The Great British Dig : History in Your Back Garden

Author: Duckworth, Dr Chloe

British & Irish history

Published on 3 March 2022 by Bloomsbury Publishing PLC (Conway) in the United Kingdom.

Hardback | 256 pages, Full colour photographs and illustrations throughout
202 x 252 x 29 | 1042g

The Great British Dig brings history and archaeology closer to home than ever before.

Each week a team of archaeologists (led by presenter Hugh Dennis) descend on streets and gardens the length and breadth of the country to discover the treasures we have been living right on top of without realising. In this official tie-in book, on-screen expert Dr Chloe Duckworth digs deeper into the sites the show visited, as well as giving practical tips and advice for anyone who wants to have a go themselves.

Uncovering a lost world of human stories just a few shovelfuls beneath our feet, Chloe explores the team's techniques in fascinating detail, offering new insights and explanations about the discoveries made. As well as revealing the actual frontier of the Roman Empire in Britain, the Tudor palace of an Elizabethan spymaster, a revolutionary Victorian prison, a Second World War military base, and a prehistoric village under a school playing field, Chloe includes lots of information for anyone wanting to give it a go themselves.

The book is packed with features, tip boxes and practical advice about digging in your own back garden, researching your local area for clues about what might have been there centuries ago, and dating things you may find. Highly illustrated, the book includes images never seen on screen, as well as archive photos and illustrations that bring history to life, and identification guides to bones, pottery, tools, coins and other things you might come across yourself.

Foreword by Hugh Dennis, presenter of The Great British Dig.