Dark Side of Prehistoric Britain

After Dark: Myths, Misdeeds & the Paranormal

History Hit

History, Folklore, Society & Culture, Myths, Ghosts, True Crime, Murder, Mystery, Ufos, Paranormal, Supernatural, Serial Killers

4.7 • 2.1K Ratings

🗓️ 27 April 2026

⏱️ 44 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Across prehistoric Britain people raised vast stone circles, buried their dead in monumental tombs, and left offerings in rivers and bogs. Archaeologists have uncovered skeletons bearing signs of violence, carefully arranged human bones, and bodies that may have been killed in ritual…

Out guest today is fan favourite Ronald Hutton. Ronald is a returning guest, having been on numerous episodes of After Dark including the the Execution of Charles I and the Dark Side of the Celts.

Edited by Hannah Feodorov. Produced by Tomos Delargy. Senior Producer is Freddy Chick.

For tickets to see Anthony and Maddy talking about her new book, Hoax, click here: https://www.conwayhall.org.uk/whats-on/event/hoax/

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All music from Epidemic Sounds.

After Dark: Myths, Misdeeds & the Paranormal is a History Hit podcast.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Hello everyone, it's me, Maddie. I am back. Well, not quite. I will be back on the pod very soon. But in the meantime, if you've missed your fix of Anthony and me together, you can now catch us live on stage at Conway Hall in London on the 7th of May. There we'll be discussing my brand new book,
0:22.4	Hoax, Truth and Lies in the Age of Enlightenment, out that very same day. We'll be discovering
0:28.7	how fake news is nothing new, chatting about what it's like to spend time in the darker side
0:34.6	of the Georgian world, and meeting the three extraordinary, bizarre and
0:39.3	often frightening characters at the heart of the book. Cops of hoax will be available on the
0:44.9	night, which I'll be signing after the show and hopefully chatting to as many of you as possible.
0:49.6	So get your tickets now. The link is in the show notes. You can go to the Conway Hall website
0:53.7	or follow the link in my Instagram bio. I link is in the show notes. You can go to the Conway Hall website or follow
0:54.3	the link in my Instagram bio. I'm so excited about this book and I just can't wait to share it
1:00.4	with you all. Do come along. It is going to be the most fantastic evening. See you there. Before castles, before kings, before the Romans, prehistoric Britain was a land of tribes,
1:20.7	ritual and survival. Across open plains and dense forests, people raised massive stone circles,
1:27.4	ceremonially buried their dead
1:29.3	in great Neolithic tombs and preserved them forever in the dark bogs. Were these sacred acts of
1:36.8	devotion or something darker, archaeologists have uncovered evidence of human bones with butcher
1:42.5	marks? But what do these discoveries really mean?
1:46.6	Did prehistoric Britons practice human sacrifice or even cannibalism?
1:52.4	In this episode, we travel back thousands of years to uncover the beliefs and the bloodshed
1:57.9	behind prehistoric Britain's most haunting mysteries.
2:01.6	The Hello and welcome to After Dark.
2:31.6	Now, you may have noticed recently that I am currently flying solo because
2:35.3	Maddie is mining for gold in South America, but we are going to have plenty of adventures
2:41.6	together between now and the time when she gets back. And in this episode, we have a real treat for you.
	...

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