The Buried Soul: How Humans Invented Death

A coruscating, insightful history of the human soul. Cannibals, burials, vampires, human sacrifice, bog people – throughout history our ancestors have responded to death in numerous ways. The past has left us numerous relics of these encounters between the dead and those they leave behind: accounts of sacrifices in early histories, rituals that have stood the test of time, bodies discovered in caves and bogs, remains revealed by archaeological digs. Through these insights into the past, Timothy Taylor pieces together evidence of how our ancestors created their universe and asks how we have dealt with the idea of the end and slowly come to create not only a sense of the afterlife but also the soul. Taylor's investigation from the earliest remains of burial to funeral rituals in 9th-century Steppes and the mummification of Lenin in Moscow, is a breathtaking combination of research, insight and scholarship that has profound resonance today. Combining history, archaeology, philosophy, cutting edge science and autobiography, The Buried Soul is a radical and unique adventure into the sepulchral world.Constantly illuminating and insightful, it is not only a fascinating investigation into popular science but also a thought-provoking and discursive examination of ourselves.

Timothy Taylor is a lecturer in Archaeology at the University of Bradford and a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries.