Wilderlands The Human History of Wild Britain

About this book

When was Britain last truly wild? And what, if anything, remains? This is the unexpectedly human history of wild Britain.

In Wilderlands, archaeologist Eloise Kane unearths 12,000 years of our changing relationship with and influence on the landscape. Through prehistory, Roman occupation, the Middle Ages and beyond, we see the unfamiliar beasts of our old wild make way for species such as brown hare and fallow deer, now romanticised as eternal symbols of the British countryside, but introduced much later than we might think.

Places free from our influence haven't existed for a very long time. But Eloise Kane invites us to rethink our definition of the wild – not as separate from us. Seen anew as the result of millions of human lives lived, Wilderlands demonstrates how we are integral to the ecology and biodiversity of our land – with the power to shape its future.

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Biography

Eloise Kane is a historical archaeologist specialising in the relationship between landscapes, people, and animals. Her PhD examined the archaeology of hunting landscapes, funded by the AHRC. She is a Visiting Fellow at the Royal Agricultural University and an Associate Fellow of the Royal Historical Society.