Jan Harding - Academia.edu (original) (raw)
Papers by Jan Harding
Oxford University Press eBooks, Mar 1, 2015
The Mediterranean region represented a significant zone for the transmission of the Neolithic and... more The Mediterranean region represented a significant zone for the transmission of the Neolithic and its farming economy. This essay reviews the different mechanisms and geographic constraints that influenced the movement of farming and cultural trends, and assesses the current interpretative models as well as traditional approaches in the context of recent archaeological discoveries and publication. Neolithic evidence across southern Europe, from the Near East, Aegean, north Africa and to Iberia and France, is described in the different regions and set against the current chronology. Key issues include the parallel development of settled farmers alongside mobile hunter-gatherers and their gradual assimilation into food producing societies, and the longevity of the typical Mediterranean economy.
A Neolithic and Bronze Age Landscape in Northamptonshire: Volume 1, 2013
This impressive Research Report took me, enthralled , down memory lane. I had been one of a happy... more This impressive Research Report took me, enthralled , down memory lane. I had been one of a happy band of undergraduates at Oxford University w ho dug at Dorchester-on-Thames (Oxfordshire) under the inspired leadership of Rich ard Atkinson in the late 1940s. I maintained my links with Dorchester and Atkinson by sharing di rectorship of an excavation of the major henge monument there, Big Rings, Site XIII, with an underlying ring-ditch containing a possible timber building, Site XIV (Whittle et al 1992). The Big Rings, its bank between two ditches and opposed entrances, class IIA in Atkinson’s classifi cation, had no obvious analogy in southern England. Arminghall (Norfolk; Clark 1936) is double -ditched, to be sure; but with single entrance and a timber structure within, it was obvi usly different. Condicote (Gloucestershire), a double-ditched possible henge monument, was almost unknown at that time and its full character has yet to be established (Saville 1983). But we kn w of the existence of three close-spaced henge monuments to the north of Ripon in north-east Yorkshire, the Thornborough Circles, which appeared to be identical if a little larger. The Yorkshire sites invited our attention.
British archaeology, 2003
The Oxford Handbook of Neolithic Europe, 2015
The Spondylus gaederopus/Glycymeris exchange network has long been known as the earliest continen... more The Spondylus gaederopus/Glycymeris exchange network has long been known as the earliest continent-wide network in prehistoric Europe. This chapter establishes a space-time framework for the four distinctive phases of this network, which changes from low-intensity, Greek-Balkan to continent-wide, linking Greece to the Paris Basin, before a reduction to a Balkan-Carpathian network of high intensity, with many regional differences in forms and production. The two principal sources of the marine shells-the Aegean and the Adriatic-were exploited in different ways, with several production sites known near the former but none as yet near the latter. Currently, the only site more than 100km from the Aegean with a complete production sequence is Orlovo (SE Bulgaria). Shells were principally used as personal ornaments, taking advantage of their four main characteristics-their distinctive colour and brightness, their exoticity, and their capacity to carry biographical information about their life histories.
The Oxford Handbook of Neolithic Europe, 2015
English Heritage eBooks, 2007
The monument complex at Thornborough, North Yorkshire, is an archaeological landscape of regional... more The monument complex at Thornborough, North Yorkshire, is an archaeological landscape of regional, national and international importance. The unparalleled cluster of three massive henges, in association with other Neolithic-early Bronze Age monuments and extensive traces of contemporary settlement, represent what would have been one of Britain's premier 'sacred landscapes' during the third and second millennium BC
These fourteen papers are taken from a conference held in Newcastle in 1998, focusing on the stat... more These fourteen papers are taken from a conference held in Newcastle in 1998, focusing on the state of research in the prehistory of Northern England and Southern Scotland. Contents: Patterns in later Prehistory (Jan Harding); Towards a new prehistory for central Britain (Paul Frodsham); The Neolithic that never happened? (Clive Waddington); Wety Drybridge (Kenneth Brophy); Prehistoric cairnfields in Northumberland (Robert Johnston); Later prehistoric settlement in the northern uplands (Robert Young); Iron Age landscape in lowland East Yorkshire (Peter Halkon & Martin Millett); Recent research in the central Tweed Valley (Alicia Wise); Later Neolithic and Early Bronze Age in North-east England (Blaise Vyner); Neolithic and Bronze Age in the lowlands of North West England (Ron Cowell); Prehistoric settlement in northern Cumbria (Mike McCarthy); Iron Age in the southern Pennines (Bill Bevan); Later prehistoric settlement in west central Scotland (Derek Alexander); Site morphology and regional variation in south-west Scotland
List of Illustrations List of Tables List of Contributors Preface Acknowledgements Summary Resume... more List of Illustrations List of Tables List of Contributors Preface Acknowledgements Summary Resume Zusammenfassung A note on radiocarbon dates 1. Introduction 2. Environment and land use in the valley bottom 3. The development of the monuments 4. Ceremonial practice and mortuary ritual 5. Raunds in the region Bibliography Index
Proceedings of the Prehistoric Society, 1995
Recent studies have illustrated a series of marked regional differences in the distribution and d... more Recent studies have illustrated a series of marked regional differences in the distribution and design of Neolithic monuments throughout lowland England. They fail, however, to provide an interpretative framework for the discussion of these contrasts. This paper proposes that such regional variability can only be understood with a scale of analysis which outlines the fundamental distinctions between political communities in different parts of lowland England. It is argued that factors such as population size and density can be clearly related to the variability from area to area in the number and structural complexity of causewayed enclosures. It is also possible to link these demographic factors to a long-term process of social change whereby the small autonomous groups of the earlier Neolithic were transformed into larger political units. The cursus and henge monuments were an important component of this process, and regional variability in the distribution and design of these sit...
Handbook of Archaeoastronomy and Ethnoastronomy, 2014
Proceedings of the Prehistoric Society, 1993
The interpretation of prehistoric rock art has posed some intractable problems, but recent studie... more The interpretation of prehistoric rock art has posed some intractable problems, but recent studies have sought to integrate it within a more broadly based landscape archaeology. They emphasise the special character of this material, not only as a system of distinctive motifs, but also as a source of information employed by people engaged in a mobile pattern of settlement. This paper investigates the character of the rock art of south-west Scotland, comparing the positions of the petroglyphs with two series of control samples in the surrounding landscape. The carvings seem to have been situated at viewpoints. They may have been directed towards the coastline and the Galloway hills and commanded a significantly wider field of vision than locations in the surrounding area. There is some evidence that differences in the size and complexity of the motifs are related to their placing in the local topography, with the simpler carvings around the edges of lowland ‘territories’ near to the s...
Oxford Journal of Archaeology, 1997
Summary. Recent interpretations of the British Neolithic either consider the shared beliefs of th... more Summary. Recent interpretations of the British Neolithic either consider the shared beliefs of this period or the short-term engagement of individuals with their material surroundings. This paper argues that, while both approaches provide exciting agenda, they fail to address ...
Oxford University Press eBooks, Mar 1, 2015
The Mediterranean region represented a significant zone for the transmission of the Neolithic and... more The Mediterranean region represented a significant zone for the transmission of the Neolithic and its farming economy. This essay reviews the different mechanisms and geographic constraints that influenced the movement of farming and cultural trends, and assesses the current interpretative models as well as traditional approaches in the context of recent archaeological discoveries and publication. Neolithic evidence across southern Europe, from the Near East, Aegean, north Africa and to Iberia and France, is described in the different regions and set against the current chronology. Key issues include the parallel development of settled farmers alongside mobile hunter-gatherers and their gradual assimilation into food producing societies, and the longevity of the typical Mediterranean economy.
A Neolithic and Bronze Age Landscape in Northamptonshire: Volume 1, 2013
This impressive Research Report took me, enthralled , down memory lane. I had been one of a happy... more This impressive Research Report took me, enthralled , down memory lane. I had been one of a happy band of undergraduates at Oxford University w ho dug at Dorchester-on-Thames (Oxfordshire) under the inspired leadership of Rich ard Atkinson in the late 1940s. I maintained my links with Dorchester and Atkinson by sharing di rectorship of an excavation of the major henge monument there, Big Rings, Site XIII, with an underlying ring-ditch containing a possible timber building, Site XIV (Whittle et al 1992). The Big Rings, its bank between two ditches and opposed entrances, class IIA in Atkinson’s classifi cation, had no obvious analogy in southern England. Arminghall (Norfolk; Clark 1936) is double -ditched, to be sure; but with single entrance and a timber structure within, it was obvi usly different. Condicote (Gloucestershire), a double-ditched possible henge monument, was almost unknown at that time and its full character has yet to be established (Saville 1983). But we kn w of the existence of three close-spaced henge monuments to the north of Ripon in north-east Yorkshire, the Thornborough Circles, which appeared to be identical if a little larger. The Yorkshire sites invited our attention.
British archaeology, 2003
The Oxford Handbook of Neolithic Europe, 2015
The Spondylus gaederopus/Glycymeris exchange network has long been known as the earliest continen... more The Spondylus gaederopus/Glycymeris exchange network has long been known as the earliest continent-wide network in prehistoric Europe. This chapter establishes a space-time framework for the four distinctive phases of this network, which changes from low-intensity, Greek-Balkan to continent-wide, linking Greece to the Paris Basin, before a reduction to a Balkan-Carpathian network of high intensity, with many regional differences in forms and production. The two principal sources of the marine shells-the Aegean and the Adriatic-were exploited in different ways, with several production sites known near the former but none as yet near the latter. Currently, the only site more than 100km from the Aegean with a complete production sequence is Orlovo (SE Bulgaria). Shells were principally used as personal ornaments, taking advantage of their four main characteristics-their distinctive colour and brightness, their exoticity, and their capacity to carry biographical information about their life histories.
The Oxford Handbook of Neolithic Europe, 2015
English Heritage eBooks, 2007
The monument complex at Thornborough, North Yorkshire, is an archaeological landscape of regional... more The monument complex at Thornborough, North Yorkshire, is an archaeological landscape of regional, national and international importance. The unparalleled cluster of three massive henges, in association with other Neolithic-early Bronze Age monuments and extensive traces of contemporary settlement, represent what would have been one of Britain's premier 'sacred landscapes' during the third and second millennium BC
These fourteen papers are taken from a conference held in Newcastle in 1998, focusing on the stat... more These fourteen papers are taken from a conference held in Newcastle in 1998, focusing on the state of research in the prehistory of Northern England and Southern Scotland. Contents: Patterns in later Prehistory (Jan Harding); Towards a new prehistory for central Britain (Paul Frodsham); The Neolithic that never happened? (Clive Waddington); Wety Drybridge (Kenneth Brophy); Prehistoric cairnfields in Northumberland (Robert Johnston); Later prehistoric settlement in the northern uplands (Robert Young); Iron Age landscape in lowland East Yorkshire (Peter Halkon & Martin Millett); Recent research in the central Tweed Valley (Alicia Wise); Later Neolithic and Early Bronze Age in North-east England (Blaise Vyner); Neolithic and Bronze Age in the lowlands of North West England (Ron Cowell); Prehistoric settlement in northern Cumbria (Mike McCarthy); Iron Age in the southern Pennines (Bill Bevan); Later prehistoric settlement in west central Scotland (Derek Alexander); Site morphology and regional variation in south-west Scotland
List of Illustrations List of Tables List of Contributors Preface Acknowledgements Summary Resume... more List of Illustrations List of Tables List of Contributors Preface Acknowledgements Summary Resume Zusammenfassung A note on radiocarbon dates 1. Introduction 2. Environment and land use in the valley bottom 3. The development of the monuments 4. Ceremonial practice and mortuary ritual 5. Raunds in the region Bibliography Index
Proceedings of the Prehistoric Society, 1995
Recent studies have illustrated a series of marked regional differences in the distribution and d... more Recent studies have illustrated a series of marked regional differences in the distribution and design of Neolithic monuments throughout lowland England. They fail, however, to provide an interpretative framework for the discussion of these contrasts. This paper proposes that such regional variability can only be understood with a scale of analysis which outlines the fundamental distinctions between political communities in different parts of lowland England. It is argued that factors such as population size and density can be clearly related to the variability from area to area in the number and structural complexity of causewayed enclosures. It is also possible to link these demographic factors to a long-term process of social change whereby the small autonomous groups of the earlier Neolithic were transformed into larger political units. The cursus and henge monuments were an important component of this process, and regional variability in the distribution and design of these sit...
Handbook of Archaeoastronomy and Ethnoastronomy, 2014
Proceedings of the Prehistoric Society, 1993
The interpretation of prehistoric rock art has posed some intractable problems, but recent studie... more The interpretation of prehistoric rock art has posed some intractable problems, but recent studies have sought to integrate it within a more broadly based landscape archaeology. They emphasise the special character of this material, not only as a system of distinctive motifs, but also as a source of information employed by people engaged in a mobile pattern of settlement. This paper investigates the character of the rock art of south-west Scotland, comparing the positions of the petroglyphs with two series of control samples in the surrounding landscape. The carvings seem to have been situated at viewpoints. They may have been directed towards the coastline and the Galloway hills and commanded a significantly wider field of vision than locations in the surrounding area. There is some evidence that differences in the size and complexity of the motifs are related to their placing in the local topography, with the simpler carvings around the edges of lowland ‘territories’ near to the s...
Oxford Journal of Archaeology, 1997
Summary. Recent interpretations of the British Neolithic either consider the shared beliefs of th... more Summary. Recent interpretations of the British Neolithic either consider the shared beliefs of this period or the short-term engagement of individuals with their material surroundings. This paper argues that, while both approaches provide exciting agenda, they fail to address ...