The Archaeology of Britain The Archaeology of Britain is a comprehensive and up-to-date introduction to all the archaeological periods covering Britain from early prehistory to the Industrial Revolution. It provides a one- stop textbook for the entire archaeology of Britain and reflects the most recent developments in archaeology both as a field subject and as an academic discipline. Chapters are: • accessibly written by experts in the relevant field; • organised in chronological order; • followed by two-level bibliographies, the first providing core reading material and the second a more detailed guide to the subject area; • highly illustrated with photographs, maps, graphs and tables. This collection is essential reading for undergraduates in archaeology, and all those interested in British archaeology, history and geography. John Hunter is Professor of Ancient History and Archaeology at the University of Birmingham. He has wide research interests covering heritage management, forensic archaeology and late Iron Age and Viking settlement. His most recent book is Fair Isle: the Archaeology of an Island Community (1996). Ian Ralston is Professor of Archaeology at the University of Edinburgh. His principal archaeological interests lie in the later prehistory of Scotland and in the Iron Age of Western Europe. His most recent publication is, with K.J.Edwards, Scotland: Environment and Archaeology (1997). The Archaeology of Britain An introduction from the Upper Palaeolithic to the Industrial Revolution Edited by John Hunter and Ian Ralston First published 1999 by Routledge 11 New Fetter Lane, London EC4P 4EE Simultaneously published in the USA and Canada by Routledge 29 West 35th Street, New York, NY 10001 Routledge is an imprint of the Tayor & Francis Group. This edition published in the Taylor & Francis e-Library, 2002. © 1999 Selection and editorial matter John Hunter and Ian Ralston; individual chapters, the contributors All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers. British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data The archaeology of Britain: an introduction from the Upper Palaeolithic to the Industrial Revolution/edited by John Hunter and Ian Ralston. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. 1. Great Britain—Antiquities. 2. Excavations (Archaeology) — Great Britain. I. Hunter, John, 1949–. II. Ralston, Ian. DA90.A715 1999 936.1–dc21 98–24844 CIP ISBN 0-415-13587-7 (hbk) ISBN 0-415-13588-5 (pbk) ISBN 0-203-02946-1 Master e-book ISBN ISBN 0-203-20069-1 (Glassbook Format) Contents List of figures vii List of contributors xi Preface xiv Chapter One BRITISH ARCHAEOLOGY SINCE THE END OF THE SECOND WORLD WAR 1 Ian Ralston and John Hunter Chapter Two THE LATEGLACIAL OR LATE AND FINAL UPPER PALAEOLITHIC COLONIZATION OF BRITAIN 13 Nicholas Barton Chapter Three HUNTER-GATHERERS OF THE MESOLITHIC 35 Steven Mithen Chapter Four THE NEOLITHIC PERIOD, c.4000–2500/2200 BC: CHANGING THE WORLD58 Alasdair Whittle Chapter Five THE EARLIER BRONZE AGE 77 Mike Parker Pearson Chapter Six THE LATER BRONZE AGE 95 Timothy Champion Chapter Seven THE IRON AGE 113 Colin Haselgrove •vi• Contents Chapter Eight ROMAN BRITAIN: THE MILITARY DIMENSION 135 W.S.Hanson Chapter Nine ROMAN BRITAIN: CIVIL AND RURAL SOCIETY 157 Simon Esmonde Cleary Chapter Ten EARLY HISTORIC BRITAIN 176 Catherine Hills Chapter Eleven THE SCANDINAVIAN PRESENCE 194 Julian D.Richards Chapter Twelve LANDSCAPES OF THE MIDDLE AGES: 210 TOWNS 1050–1500 John Schofield Chapter Thirteen LANDSCAPES OF THE MIDDLE AGES: CHURCHES, CASTLES AND MONASTERIES 228 Roberta Gilchrist Chapter Fourteen LANDSCAPES OF THE MIDDLE AGES: RURAL SETTLEMENT AND MANORS 247 Paul Stamper Chapter Fifteen THE HISTORICAL GEOGRAPHY OF BRITAIN FROM AD 1500: LANDSCAPE AND TOWNSCAPE 264 Ian Whyte Chapter Sixteen THE WORKSHOP OF THE WORLD: THE INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION 280 Kate Clark Chapter Seventeen REELING IN THE YEARS: THE PAST IN THE PRESENT 297 Timothy Darvill Index 316 Figures 1.1 The recording of military monuments 2 1.2 Aerial photography as a major factor in increasing the number of known sites 4 1.3 The development of urban archaeology 7 2.1 Comparison of ice accumulation rates and palaeotemperature 15 2.2 Creswellian artefacts from Three Holes Cave, Devon 16 2.3 Distribution of Creswellian findspots 17 2.4 Reindeer baton from Gough’s Cave 20 2.5 Cut-marks on a human lower jaw bone from Gough’s Cave 22 2.6 A horse’s head engraved on a rib fragment from Robin Hood Cave 23 2.7 Final Upper Palaeolithic artefacts 25 2.8 Distribution of Final Upper Palaeolithic penknife point findspots 27 2.9 Final Upper Palaeolithic ‘long blade’ artefacts from Scatter ‘A’, Three Ways Wharf 30 2.10 Distribution of Final Upper Palaeolithic ‘long blade’ findspots with bruised blades 31 2.11 Engraved horse mandible from Kendrick’s Cave 32 3.1 Location of Mesolithic sites mentioned in text 35 3.2 Pollen diagram from Star Carr illustrating changing vegetation 36 3.3 Changes in sea-level of the North Sea in the Early Holocene 37 3.4 Chipped stone artefacts from Star Carr and Kinloch, Rum 39–40 3.5 Organic and coarse stone artefacts from Mesolithic sites 41 3.6 Non-utilitarian artefacts from Mesolithic sites 42 3.7 Excavations at Farm Fields, Rum 47 3.8 Excavations at Gleann Mor, Islay 48 3.9 Excavations of the hut at Mount Sandel 49 4.1 Reconstruction of one of the phases of occupation at Loch Olabhat, North Uist 64 4.2 The primary burials in the Radley oval barrow, Oxfordshire 66 4.3 The chambers of the West Kennet long barrow, Wiltshire 68 4.4 Reconstructions of two phases of the Street House long barrow, Cleveland 69 4.5 Excavation of bone deposits at Windmill Hill 70 4.6 The Dorset Cursus on Bottlebush Down, seen from the air 71 4.7 Excavations on Site IV within the henge at Mount Pleasant, Dorset 73 5.1 Metalwork chronologies for the Earlier Bronze Age 79 5.2 An unprovenanced bronze flat axe with geometric incised decoration 80 • viii • Figures 5.3 Ceramic chronologies for the Late Neolithic, Early and Middle Bronze Ages 81 5.4 A beaker and associated non-perishable grave goods from the Green Low round barrow in Derbyshire 82 5.5 Styles of Early Bronze Age storage pots used as cremation containers 83 5.6 Assemblage variation within the Trevisker series 84 5.7 Early Bronze Age house plans from the Western Isles 85 5.8 Different types of round barrows on Normanton Down, Wiltshire 86 5.9 The sequence of funerary events at Hemp Knoll barrow, Wiltshire 87 5.10 The triple-ditched barrow at Irthlingborough, Raunds 88 6.1 Examples of bronzes of the Wilburton assemblage 97 6.2 Examples of bronzes of the Ewart Park assemblage 98 6.3 Deverel-Rimbury pottery 99 6.4 Pottery of the Post-Deverel-Rimbury undecorated phase 100 6.5 Simplified plans of Mucking North Ring and Lofts Farm 100 6.6 Plan of Black Patch Bronze Age settlement 101 6.7 Simplified plan of Bronze Age land divisions on Dartmoor 102 6.8 The Dover Bronze Age boat during excavation 104 7.1 Selected Iron Age brooch types 114 7.2 Different types of circular structures 116 7.3 Rectilinear and curvilinear settlement enclosures 118 7.4 Open and aggregated settlement plans 119 7.5 Danebury in its early and developed stages 121 7.6 Plans of territorial oppida 122 7.7 Plans of Iron Age shrines and sacred enclosures 123 7.8 Grave plans from Wetwang Slack and Westhampnett 124 7.9 Selected iron tools 126 7.10 Selected Iron Age pottery 127 7.11 Inscribed Iron Age coins 129 8.1 Tombstone of Tadius Exuperatus 138 8.2 Aerial photograph of the fort, annexe and temporary camps at Malling 139 8.3 Distribution of first-century AD Roman forts in Britain 140 8.4 Site plans: fortresses 142 8.5 Site plans: forts 144 8.6 Site plans: fortlet and towers 145 8.7 Ardoch fort, Perthshire 146 8.8 Aerial photograph of the fort and vicus at Old Carlisle, Cumbria 148 8.9 Plan of the Gask frontier 150 8.10 Frontiers across the Tyne—Solway and Forth—Clyde 151 8.11 Distribution of Saxon Shore forts and late Roman forts and coastal watchtowers 154 9.1 Comparative distribution of civilian towns and long-term military sites in Roman Britain 158 9.2 Plan of the civitas-capital at Silchester, Hampshire 161 9.3 Public buildings at Silchester 162 9.4 Plan of a ‘small’ town, Water Newton, Cambridgeshire 163 9.5 Plans showing the development of the Gorhambury villa 165 9.6 Settlement and landscape of the Roman period around Chalton, Hampshire 166 9.7 Plan of temple and associated buildings at Uley, Gloucestershire 167 Figures •ix• 9.8 Drawing of the Hinton St Mary mosaic 169 9.9 Plan of Walesland Rath, Pembrokeshire 170 9.10 Late Roman timber churches at Lincoln 174 10.1 Map of kingdoms and tribal areas mentioned in text 177 10.2 Perception of King Alfred 180 10.3 Cremation burials at Spong Hill 183 10.4 Anglo-Saxon grave from Kent 185 10.5 Sutton Hoo from the air 185 10.6 Aerial view of fort at Dundurn, Perthshire 186 10.7 Model of Anglo-Saxon monastery of St Paul, Jarrow 190 10.8 A Middle Saxon road with timber buildings, London 192 11.1 Cuerdale, Lancashire: part of the early tenth-century silver hoard 196 11.2 The burial at Balladoole in the Isle of Man 199 11.3 The Middleton Cross, St Andrew’s Church, Middleton 200 11.4 Ribblehead, N.