Prof Alice Roberts (winner of Book of the Year) - credit Adam Stanford, www.adam-stanford.co.uk
Prof Alice Roberts (winner of Book of the Year 2025) via video message, with archaeologist and educator Julian Richards on stage. [Photo credit: Adam Stanford, www.adam-stanford.co.uk\]
A vividly written book by archaeological TV presenter, academic, and author Professor Alice Roberts, exploring the lives of ordinary people in the Middle Ages, has taken home a coveted prize at the annual Current Archaeology Awards.
Crypt: life, death, and disease in the Middle Ages and beyond traces tells the stories of long-vanished individuals and communities by focusing on human remains preserved in seven medieval burials.
Combining cutting-edge archaeological science with engagingly written analysis, Crypt follows on from Professor Roberts’ previous books on this theme (all published by Simon and Schuster): Ancestors: A look at Britain’s prehistory through seven burials,and Buried: An alternative history of Britain’s first millennium.
Crypt has now been recognised with a prestigious archaeological award, after coming top in a public vote. The trophy was presented by Julian Richards, an archaeologist and educator best-known for presenting the BBC’s Meet the Ancestors, at the annual Current Archaeology Live! conference in London on 1 March. Held in partnership with the UCL Institute of Archaeology, this year’s event hosted a record audience, with at least 600 in attendance at UCL’s Institute of Education.
Professor Roberts was not able to attend the event, but sent a video acceptance message, in which she said: ‘I am absolutely delighted that my book, Crypt, has won Current Archaeology’s Book of the Year. This means an awful lot to me, as an author, to have this accolade from the community, so I wanted to say thank you very much – I’m sorry not to be with you in person!’
This year’s Book of the Year Award was sponsored by Cardiff University BioArchaeology (CUBA)
Notes for Editors: Current Archaeology Awards
Crypt: life, death, and disease in the Middle Ages and beyond was reviewed in issue 410 of Current Archaeology: https://the-past.com/review/books/crypt-life-death-and-disease-in-the-middle-ages-and-beyond
The Current Archaeology Awards celebrate the people, publications, and projects that have made an outstanding contribution to archaeology, and have featured in the pages of CA over the previous 12 months.
This year’s Book of the Year Award was sponsored by Cardiff University BioArchaeology (CUBA).
Current Archaeology is the UK’s leading archaeology magazine, covering the latest archaeological discoveries in the UK and Ireland since 1967.
More information about the Awards, including the nominees and winners in all categories, can be found at www.archaeology.co.uk/vote