Justin Pollard

"Wonders of the Ancient World" describes the most extraordinary feats of human engineering and design from across the globe, created between the dawn of human civilization and the onset of the Dark Ages. Author Justin Pollard looks at the problems that the ancients solved to build each wonder and introduces us to the travellers, both ancient and modern, who saw and rediscovered each site.

Todos los personajes, lugares y referencias históricas se recogen en este hermoso volumen lleno de fotografías inéditas del rodaje, así como comentarios de los actores y el equipo de producción que h

"The Story of Archaeology" tells the thrilling and fascinating tale of modern archaeology from its earliest beginnings to the present through 50 chronologically arranged profiles of iconic excavations - from the Dead Sea Scrolls to the Death Pit of Ur, from Machu Picchu to the Mary Rose, and from Hoxne to Hallstatt. Some of these are discoveries of the swashbuckling type - lost tombs filled with precious artefacts - but others consist of bricks and pieces of flint and pottery which have, in the story they tell, proved to be yet rarer and more valuable. Broken pots and test-tubes of ancient pollen can, after all, be just as much ''treasure'' as the mask of Tutankhamun, for they all tell a part of the story that helps us to understand who we are and how we got here. Each site profile is accompanied by boxed features shedding light on the archaeological techniques used then and now, describing the cultures that have been discovered and telling the personal stories of the people who discovered them. Helpful locator maps and informative timelines are included for every site.

Alfred is the only English king ever to be called 'Great'. It was not a title given by political supporters, not the sycophantic gift of an official biographer, nor a self-styled title. It was the gift of history.Justin Pollard's enthralling, authoritative account befits Alfred - a soldier, a scholar and statesman like no other in English history. His rule spanned troubled times. His shores were under constant threat from Viking marauders and he faced turmoil at home.Soon after he began his rule a conspiracy erupted and he was hounded out of his kingdom into solitary exile in forests and fens. But his ambition was not felled by adversity. Alone in this damp, dangerous, half-world of bogs and quicksand Alfred looked within and found the motivation to create a new type of nation.Drawing on the latest historical, textual and archaeological research Justin Pollard radically reassesses the key moments in Alfred's life. He offers a new interpretation of what caused this most remarkable king to begin the formation of England and how it coloured the subsequent history of the Western World down to the present day.