CBA Book Wins Top Prize!
The CBA book Europe’s Lost World: The Rediscovery of Doggerland by Vince Gaffney, Simon Fitch and David Smith yesterday won the Best Archaeological Book prize at the prestigious British Archaeological Awards.
Author Vince Gaffney and the CBA’s Publications Officer, Catrina Appleby, collected the prize at the Awards ceremony held at the British Museum in London.
The book presents the results of the work carried out by a team from VISTA at the University of Birmingham to explore the land underneath the North Sea that was inundated at the end of the last Ice Age approximately 10,000 years ago. Using data collected for petroleum exploration, the project has been able to map the rivers, lakes and hill of this so-called ‘Doggerland’, an area the size of a small European country, that once linked us to the continent.
Speaking after the ceremony, Catrina Appleby said:
We are delighted to have won this award. It has been a privilege to work with the team from Birmingham University on such an important, ground-breaking project. This book is part of a new series by the CBA aimed at presenting cutting-edge research in an attractive and accessible form.
Co-author Professor Vince Gaffney, Head of Research and Knowledge Transfer at Birmingham Univeristy said:
We are delighted to have been given such a prestigious award and thank the Council for British Archaeology (CBA) and English Heritage for their support in publishing Europe’s Lost World. Future academic publications cannot simply be erudite or learned. In a period when higher education and research funding is under scrutiny we have an obligation to produce publications that are accessible, relevant to society and substantial in research terms.
Archaeology is well placed to do this. There is a profound interest in archaeology amongst the wider public and a desire to be well informed. We hope that Europe’s Lost World breaks new ground. The quality of the CBA’s publication is excellent, the research, funded by English Heritage, is, we believe, of the highest order, and the message of the book in respect of how humanity has reacted to massive climate change demonstrates that archaeology is not only relevant to contemporary society but essential if we are to understand future change.
The publication was supported by English Heritage and was designed by Carnegie Publishing.
Other award winners included Fin Cop – Solving a Derbyshire Mystery (Best Community Archaeology Project) and the Staffordshire Hoard (Best Archaeological Discovery). Visit the BAA website for full details.
The 2010 British Archaeological Awards ceremony was held as a major event as part of the Festival of British Archaeology 2010 which taking place until Sunday 1 August, and has over 750 events being held UK-wide. Find out what is happening near you!.
cite>Europe’s Lost World: The Rediscovery of Doggerland is published as part of the CBA’s Research Report series and can be purchased online.
