REVIEW BY CHRISTOPHER EVANS
Thoroughly researched and well-written, this is simply a very good read, one informed by its author’s long experience of archaeological fieldwork. In it, Mackay tracks down the route of Boudica and her rebel followers, as well as the legions that tried and eventually succeeded in squashing the revolt. As its title announces, various journeys structure the account. Unlike, for example, W G Sebald’s and Robert Macfarlane’s renowned ‘walking books’, Mackay’s treks are not just by foot, but also by car, bicycle, and even train. Punctuated by extensive quotations from Tacitus’ and Dio’s accounts of the rebellion, these dual narratives – Classical sources and Mackay’s personal chronicle – are what drives the volume.
Clearly aimed at Boudican aficionados and ‘informed’ lay audiences, its format follows a pattern that for some time has been widely employed in more popular history. While accrediting relevant individuals and key publications, referencing proper is kept to endnotes (allowing the text to flow), and illustrations – one map aside – are confined to an eight-page colour-plate inset.
Arising from his archaeological background, Mackay has a well-honed eye for landscape, and is strong when exploring the nuances of site-find assemblages (for example, the Snettisham Hoard and Colchester’s Fenwick Hoard). His appreciation of below-ground depth, and the extent to which things lie buried and have been lost, is informative – particularly in the case of Londinium where, when descending into the Underground or a Marks & Spencer basement food hall, he relates their levels to what had lain there at the time of the revolt.
Dover boat & Newport Ship: Excavating the CA archive