for and what it can tell us, and how to record sites and finds.

Oxbow says: In 1999 excavations were held at Grange Park, Courteenhall in Northamptonshire by Birmingham University Archaeology Unit in advance of the re-development of the site. The project aimed to investigate the date and function of the various sites and features revealed, as well as the social organisation and economy of the site, from the first major occupation of the site in the middle Iron Age, to the early-middle Saxon period. This volume reports on the findings from the initial desk-based research, survey work, fieldwalking and test-pitting, and most especailly from the excavations carried out at the site. Reports on the pottery, including large quantities of Iron Age and Roman ceramics, metal, stone and clay finds, and on the envionment, people and economy, are included.

This study documents excavations by Peter Gelling of Prehistoric, Pictish, Viking and later remains at Skaill from 1963-1981. The earliest evidence of occupation was provided by ard-marks cut into the subsoil, which relate to cultivation in the Early-Middle Bronze Age. Two stone-built structures were also found, dating to the Late Bronze Age. Iron Age occupation centred on a substantial round house with adjoining structures. Continuity of occupation into the 7th/8th centuries was suggested by a handful of artefacts from both this and the Late Bronze Age settlement. Settlement of the Norse period was found at a third location, where a sequence of five superimposed buildings were uncovered and substantial remains of a medieval building overlay the Norse remains on another site.