Collapse, Continuity, or Growth? Investigating agricultural change through architectural proxies at the end of the Bronze Age in southern Britain and Denmark Rachel Leigh Sites Thesis Submitted for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy Department of Archaeology The University of Sheffield October 2015 Abstract At the end of the Bronze Age in Europe, new iron technologies and the waning of access to long-distance exchange routes had consequences for social organization, creating changes in social priorities. There is a recursive relationship between the political structure, exchange, and agricultural production, as each informs the other; what, then, was the impact of social reorganization on agricultural production? Through an investigation of domestic architecture, using dwellings, pits, and post-structures as proxies for production and consumption, this study explored a model focused on the changes in energy invested in domestic architecture within and between settlements from the Middle Bronze Age to the Early Iron Age to better understand the impact of socio-technical change on agricultural production in southern Britain and Denmark. Changes in productive (dwellings) and consumptive (pits and post-structures) architecture track a potential measure of agricultural production, demonstrating directly the effect of the wide sweeping social and economic changes, whether of decline, continuity, or growth, on agricultural activities. If growth or even continuity is present in agricultural production during the final years of the Bronze Age, how can we account for it? By relating the changes in area and volume provided by domestic structures to energy, we can compare the effort expended on productive and consumptive architecture between settlements, constructing a geography of production that allows for further consideration of inter-settlement interaction. Sub-regional analysis within southern Britain and Denmark provided further detail regarding productive capacity on a site-by-site basis, permitting possible producer versus consumer relations to emerge. Acknowledgments I am grateful to The University of Sheffield for the opportunity to produce this study and engage with many intelligent and talented archaeologists. This project would not have been possible without the supervision of Professor John Barrett. His guidance and willingness to thoroughly discuss all angles of a sticking point eased the way. As did his readiness to see this project through to the end, despite being ready to move on in his career. His tolerance and forbearance as I stumbled through finding my direction was much appreciated. Dr. Bob Johnston also advised, suggested, and encouraged, allowing me to take my research in directions I had not considered initially. I am deeply grateful to both. The critical analysis and thoughtful commentary from Dr. Joanna Brück and Dr. Roger Doonan were also greatly appreciated. Their responses helped form a stronger, more comprehensive work. Additionally, Dr. Jessica Slater, Hannah Plumer, and Dr. Samantha Stein, among many, many others, deserve thanks for conversations over pints concerning theory, practice, academic writing, and the general state of archaeology today. Those sometimes heated discussions sparked insights included in this project. Above all, I have to thank my parents, Jeff and Eileen Sites, for their unwavering support and belief, along with their incredible patience for three AM trans-Atlantic phone calls and much needed sanity checks. Minor catastrophes were eased and made manageable by their encouragement. They inspire me every day and have taught me to reach for my dreams. Table of Contents Index of Tables v Index of Figures vii Introduction 1 Chapter I Social theory and the move toward dynamism 1.1 Social theory: how we model change 5 1.2 Static models: society as immovable and concrete 6 1.3 Dynamic models: society as fluid and mutable 9 1.4 Agency: a recursive relationship of material and 14 biological agents and social structure 1.5 Agents, energy, and social change 18 1.6 Theoretical approach for the study 23 Chapter II Social change at the end of the Bronze Age in lowland northwest Europe 2.1 Determining a research area 27 2.2 Social change in the Middle/Late Bronze Age of lowland 30 Europe: a review Interpretative frameworks 38 2.3 Production and consumption: impact on domestic 43 architecture 2.4 An interpretative approach to changes in settlement 49 organization Chapter III Settlement studies 3.1 Settlement as focal point 53 3.2 Relation of settlements 56 3.3 Settlements, fields, and boundaries 60 3.4 The landscape versus the settlement 65 3.5 Energy and domestic architecture 67 Chapter IV Methodology 4.1 Aims and study outline 69 4.2 Dating 72 4.3 Terminology and usage 73 4.4 Dwellings 75 4.5 Pits 78 4.6 Post-Structures 81 4.7 Geologic sub-regions 82 Southern Britain 82 Denmark 84 4.8 Summary 87 Chapter V Shifts in population and agricultural production over time for southern Britain 5.1 Population 89 The Middle Bronze Age 90 The Late Bronze Age 97 i The Early Iron Age 102 Synopsis 106 5.2 Evidence for consumption 109 Pits 110 The Middle Bronze Age 111 The Late Bronze Age 117 The Early Iron Age 122 Synopsis 129 Post-Structures 133 The Middle Bronze Age 134 The Late Bronze Age 137 The Early Iron Age 141 Synopsis 145 5.3 Comments 147 Chapter VI Shifts in population and agricultural production sub- regionally for southern Britain 6.1 Population 153 Population: Southern Britain Intra-Regionally 153 Southwest England 154 The Thames Valley 159 The Chalk Downland 162 Population: Southern Britain Inter-Regionally 172 The Middle Bronze Age 172 The Late Bronze Age 174 The Early Iron Age 175 Synopsis 176 6.2 Agricultural production 177 Pits: southern Britain intra-regionally 177 Southwest England 178 The Thames Valley 182 The Chalk Downland 183 Pits: southern Britain inter-regionally 191 The Middle Bronze Age 191 The Late Bronze Age 192 The Early Iron Age 193 Synopsis 193 Post-structures: southern Britain intra-regionally 194 Southwest England 194 The Thames Valley 199 The Chalk Downland 201 Post-structures: southern Britain inter-regionally 207 The Middle Bronze Age 207 The Late Bronze Age 208 The Early Iron Age 209 Synopsis 210 6.3 Comments 210 ii Chapter VII: Shifts in population and agricultural production over time for Denmark 7.1 Population 215 The Early Bronze Age 216 The Late Bronze Age 221 The Early and Late Pre-Roman Iron Age 224 Synopsis 231 7.2 Agricultural production 233 The Early Bronze Age 234 The Late Bronze Age 236 The Early and Late Pre-Roman Iron Age 239 Synopsis 246 7.3 Comments 248 Chapter VIII: Shifts in population and agricultural production regionally for Denmark 8.1 Population 251 Denmark intra-regionally 251 The Outwash Plain 252 The Dunes 255 The Raised Littorina Seabed 256 The Moraine Sand 257 The Moraine Clay 261 Denmark inter-regionally 264 The Early Bronze Age 264 The Late Bronze Age 265 The Early and Late Pre-Roman Iron Age 267 Synopsis 269 8.2 Agricultural production 269 Denmark intra-regionally 269 The Outwash Plain 269 The Dunes 271 The Raised Littorina Seabed 271 The Moraine Sand 272 The Moraine Clay 275 Denmark inter-regionally 278 The Early Bronze Age 278 The Late Bronze Age 279 The Early and Late Pre-Roman Iron Age 279 Synopsis 281 8.3 Comments 282 Chapter IX Discussion 9.1 Data and the research questions 285 9.2 Interpreting the data 287 Pit volumes to sustainability 287 Post-structure Area to sustainability 292 Southern Britain 292 Denmark 295 iii 9.3 How do we account for growth? 298 9.4 Conclusion 302 Bibliography 305 Appendices Appendix A Site Descriptions for Southern Britain 325 Appendix B Site Descriptions for Denmark 343 iv Index of Tables 4.1 Dispersal of southern Britain sites arranged by time 83 period 4.2 Totals of settlements by sub-region in southern 84 Britain 4.3 Dispersal of Danish sites arranged by time period 85 4.4 Totals of settlements by sub-region in Denmark 87 5.1 Values of dwellings on Middle Bronze Age sites 92 5.2 Values for dwellings on Late Bronze Age sites 97 5.3 Values for dwellings on Early Iron Age sites 102 5.4 Values of pits for Middle Bronze Age settlements 111 5.5 Pit location within Middle Bronze Age settlements 116 5.6 Values of pits for Late Bronze Age sites 117 5.7 Pit location within Late Bronze Age settlements 121 5.8 Values of pits for Early Iron Age sites 124 5.9 Pit location within Early Iron Age settlements 129 5.10 Values of post-structures for Middle Bronze Age 135 5.11 Values of post-structures for Late Bronze Age sites 138 5.12 Values of post-structures for Early Iron Age sites 142 6.1 Values of dwellings and Total Habitable Area over 154 time for southwest England 6.2 Values for dwellings and Total Habitable Area for 160 the Thames Valley region 6.3 Values for dwellings and Total Habitable Area for 163 the chalk downland 6.4 Values for pits and total pit volume in southwest 178 England 6.5 Values for pits and total pit volume in Thames 182 Valley 6.6 Values for pits and total pit volume in chalk 184 downland 6.7 Values for post-structures and Total Additional 195 Area in southwest England 6.8 Values for post-structures and Total Additional 199 Area in Thames Valley 6.9 Values for post-structures and Total Additional 202 Area in chalk downland 7.1 Values of dwellings for Early Bronze Age sites 217 7.2 Values of dwellings for Late Bronze Age sites 221 7.3 Values of dwellings for Early Pre-Roman Iron Age 225 sites 7.4 Values of dwellings for Late Pre-Roman Iron Age 229 sites 7.5 Values of post-structures for Early