Beneath Our Feet: Everyday Discoveries Reshaping History
I could not resist this well-written and copiously illustrated book. The title gives only a small clue as to its purpose or content: Beneath Our Feet is not a geology or geoscience book, but I feel sure it will appeal to many readers of Geoscientist magazine. It explores English history through a selection of 39 archaeological objects from the Stone Age to the 1950s, written by two experts in their field at the British Museum – Lewis is Head of Portable Antiquities and Treasure, while Richardson is the Senior Treasure Registrar. The introduction by Lewis sets the scene: “Beneath our feet is another world, hidden from view, waiting to be discovered. It is a world of the past, where objects left behind give clues about those who were here before us – who they were and what their lives might have been like.”
Each object analysis includes full-page colour photographs, and it is these alongside the accompanying maps that first catch the eye. But then the reader will turn to the text, which is written in a popular yet academically rigorous style. Most of the objects are finds made by members of the public using metal detectors. As such, the book describes responsible use of metal detectors, as well as the legal and best practice obligations for reporting finds, illustrating the enormous archaeological and historical benefits of such processes and the research that flows from them.
I can imagine the lengthy discussions the authors must have had in making the selection of just 39 objects and deciding how to tell the stories that can be drawn from them about how the objects came to be in the ground and ultimately found. Strangely, although the book aims to cover England and Wales, only one of the objects is from Wales and none are from south-west England.
As Alice Roberts says in her foreword, the objects’ finders “haven’t hidden their finds away; they’ve shared them with all of us, and we are all the richer for it”. Geologists often have similar stories for the rocks, minerals and fossils that they have found, and I am sure that many, both amateur and professional, will agree with Mackenzie Crook who ends his foreword by saying: “To see these things in museums is inspiring. But to find them is to time travel.”
Beneath Our Feet is a well-produced, thought-provoking and informative book that is perhaps best dipped into over a cup of tea rather than being read from cover to cover. I’m pleased to have a copy in my bookcase.
Reviewed by David Shilston
DETAILS
By: M. Lewis and I. Richardson (2025). Thames & Hudson in collaboration with the British Museum, 272 pp. (hbk)
ISBN: 9780500027523
Price: £30 www.britishmuseumshoponline.org
