The Topographic Setting of Bronze Age Metalwork Deposits in North East England
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THE TOPOGRAPHIC SETTING OF BRONZE AGE METALWORK DEPOSITS IN NORTH EAST ENGLAND Andrew John Poyer A thesis submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy The University of Sheffield Faculty of Arts and Humanities Department of Archaeology October 2015 ABSTRACT This thesis considers the relationship between Bronze Age metalwork deposits and topography in north-east England. Through a critical examination of the metalwork record for the region, the first time all Bronze Age metalwork finds from north-east England have been catalogued and analysed together, depositional patterns are demonstrated to be highly contingent on topography. Structured by means of a multi-scale approach that adopts the river catchment as the basic unit of study, a number of novel methodological approaches are applied to the dataset, such as the use of metal detecting records from the Portable Antiquities Scheme database to assess potential biases in the metalwork record (chapter 4), and a GIS based Monte Carlo simulation to characterise the distribution of find-spots of different types of metalwork deposit within a generic river catchment area (chapter 5). A number of associations identified between certain types of metalwork deposits and topographic features are consistent with overarching conventions that operated across Bronze Age Britain, such as the prevalence of Late Bronze Age swords from rivers and river valleys. However, the presence of discrete and more nuanced patterns within distinct topographic zones demonstrates the existence of unique depositional histories based on localised geographies of experience. A case study focusing on one such pattern - a discrete grouping of martial metalwork deposits from north Northumberland, is used to explore the potential significance of metalwork deposition within both a social and cosmological landscape. Deposition has commonly been interpreted as a ritual activity that took place in peripheral locations that were removed from daily life. This thesis provides an alternative perspective by considering how the places where metalwork deposition took place may have been linked to other activities and routines that were central to Bronze Age life. 2 CONTENTS Abstract…………………………………………………………….......................................................2 Contents………………………………………………………………………...…………………………3 List of Illustrations and Photographs………………………………………..………….………………8 List of Tables………………………………………………………………………..…….….…............11 Acknowledgements……………………………………………….....................................................12 1 Introduction 1.1 An Early Bronze Age axe hoard from Newbiggin by the sea……………………….....13 1.2 The silent majority: the significance of single finds...………………………….……….17 1.3 The study of Bronze Age metalwork in north-east England.......................................21 1.4 North-east England: the physical landscape……………………………………………23 1.4.1 Western uplands………………………………………………………………...24 1.4.2 Northern coastal plain / lowlands……………………………………………...25 1.4.3 Eastern uplands, Wolds and Holderness…………………………………….27 1.5 The Bronze Age in north-east England……………………….…………………………28 1.6 Depositional histories and narratives…………………………………………………….30 1.6.1 Deposition in a social and cosmological landscape…………………………32 1.6.2 Nested scales of analysis………………………………………………………34 2 The place of landscape in British metalwork studies 2.1 Introduction…………………………………………………………………….……..........36 2.2 Wet ‘ritual’ versus Dry ‘utilitarian’.....…………………………………….…….…………38 2.3 More detailed contexts for metalwork……………………………………….…………...42 2.4 Broadening the landscape context…………………………………..……….………….44 2.5 The physical properties of landscape…………………………………………...............46 3 Dwelling and deposition: defining the theoretical basis 3.1 Introduction………………………………………………………………………………....50 3.2 In search of meaning………………………………………………………………….......51 3 3.3 Gifts and commodities…………………………………………………………................52 3.4 Exchange in the Bronze Age……………………………………………………………..53 3.5 Deposition as exchange…………………………………………………………………..58 3.6 Dwelling and deposition: core versus periphery………………………………………..59 3.7 Scales of mobility………………………………………………………………................62 3.8 Dwelling and ritual………………………………………………………………………....64 4 Methodology 4.1 Introduction………………………………………………………………………………....70 4.2 Linking theory and method: effecting and affecting landscapes………………………71 4.3 Nested scales of analysis………………………………………………………………....75 4.3.1 The formation process……………………………………………................76 4.3.2i River catchment characterisation by GIS analysis.........………...............77 4.3.2ii River catchment depositional histories……………………………………..85 4.3.3 Case study: martial metalwork deposition in north–west Northumberland ………………………………………………………………86 4.4 Introducing the dataset……………………………………………………….................87 4.4.1 Criteria for inclusion………………………………………………………………..89 4.4.2 The Wallington debate…………………………………………………………….92 4.4.3 Interpretive approach to metalwork types and hoards…………………………95 4.5 Object condition: examining fragmentation patterns……………………………..........98 5 Getting to grips with the metalwork record 5.1 Introduction………………………………………………………………………………..101 5.2 The influence of metal detecting and PAS on the metalwork record……………….109 5.2.1 Metalwork distributions……………………………………………………...109 5.2.2 Object condition……………………………………………………………...112 5.3.3 Comparative artefacts frequencies: non-detector versus detector…….114 5.3 Assessing the reliability of absence zones in north-east England…………………..121 5.3.1 Northern coastal plain, Tees Valley lowlands and Cleveland Plain……121 5.3.2 The Vales of York, Pickering and the Humberhead Levels……………..125 5.3.3 The uplands: metalwork from above 250m OD…………………………..129 5.4 Riverine and stream deposition…………………………………………………………133 5.4.1 Metalwork from the River Tyne…………………………………………….137 4 5.4.2 The north-south divide………………………………………………………138 5.4.3 Coastal, lowland bias………………………………………………………..139 5.4.4 The martial nature of riverine deposits……………………………………139 5.5 Conclusions……………………………………………………………………………….140 6 Characterising depositional patterns within a generic river catchment: a GIS based approach 6.1 Introduction………………………………………………………………………………..143 6.2 Charactersing a topographic variable through population simulations……………..144 6.3 General overview…………………………………………………………………………145 6.4 Discussion…………………………………………………………………………………147 6.4.1 Late Bronze Age swords……………………………………………………147 6.4.2 Early and Middle Bronze Age side-arms………………………………….147 6.4.3 A genuine pattern or formation process bias……........………………….150 6.4.4 Spearheads: multiple identities…………………………………………….151 6.4.5 Single axes…………………………………………………………………...154 6.4.6 Relationships with water……………………………………………………156 6.5 Limitations of a generic catchment……………………………………………………..159 6.6 Conclusions……………………………………………………………………………….162 7 Characterising the depositional histories of individual river catchments 7.1 Introduction: diverse narratives……...…………………………………………………..165 7.2 Catchment narratives……………………………………………………………………..169 7.2.1 Till/Tweed catchments………………………………………………………169 7.2.2 Aln catchment………………………………………………………………..174 7.2.3 North Northumberland coastal plain……………………………………….178 7.2.4 Coquet catchment and coastal hinterland…………………………………179 7.2.5 Lyne, Wansbeck and Blyth catchments and coastal hinterland………...181 7.2.6 Tyne catchment and coastal hinterland……………………………………184 7.2.7 Summary: Tweed to Tyne…………………………………………………..190 7.3 Wear and Tees catchments and coastal hinterland……………………....................194 7.4 Swale to Humber………………………………………………………………………….201 7.4.1 Side-arms………………………………………………………………….....201 7.4.2 Contrasting conditions: swords in hoards…………………………………204 7.4.3 Sword distributions: complete versus fragments………………………….208 5 7.4.4 Axes…………………………………………………………………………...211 7.5 The Rye, upper Derwent and East Yorkshire…………………………………………..218 7.5.1 The Rye and upper Derwent – Vale of Pickering…………………………218 7.5.2 East Yorkshire………………………………………………………………..220 7.6 Conclusions………………………………………………………………………………..220 8 Case study: the topographic setting of martial metalwork deposits in north-west Northumberland 8.1 Introduction………………………………………………………………………………..224 8.2 Late Bronze Age martial metalwork deposition in the north Northumberland uplands…………………………………………………………………………………………225 8.2.1 South Lyham…………………………………………………………………227 8.2.2 Chatton (Amerside Law)……………………………………………………231 8.2.3 Simonside (Tosson)…………………………………………………………234 8.2.4 Debden Burn (Cragside)……………………………………………………238 8.2.5 Thrunton (Whittingham)…………………………………………………….240 8.2.6 Thirlings (Ewart Park)……………………………………………………….243 8.2.7 Brandon Hill…………………………………………………………………..248 8.3 Deposition in a social landscape………………………………………………………253 8.3.1 Exploring scales of connectedness………………………………………..255 8.3.2 An age of quarrel?..................................................................................256 8.3.3 Negotiating change: a role for swords…………………………………….258 8.3.4 Common ground: hillforts and martial metalwork………………………..260 8.4 Deposition in a cosmological landscape……………………………………………….266 8.5 Conclusion………………………………………………………………………………...271 9 Conclusion 9.1 Conclusion…………………………………………………………………………..........275 9.2 Critique and scope for further research………………………………………………..278 9.3 Reflection………………………………………………………………………………….280 Bibliography…………………………………………………………………………………...............283 6 Appendix………………………………………………………………………………………………..296 Abbreviations and additional references……………………………………………………296