Sited at the furthest limits of the Neolithic revolution and standing at the confluence of the two great sea routes of prehistory, Britain and Ireland are distinct from continental Europe for much of the prehistoric sequence. In this landmark study, Richard Bradley offers an interpretation of the unique archaeological record of these islands. Highlighting the achievements of its inhabitants, Bradley surveys the entire archaeological sequence over a 5,000 year period, from the last hunter-gatherers and the adoption of agriculture in the Neolithic period, to the discovery of Britain and Ireland by travellers from the Mediterranean during the later pre-Roman Iron Age. His study places special emphasis on landscapes, settlements, monuments, and ritual practices. This edition has been thoroughly revised and updated. The text takes account of recent developments in archaeological science, such as isotopic analyses of human and animal bone, recovery of ancient DNA, and more subtle and precise methods of radiocarbon dating.

/pdf/the-prehistory-of-britain-and-ireland-2rnt3w8lpi.pdf

The Prehistory of Britain and Ireland

This paper presents a critical history of the concept of ‘structured deposition’. It examines the long-term development of this idea in archaeology, from its origins in the early 1980s through to the present day, looking at how it has been moulded and transformed. On the basis of this historical account, a number of problems are identified with the way that ‘structured deposition’ has generally been conceptualized and applied. It is suggested that the range of deposits described under a single banner as being ‘structured’ is unhelpfully broad, and that archaeologists have been too willing to view material culture patterning as intentionally produced – the result of symbolic or ritual action. It is also argued that the material signatures of ‘everyday’ practice have been undertheorized and all too often ignored. Ultimately, it is suggested that if we are ever to understand fully the archaeological signatures of past practice, it is vital to consider the ‘everyday’ as well as the ‘ritual’ processes which lie behind the patterns we uncover in the ground.

https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/S1380203812000141

Odd deposits and average practice: a critical history of the concept of structured deposition

Soils of the British Isles.

The book draws on evidence from landscape archaeology, palaeoenvironmental studies, ethnohistory and animal tracking to address the neglected topic of how we identify and interpret past patterns of movement in the landscape. It derives inspiration from recent writing about landscape, place and routes and anthropological concepts relating to movement.

The premise is that archaeologists tend to focus on ‘sites’ while neglecting the patterns of habitual movement that made them part of a living landscape. It considers evidence for routes by which past communities moved through landscape, establishing connections between the foci represented by sites and creating axes of communication. These may be perpetuated over long timescales, creating landscape structures which influence the activities of subsequent generations. The ways in which routes are established by people are considered, including the effect of frequented routes by wild animals. 

Palaeoenvironmental and ethno-historical evidence from the American north west coast is drawn on to demonstrate how effects on vegetation by burning, grazing, faeces deposition, and transplantation can create readable routes along which there are favoured resources. European evidence provides hints of relevant patterns on a wide range of spatial scales. On the local scale are the Mesolithic footprint trails in the Severn Estuary which help to establish the locations of lost settlements and the habitual patterns of Mesolithic daily life. Wooden trackways in wetlands likewise provide evidence of favoured patterns of movement and past settlement location. Alignments of barrows, enclosure entrances, trackways through fields and sometimes the locations of major ritual complexes can provide evidence of district or greater scale patterns of movement. The supposed ancient origins of Ridgeways are critiqued, it is suggested that transhumant routes at right angles to topography may often be earlier and more significant. Scientific approaches to dating hollow ways are outlined. Ways in which more long distant routes can be identified are considered, both overland and at sea. It aims to position the neglected study of past routeways at the centre of archaeological discourse.

Making One's Way in the World: The Footprints and Trackways of Prehistoric People

This paper considers recent discussions of 'deliberate', 'formal', 'placed', 'special', 'structured', or 'token' deposits on later prehistoric settlements in Britain. It argues that while these concepts have certainly been very important in raising and forefronting the interpretative possibilities that depositional practices might offer, the idea of structured deposition has, at times, been adopted and applied somewhat simplistically. In such instances, exploration of the potential complexity and interpretative scope of depositional histories on later prehistoric settlements has been substantially curtailed. Current understandings of depositional practices involving pottery and burnt human bone are examined, and alternative interpretations offered, through a case study of the evidence recovered from a series of later Bronze Age settlements at Broom Quarry, Bedfordshire.

Post-middenism: depositional histories on later bronze age settlements at broom, bedfordshire

A 2.5 ha open area excavation at South Hornchurch, Essex (London Borough of Havering) has revealed an extensive Late Bronze Age settlement on the Thames terrace gravels. The site is particularly significant because of the association of a circular ditched enclosure or ringwork with a contemporary field system, as well as clusters of enclosed and unenclosed circular structures. Two enclosures were formed by rings of pits or large post-holes. Placed pottery deposits and unurned cremation burials were found, mostly associated with structures and entranceways. Other finds include both plain and decorated Post Deverel-Rinibury pottery, burnt flint, spindle whorls, possible loomweights, perforated clay slabs, and a bivalve clay sword mould. The entire site was subsequently sealed by a buried colluvial ploughsoil which almost certainly represents the final phase of Late Bronze Age activity. The site's spatial structure, environmental context, and regional significance are discussed.

A Late Bronze Age Landscape at South Hornchurch, Essex

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A Late Bronze Age Landscape at South Hornchurch, Essex