Is a River Alive?

The Prologue traces the 12,000-year history of a spring near Cambridge, England. The narrative begins with glacial meltwater creating the first spring at the base of White Hill, establishing a natural cycle that would endure for millennia. Through successive civilizations—from Neolithic peoples who crafted tools nearby to Romans who venerated water goddesses—humans consistently recognized springs as sacred sites deserving reverence and offerings.

Macfarlane demonstrates how historical events repeatedly threatened this natural system. Medieval plague victims sought healing from the waters, while Reformation zealots destroyed holy wells as idolatrous sites. Industrial development brought new pressures as growing populations demanded water extraction, lowering aquifers and weakening natural flows. The author personally discovered these forgotten springs two years after moving nearby, becoming fascinated by their rarity as one of only two hundred chalk streams worldwide.

The prologue culminates in the devastating 2022 drought, when record heat reduced rivers globally and exposed hidden archaeological treasures in dried riverbeds. Macfarlane visited the nearly lifeless springs with his nine-year-old son Will, confronting the possibility that over-abstraction and climate change may have killed this ancient water source. This personal moment of witnessing environmental collapse frames the larger questions about water’s agency and survival that drive the book’s investigation.