"Throughout his life, the archaeologist, Deian, has been excavating different sites on the island, pretending to look for remnants of saints, while really hoping to find the remains of his mother, whose mysterious disappearance has never been solved. In the same way, many of the other characters are forced to 'excavate' themselves and their past, to peel away the layers and to see what is really there. It's also a metaphor for Welsh identity – the incessant digging that the Welsh are engaged in, longing for their past to explain their present. I also like the idea that the earth has its own secrets and that archaeologists spend their entire lives trying to uncover them – the earth knows what has gone before, and is much more knowledgable than the people who traipse around on top of it. But the metaphor is double-edged – the earth can't explain everything – and one needs to find a way to live life in the present, to tread ground that is new and untouched, to find a Welsh identity that looks to the future."
http://www.alcemi.eu/alc-book-twenty-thousand-saints.php
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