Barry Cunliffe taught archaeology in the Universities of Bristol and Southampton and was Professor of European Archaeology at the University of Oxford from 1972 to 2008, thereafter becoming Emeritus Professor. He has excavated widely in Britain (Fishbourne, Bath, Danebury, Hengistbury Head, Brading) and in the Channel Islands, Brittany, and Spain, and has been President of the Council for British Archaeology and of the Society of Antiquaries, Governor of the Museum of London, and a Trustee of the British Museum. He is currently a Commissioner of English Heritage. His many publications include The Ancient Celts (1997), Facing the Ocean (2001), The Druids: A Very Short Introduction (2010), and Britain Begins (2012), all also published by Oxford University Press. He received a knighthood in 2006.

1. The Land and the People ; 2. The Domestication of Eurasia, 10,000-5000 BC ; 3. Horses and Copper: the Centrality of the Steppe, 5000-2500 BC ; 4. The Opening of the Eurasian Steppe, 2500-1600 BC ; 5. Nomads and Empires: The First Confrontations, 1600-6000 BC ; 6. Learning from Each Other: Interaction along the Interface, 600-250 BC ; 7. The Continent Connected, 250 BC-AD 250 ; 8. The Age of Perpetual War, AD 250-650 ; 9. The Beginning of a New World Order, AD 650-840 ; 10. The Disintegration of Empires, AD 840-1150 ; 11. The Steppe Triumphant, AD 1150-1300 ; 12. Looking Backwards, Looking Forwards ; Guide to Further Reading ; Index