Defined By Stones: 50 Extraordinary Rocky Places That Connect Our Prehistoric Ancestors To Northern Landscapes
Defined by Stones is a companion to four previous books by Ian Jackson on “extraordinary rocky places” in Northumberland, Cumbria, Durham and the Roman northern frontier. This latest book extends across much of the same geographical area but also has forays into North Yorkshire. The 50 sites, selected for their significance in illustrating diverse connections between the landscape and its early occupants, are placed into four main categories: freeze and thaw; shelter and defence; implements; and ritual. The first eight sites are entirely non-anthropogenic in origin, which may seem strange given the topic, but aim to set the scene of natural climatic and vegetational change encountered by earlier settlers to this region.
A great selling point are the excellent colour photographs, with the A4 landscape format using high-quality paper conducive to showing them at their best. The majority of images have been taken by the author, along with some from drones and museum collections. Each site covers a couple of pages, with a short explanation of its significance along with smaller illustrations and topographic maps.
The jargon-free descriptions for each site are typically well-crafted and very much aimed at non-specialists. Trained geologists and archaeologists may argue that the introduction to geochronological and archaeological time and descriptions of the geological evolution of the region are overly simplistic, but they are designed to provide just enough information to the intended audience.
Jackson is quite open about ongoing uncertainties in interpretations and at times raises the request for greater cross-disciplinary studies. Links to other resources are limited to a page of QR codes to high-level organisations that provide useful information, but there is no guidance for those interested in a particular site. This may not matter to many readers, but would be frustrating to those wanting more detail.
Many of the sites may be subtle, less famous than equivalents in southern Britain. However, the descriptions make clear that they are no less interesting. Despite aiming to encourage the general public to explore the landscape of northern England in greater depth, many geologists and archaeologists will still find value and inspiration through adding this book to their collections.
Review by Colin Waters
DETAILS
BY: Ian Jackson (2025) Northern Heritage Services Limited, 114 pp. (pbk)
ISBN: 9781739486181
PRICE: £12 northern-heritage.co.uk
