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Papers by Peter Clark

Clark, P forthcoming ‘The Dover Bronze Age boat as a ‘Non-place’: Some reflections on maritime mo... more Clark, P forthcoming ‘The Dover Bronze Age boat as a ‘Non-place’: Some reflections on maritime mobility in the Bronze Age of the Transmanche’, in C Gibson, K Cleary and C Frieman (eds), Making Journeys: Archaeologies of Mobility, Oxford: Oxbow Books

'Mobilities' as a concept in archaeological research offers a valuable platform to reflect upon dynamic processes in the past in contradistinction to the static nature of much of the archaeological record. Direct evidence is arguably relatively rare, represented by finds relating to movement by horse, wheeled vehicles or boats. This paper considers the evidence of the Dover Bronze Age Boat (c. 1500 BC) from the perspective of Marc Augé's concept of 'non-place', asking what this find might contribute to our understanding of the nature and value of mobility to communities of the Transmanche zone in the mid-2 nd millennium BC.

Clark, P 2017 ‘Following the Whale’s Road: Perceptions of the Sea in Prehistory’, in A Lehoërff a... more Clark, P 2017 ‘Following the Whale’s Road: Perceptions of the Sea in Prehistory’, in A Lehoërff and M Talon (eds), Movement, exchange and identity in Europe in the 2nd and 1st millennia BC: beyond frontiers, Oxford: Oxbow Books, 99–118

The inundation of the Northwest European landmass by the melting ice sheets in the earlier part of the Holocene created a new world for the indigenous hunter-gatherers, an interdigitation of land and sea that characterises the region today. This paper explores the perception of the sea by prehistoric communities in both the short and long term; at the same time the destroyer of ancestral homelands and the provider of new opportunities. The marine environment of course requires technological aids – boats – to negotiate its waters and the development of such technologies was an important adaptive response. In addition, navigating the sea, particularly when navigating 'over the horizon' required good navigation skills. How did prehistoric mariners find their way across the seas, and what was their cognitive understanding of the world in which they moved? Modern concepts of space and navigation are inappropriate for prehistory, and this paper explores alternative cognitive perceptions of the sea, drawing on the notions of 'smooth' and 'striated' space put forward by Gilles Deleuze and Felix Guattari to suggest a more satisfying appreciation of prehistoric perceptions of the sea.

Résumé

L'inondation de la terre européenne du NW, par la fonte des glaces au début de l'Holocène, a créé un nouveau monde pour les chasseurs-cueilleurs autochtones, un entrecroisement de terre et de mer qui caractérise la région aujourd'hui. Cet article explore la perception de la mer par les sociétés préhistoriques, à court terme et sur la longue durée ; tout à la fois destructrice des terres ancestrales et fournisseuse de nouvelles opportunités. L'environnement marin nécessite bien sûr une assistance technologique – les bateaux – pour parcourir ses eaux et le développement de ces technologies a été une réponse adaptative importante. En outre, la navigation en mer, en particulier lors de la navigation « au-delà de l'horizon » nécessite de bonnes compétences nautiques. Comment les marins préhistoriques trouvaient-ils leur chemin en mer, et quelle était leur compréhension cognitive du monde dans lequel ils se sont déplacés ? Les concepts modernes de navigation et d'espace sont inappropriés pour la préhistoire, et cet article explore les perceptions cognitives alternatives, en faisant appel au concept d'espaces « lisse » et « strié » mis en avant par Gilles Deleuze et Felix Guattari pour suggérer une appréciation plus juste des perceptions préhistoriques de la mer.

Clark, P 1997 ‘Discussion’, in M Rains and D Hall (eds), Excavations in St Andrews 1980–89. A dec... more Clark, P 1997 ‘Discussion’, in M Rains and D Hall (eds), Excavations in St Andrews 1980–89. A decade of archaeology in a historic Scottish burgh, Tayside and Fife Archaeological Committee Monograph, 1, Glenrothes: Tayside and Fife Archaeological Committee, 141–143

Clark, P 1997 ’29 North Street’, in M Rains and D Hall (eds), Excavations in St Andrews 1980–89. ... more Clark, P 1997 ’29 North Street’, in M Rains and D Hall (eds), Excavations in St Andrews 1980–89. A decade of archaeology in a historic Scottish burgh, Tayside and Fife Archaeological Committee Monograph, 1, Glenrothes: Tayside and Fife Archaeological Committee, 35–39

Ross, L and Clark, P 1997 ‘Cinema House’, in M Rains and D Hall (eds), Excavations in St Andrews ... more Ross, L and Clark, P 1997 ‘Cinema House’, in M Rains and D Hall (eds), Excavations in St Andrews 1980–89. A decade of archaeology in a historic Scottish burgh, Tayside and Fife Archaeological Committee Monograph, 1, Glenrothes: Tayside and Fife Archaeological Committee, 21–26

Wordsworth, J and Clark, P 1997 ‘Kirkhill’, in M Rains and D Hall (eds), Excavations in St Andrew... more Wordsworth, J and Clark, P 1997 ‘Kirkhill’, in M Rains and D Hall (eds), Excavations in St Andrews 1980–89. A decade of archaeology in a historic Scottish burgh, Tayside and Fife Archaeological Committee Monograph, 1, Glenrothes: Tayside and Fife Archaeological Committee, 7–18

Wordsworth, J and Clark, P 1997 ‘Auction Hall’, in M Rains and D Hall (eds), Excavations in St An... more Wordsworth, J and Clark, P 1997 ‘Auction Hall’, in M Rains and D Hall (eds), Excavations in St Andrews 1980–89. A decade of archaeology in a historic Scottish burgh, Tayside and Fife Archaeological Committee Monograph, 1, Glenrothes: Tayside and Fife Archaeological Committee, 18–21

Clark, P 2005 ‘L’entente cordiale jadis: Britain and her neighbours 16,000–400 B.C.’, Canterbury’... more Clark, P 2005 ‘L’entente cordiale jadis: Britain and her neighbours 16,000–400 B.C.’, Canterbury’s Archaeology 2003–2004, 55–59

Clark, P and Hutcheson, A 1993 ‘New approaches to the interpretation of stratigraphy’, in J Barbe... more Clark, P and Hutcheson, A 1993 ‘New approaches to the interpretation of stratigraphy’, in J Barber (ed), Proceedings of the 2nd Conference on Interpretation of Stratigraphy, Edinburgh: AOC, 65–68

Clark, P and Corke, B 1996 ‘The Dover Boat’, Canterbury’s Archaeology 1994–1995, 59–61

Clark, P 2003 ‘The story of the ‘Dover Bronze Age Boat’, Canterbury’s Archaeology 2000–2001, 66–70

Clark, P 1996 ‘Inhumations and the matrix; stratigraphic sequence in ancient burial sites’, in S ... more Clark, P 1996 ‘Inhumations and the matrix; stratigraphic sequence in ancient burial sites’, in S Roskams (ed), Interpreting Stratigraphy, 8, York: University of York, 25–27

Clark, P 1992 ‘Contrasts in the Recording and Interpretation of ‘Urban’ and ‘Rural’ stratificatio... more Clark, P 1992 ‘Contrasts in the Recording and Interpretation of ‘Urban’ and ‘Rural’ stratification’, in K Steane (ed), Interpretation of Stratigraphy: a Review of the Art, Lincoln, 17–19

Introduction to the Proceedings of the 2006 Dover Conference on 'Bronze Age Connections: Cultural... more Introduction to the Proceedings of the 2006 Dover Conference on 'Bronze Age Connections: Cultural contact in Prehistoric Europe'

Clark, P 1993 ‘Sites without ‘principles’: post-excavation analysis of 'pre-matrix’ sites’, in E C Harris, M R Brown and G J Brown (eds), Practices of Archaeological Stratigraphy, Academic Press, 276–292, 1993

Current models of Middle Bronze Age society in southern Britain paint a picture of isolated farms... more Current models of Middle Bronze Age society in southern Britain paint a picture of isolated farmsteads scattered across the landscape, occupied by extended families and usually moving on after a single generation of occupation . This fluid and peripatetic relationship with the landscape has resonances with our understanding of the nature of society in the early Bronze Age and Neolithic periods, but similarly it is clear that there must have been some higher level of social organisation than the extended family group. This is demonstrated by the organisation and social mobilisation of labour and resources implied by the creation of monuments in the landscape such as stone circles, henges, barrows and the extensive field systems that survive from these times . But there is little archaeological evidence, from southern Britain at least, that these higher level social polities expressed themselves in nucleated settlements of ABSTRACT The discovery of the Dover boat (1550 cal BC) suggests that contemporary models of MBA social structure, focused on the extended family group, are not the whole story. Surely such vessels did not serve a single household; many people would have been involved in its construction and supplying its crew, whilst its very existence implies long-distance contact between wider level social polities. Who had the expertise to build such a vessel and sail it across the open seas?

Résumé

Clark, P and Corke, B 1996 ‘The Dover Boat’, Canterbury’s Archaeology 1994–1995, 59–61

Clark, P 2003 ‘The story of the ‘Dover Bronze Age Boat’, Canterbury’s Archaeology 2000–2001, 66–70

Chalk Hill: Neolithic and Bronze Age discoveries at Ramsgate, Kent, 2019

Chalk Hill lies on the southern coast of what is now the Isle of Thanet in eastern Kent at the so... more Chalk Hill lies on the southern coast of what is now the Isle of Thanet in eastern Kent at the south-eastern tip of Britain, about 2km west of the port of Ramsgate. A programme of survey, evaluation and excavation was commissioned by KCC Heritage Conversation Group in advance of the construction of a new road linking the Canterbury Road (A 253) to Ramsgate Harbour by Kent County Council’s Highways Department revealed a rich palimpsest of features spanning several millennia.

The earliest significant features recorded on the site dated to the early Neolithic (roughly 3700–3600 cal BC). The took the form of three concentric arcs of intercutting pit clusters forming discrete ‘segments’, the fills of which produced rich assemblages of pottery, flintwork, animal bone and other material. Much of this material appeared to have been deliberately placed in the pits rather than representing casual disposal of refuse. There are indications that material placed in different pits at different times may have derived from the same source, a ‘midden’ or some such which was not located during the excavations. The pit clusters appeared to have resulted from repeated pit-digging in the same location over an extended period. Although the overall morphology of the site is reminiscent of a ‘causewayed enclosure’ the pit cluster segments do not appear to represent ditches and the gaps between segments seem to be fortuitous, rather than planned ‘causeways’ between ditch segments. The site therefore contributes a more nuanced understanding of the heterogeneity of monumental architecture in the early Neolithic of the British Isles.

The site probably went out of use in around 3600 cal BC, and little evidence for middle or later Neolithic activity was recovered. Beaker and early Bronze Age features included four inhumations, two of which associated within a small ring-ditch probably representing a ploughed-out burial mound. A set of two parallel ditches dating to the middle/late Bronze Age running for 90m across the site and between 1.6m and 2.4 apart might represent a track- or drove-way, or alternatively a boundary division flanking a small bank and hedge. The eastern part of a late Bronze Age subrectangular enclosure was also recorded, within which was a cluster of post-holes and small pits that presumably relate to a structure or structures, reminiscent of the cluster of structural features within the Central Enclosure at East Kent Access, just to the west of Chalk Hill. Apart from a few residual sherds of late Iron Age and Roman pottery, there was no further evidence of activity at Chalk Hill until the Anglo-Saxon period when a solitary sunken-featured building was recorded along with a small number of isolated pits and post-holes. Chalk Hill was then given over to agricultural use during the medieval period with the establishment of an extensive field system and hollow way running across the site, with perhaps some extractive industry suggested by a large quarry pit immediately to the south-east of the hollow way. The hillside remained in agricultural use until the construction of the new road.

Clark, P and Rady, J 2008 ‘The Prehistoric Period’, in P Bennett, P Clark, A Hicks and I Riddler,... more Clark, P and Rady, J 2008 ‘The Prehistoric Period’, in P Bennett, P Clark, A Hicks and I Riddler, At the Great Crossroads: Prehistoric, Roman, and medieval discoveries on the Isle of Thanet 1994–95, Canterbury Archaeological Trust Occasional Paper, 4, Canterbury: Canterbury Archaeological Trust, 9–100