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Books by Alex Davies

'A highly original and exciting approach, which opens up a new understanding of social relations ... more 'A highly original and exciting approach, which opens up a new understanding of social relations in later prehistory. … Makes a huge contribution to our understanding of land use and society in British prehistory.’
Prof. Mike Parker Pearson, The UCL Institute of Archaeology

‘Very few surveys have been so comprehensively analysed and this will
become a benchmark for future work on later prehistory. … It has the
potential to be a major contribution with very great significance.’
Prof. Niall Sharples, Cardiff University

This book gives a new account of society and social change in the upper and middle Thames Valley from the Late Bronze Age to Middle Iron Age, 1150–100 BC. A model is developed from social anthropological case studies setting out expectations on how societies are structured based on certain material manifestations. Patterns are found within the wide range of types of evidence that are integrated and synthesised. This includes settlements, house forms, metalwork, pottery, human and animal remains, monuments, landscape boundaries and special deposits. The main interpretation offered is that Late Bronze Age societies were fluid and unstructured by either social status differences or lineage identities, whereas Early Iron Age communities were more concerned with ancestral genealogy and inter-generational inheritance. By the Middle Iron Age, communal aspects of ritual practice and material practice were largely replaced by local and household concerns in which smaller groups displayed increasing autonomy from each other.

Social Organisation in the Upper and Middle Thames Valley from the Late Bronze Age to the Middle Iron Age. PhD Thesis. Cardiff University

This thesis is an account of social organisation in the Upper and Middle Thames Valley from the L... more This thesis is an account of social organisation in the Upper and Middle Thames Valley from the Late Bronze Age to the end of the Middle Iron Age, c.1150-100 BC. This is approached through the integration and synthesis of various different types of evidence, including houses and settlements; metalwork; pottery; depositional practices; human and animal remains; ‘special deposits’; monuments; and landscape boundaries. Patterns have been found within each period that cross different types of evidence. These patterns relate to underlying internal social and conceptual logical systems. Qualitative and quantitative methods are used, and comparison between periods is an important feature of the analysis. This demonstrates the ‘non-functional’, culturally specific nature of many aspects of material under study and how it was treated in the past.

The thesis begins with an exploration of the role that material culture plays in ways that people create identities and community relationships. The following four chapters each discuss the archaeology and interpret the social organisation of a different period. Much of the Late Bronze Age archaeology is characterised by two features: the repeated destruction and abandonment of objects, settlement and place; and the plain, undifferentiated nature of the material culture. It is argued that Late Bronze Age communities were relatively fluid; identity was not structured around lineage, and differences in status not particularly marked. In the Late Bronze Age, three distinct areas within the study region have been identified, each with differences in various types of material culture and depositional habits. The Late Bronze Age/Early Iron Age Transition is argued to have been a truly transitional period between two distinct types of social organisation. In the Early Iron Age, ancestors were being increasingly identified with, as material culture, settlements and hillforts were passed down and used by multiple generations. Ancient and foreign exotica were acquired and appear to have been employed in the negotiation of power relationships. Aspects of ritual practice and material culture were becoming more heterogeneous. The segregation of smaller, more distinct social groups continued in the Middle Iron Age, shown in part by the construction of boundaries around the household. Hillforts were a focus for deposition. The final chapter charts changes in various aspects of the archaeology before discussing process and causes of social change. A reassessment of the pottery chronology of the period is also included.

Papers by Alex Davies

Social organisation in the Upper and Middle Thames Valley from the Late Bronze Age to the Middle Iron Age

Objects, Place and People: Community Organization in Southern Britain in the First Millennium bc

Cambridge Archaeological Journal, 2018

This paper seeks to understand how identity was constructed and communities were constituted in t... more This paper seeks to understand how identity was constructed and communities were constituted in the Late Bronze Age and Iron Age of parts of central and southern Britain. A holistic approach is favoured, finding patterns within each period that cross different types of evidence. These patterns can be related to underlying social and conceptual logic systems. It is argued that in the Late Bronze Age communities were relatively fluid and lineage played only a minor role in defining identity. Early Iron Age society was more concerned with ancestral genealogy and inter-generational inheritance. By the Middle Iron Age, this developed to the stage where smaller groups displayed increasing autonomy from each other. These social differences can account for many of the dissimilarities in the archaeological records of the Late Bronze Age and Iron Age. Despite contrasting methods of community organization, assessing contiguous periods under the same theoretical and methodological frameworks ha...

SHARE: Studies In History, Archaeology, Religion And Conservation, 2014

This paper reviews how cultural and chronological boundaries and groups have been defined within ... more This paper reviews how cultural and chronological boundaries and groups have been defined within later prehistoric archaeology and a selection of schools within social anthropology. These boundaries separate various peoples, practices and chronological periods, using the meanings conveyed in the terms 'culture', 'society', and 'community'. The similarities in the perspectives taken at various times between the disciplines of prehistory and anthropology are considered. Views that are recent and current within both disciplines -namely the trend towards fluidity of cultural boundaries -are evaluated. It is concluded that although these may promise more nuanced perspectives, they may instead obscure the grouping of data that is necessary for any socio-cultural interpretation. Furthermore, it is argued that informed socio-cultural interpretations should form the basis for new divisions within prehistory.

Unusual Deposition on Bronze Age and Iron Age Settlements and Hillforts in the Upper and Middle Thames Valley

Oxford Journal of Archaeology, 2022

Cambridge Archaeological Journal

Bronze Age metal objects are widely viewed as markers of wealth and status. Items of other materi... more Bronze Age metal objects are widely viewed as markers of wealth and status. Items of other materials, such as jet, amber and glass, tend either to be framed in similar terms as ‘prestige goods’, or to be viewed as decorative trifles of limited research value. In this paper, we argue that such simplistic models dramatically underplay the social role and ‘agentive’ capacities of objects. The occurrence of non-metal ‘valuables’ in British Early Bronze Age graves is well-documented, but their use during the later part of the period remains poorly understood. We will examine the deposition of objects of amber, jet and jet-like materials in Late Bronze Age Britain, addressing in particular their contexts and associations as well as patterns of breakage to consider the cultural meanings and values ascribed to such items and to explore how human and object biographies were intertwined. These materials are rarely found in burials during this period but occur instead on settlements, in hoards...

Oxford Archaeology Client Report (Grey literature), 2020

Excavations to the north-east of Wantage, Oxfordshire, uncovered a long-lived Iron Age and Rom... more Excavations to the north-east of Wantage, Oxfordshire, uncovered a long-lived Iron Age and Roman settlement alongside more ephemeral evidence for earlier prehistoric and Anglo-Saxon activity.
The earliest archaeological remains comprised a small number of residual early prehistoric worked flints. A small assemblage of largely residual late Bronze Age pottery suggests the presence of settlement activity nearby.
The first clear evidence of settlement remains dated to the earliest Iron Age. The settlement appears to have been established in the 8th or 7th century BC, represented by a large post-built roundhouse containing All Cannings Cross pottery. A further five post-built roundhouses and six roundhouses defined by penannular ditches dated to the earliest or early Iron Age. A further post-built roundhouse was not dated, but probably stood during this phase. Also dated to the earliest/early Iron Age were two adjacent linear pit groups, a four-post structure, and nine pits including one that contained an infant and the disarticulated bones of one or more juveniles. A total of 15 roundhouses defined by penannular ditches dated to the middle Iron Age, alongside 12 pits, a four-post structure and several linear features. Another four-post structure, a possible six-post structure, 19 pits and other minor features were broadly dated as ‘Iron Age’ (pertaining to either the early or middle Iron Age). Late Iron Age activity was represented by a substantial circular enclosure that may have surrounded a building.
The site was significantly reorganised early in the Roman period. Two rectilinear enclosures and minor subsidiary enclosures were established, with a ditch cutting and possibly purposefully slighting the late Iron Age circular enclosure. The Roman enclosures were recut multiple times throughout the following centuries and the organisation of the site remained remarkably consistent until it was abandoned at the end of the 4th century AD. A middle Roman corndryer and two late Roman corndryers were discovered, along with two late Roman wells. A fragment of a quern made from raw material quarried in the Channel Islands or northern France was also discovered.
One early Saxon sunken-featured building was discovered, probably dating to the 6th or 7th century. This phase of occupation is not likely to have immediately followed on from the Roman settlement. The later medieval period saw the site come under arable cultivation, signified by the presence of numerous furrows. The land may have been farmed from medieval Wantage and a trackway of late 15th–16th-century date was found to extend southwards towards the town.

Oxford Archaeology Client Report (Grey literature), 2020

Excavations at Nerrols Farm, Cheddon Fitzpaine (ST 2415 2680), uncovered a middle Bronze Age encl... more Excavations at Nerrols Farm, Cheddon Fitzpaine (ST 2415 2680), uncovered a middle Bronze Age enclosure measuring 44m by 38.5m. The enclosure had two phases and contained a roundhouse defined by a curving ditch surrounding pits and postholes. The associated pottery belongs to the Trevisker‐related series primarily found in Somerset. Seven pits within the roundhouse and elsewhere within the enclosure were found to contain snugly fitting pottery vessels. No cremated remains were discovered, and these were probably used as sunken storage vessels. A programme of lipid analysis on the pottery demonstrates that dairying was an important element of the site economy. Another significant find was a fragment of a clay mould used for casting a bladed implement, possibly a rapier. A sequence of radiocarbon dates was taken through the enclosure ditch, demonstrating that it dated to the 14th century cal BC.

Other discoveries include a group of early Neolithic pits; an early Bronze Age ring ditch; two middle Iron Age roundhouses; and two early medieval pits, one containing an iron knife and the other producing a radiocarbon date in the 7th–8th century cal AD.

To be published in Proceedings of the Somerset Archaeological and Natural History Society

Objects of the Past in the Past Investigating the significance of earlier artefacts in later contexts, 2019

This article compares later Bronze Age hoards that contain objects from multiple periods with tho... more This article compares later Bronze Age hoards that contain objects from multiple periods with those from the Iron Age. It is demonstrated that the practice of actively collecting ancient objects is specifically Iron Age, and not shown clearly by the later Bronze Age hoard evidence. This pattern is then linked to the ethnographic record, where ancient objects are commonly thought to be closely associated with powerful supernatural human-like beings that are either feared or venerated. Foreign exotica and objects displaying intricate craftsmanship are often considered in a similar manner as ancient objects are they are also only producible outside of the current cultural context. These types of exotic objects are also attested more in the Iron Age compared to the later Bronze Age. This suggests that supernatural objects were socially employed in a different way during the Iron Age compared to the later Bronze Age.

Open Access download:
http://www.archaeopress.com/ArchaeopressShop/Public/download.asp?id={ED75D039-F2F1-48FC-B310-FF364DBD5A8F}

Later Bronze Age Ornaments

A short introduction to Later Bronze Age ornaments for the British Museum MicroPasts project. Ava... more A short introduction to Later Bronze Age ornaments for the British Museum MicroPasts project. Available online at:
http://research.micropasts.org/

Conference Presentations by Alex Davies

'Multi-period' hoards from the late Bronze Age and Iron Age in southern Britain: interpreting patterns and contextualising deposition. TAG, Cardiff December 2017

The recently discovered Vale of Wardour hoard, excavated under archaeological conditions, has inv... more The recently discovered Vale of Wardour hoard, excavated under archaeological conditions, has invigorated a debate on 'multi-period' hoards in later prehistory. These often astonishing collection of objects, sometimes comprising metalwork from five or six distinct archaeological periods, have previously been under-studied. Either not trusted as true depositions due to the significant implications in accepting the legitimacy of these hoards, or seen as anomalous and ignored. However, recent research has highlighted the potential that these hoards have in further understanding later prehistoric societies. This paper compares 'multi-period' hoards that appear to have been deposited in the late Bronze Age and Iron Age, and demonstrates patterns that can be used to interpret the processes behind the collection and deposition of these already ancient objects. Examples from other aspects of the late Bronze Age and Iron Age archaeology of southern Britain will be used to help contextualise and interpret 'multi-period' hoards.

Feasting, Deposition and the Dead: Social Change and Social Integration in Britain and the Aegean during the 8th century BC. TAG, Cardiff December 2017

The 8th century BC was a period of great change in both southern Britain and the Aegean. As the A... more The 8th century BC was a period of great change in both southern Britain and the Aegean. As the Aegean was emerging from its Dark Age, there was an explosion in population and material culture, shifts in religious expression and the rise of city living. In southern Britain, the Bronze Age had ended, along with exchange networks and patterns of votive deposition that had millennia-old origins, heralding changes to forms of social interaction and concepts of personhood that were to further develop over the ensuing Iron Age. In both regions during the 8th and 7th centuries BC, mechanisms were required to assist the integration of new social forms during this period of upheaval. In both cases, feasting, accompanied with deposition, appears to have come to the centre stage. This seems to have helped steer society through political shifts. The increased emphasis on associating living individuals and the dead also appears to have provided another means to tie society together by legitimising new roles. While developments were not always synchronous, and the societies in question quite different, a number of parallels can be drawn between the Aegean and southern Britain during the 8th and 7th centuries BC.

A new interpretation of the Late Bronze Age and Iron Age of the Thames Valley. Talk to the Royal Archaeological Institute. November 2015

This study attempts to break the traditional compartmentalisation of the Bronze Age and Iron Age ... more This study attempts to break the traditional compartmentalisation of the Bronze Age and Iron Age by approaching them with the same interpretative and methodological frameworks. Similar underlying patterns have been found throughout various aspects of the archaeological record within both the Late Bronze Age and Early Iron Age, but these are quite different between the periods. These patterns tell of shifts in worldviews and the nature of sociality. Ethnographic analogies will be used to help argue that ancestors and lineage were of little importance in the social and ontological orientation of the Late Bronze Age. Community boundaries shifted in the Early Iron Age to include these groups, eventually leading to a more hierarchically organised society later in the Iron Age.

The Late Bronze Age of the Upper and Middle Thames Valley: Synthesis and Interpretation. Bronze Age Forum. November 2015

This paper presents an interpretation of Late Bronze Age social organisation based on a holistic ... more This paper presents an interpretation of Late Bronze Age social organisation based on a holistic analysis of the metalwork, pottery, settlement and landscape evidence. Underlying patterns have been found that suggest a relatively egalitarian society consisting of small household units loosely organised into larger but distinct cultural areas. Analysis of metalwork suggests that the Thames was not a particularly rich area for deposition. Relationships have been found between the location and composition of hoards, and they can be grouped according to these factors. Various patterns have been found in the settlement record, the treatment of human remains and landscape use. It has been possible to split the Late Bronze Age into two sub-periods, and differences in various parts of the archaeology can be seen between these. Aspects of Late Bronze Age ontologies and sociality have been interpreted by tying this diverse evidence together. This paper forms part of a wider study into the later prehistoric archaeology of the Thames Valley, allowing diachronic comparison between other periods to be made.

Forgetting and Remembering in the Late Bronze Age and Early Iron Age of Southern Britain: Personhood, Identity and Ancestors. EAA Glasgow 2015

The archaeology of the Late Bronze Age and Early Iron Age in southern Britain is remarkably diffe... more The archaeology of the Late Bronze Age and Early Iron Age in southern Britain is remarkably different in a number of aspects. The Late Bronze Age is characterised by huge quantities of metalwork, short-lived settlements and a lack of monumentality. In the Early Iron Age, however, we have very few items of metalwork, settlements that last for centuries and a proliferation highly visible monuments: hillforts. Understanding these different but contiguous societies within similar interpretative frameworks has often proved difficult. Using the Thames Valley as a case study, this paper will explore the differing roles that remembering and forgetting played in the Late Bronze Age and Early Iron Age. I will argue that in both periods personhood and identity were formed through the tactical use of memory, and this was mediated with the material world. In particular, there was a heavy emphasis on forgetting the past in the Late Bronze Age. This was aided, for example, by the frequent destruction of objects and houses. Ancestors only played a small role in the communities of the living. In the Early Iron Age this transformed with much more importance being placed on remembering the recent past. This was facilitated by constructing and maintaining monuments, and passing down objects through numerous generations. People increasingly came to define themselves by their ancestors. Although the resulting personhoods and identities were quite different in the Late Bronze Age and Early Iron Age, these were both formulated through the interaction of memory with the material world.

Contextualising the Thames: Late Bronze Age and Iron Age finds from the Thames Valley and Beyond. Prehistoric Society and Later Prehistorc Finds Group. British Museum. April 2015

Later prehistoric metalwork from the Thames has long been of interest to archaeologists. The rive... more Later prehistoric metalwork from the Thames has long been of interest to archaeologists. The river is generally regarded as being particularly rich in the quantity, and specific in the types of finds it produces. Consequently it is thought that it was a special place throughout later prehistory. This will be assessed by comparing the Thames metalwork and depositional practices with non-riverine finds from the Thames Valley and beyond. It will be demonstrated that in the Late Bronze Age the Thames should not necessarily be regarded as unusual within southern and eastern Britain.
The composition and location of hoards is also assessed, and clear patterns emerge. Groups of hoards can be identified relating to both these factors. Other patterns can also be seen in the location of dryland single finds. The changing nature of metalwork deposition through later prehistory will be looked at, drawing together other types of evidence from the region to provide a social context within which these objects can be placed. Ideas about the changing role that later prehistoric objects played in the creation of personhood will be explored.

The Past in Transition: The Changing Role of the Past in the Late Bronze Age and Early Iron Age in the Thames Valley. TAG Manchester. December 2014

Perceptions of the past in pre- and proto-historic societies have recently become a rich area of ... more Perceptions of the past in pre- and proto-historic societies have recently become a rich area of archaeological study. Ethnographic evidence demonstrates the variety of roles that ancestors can play in living societies, and psychological studies show the malleability of human memory. Understanding how the past and ancestors were conceptualised is an important step in understanding wider cosmological concerns as these often influence and are influenced by each other. This paper aims to compare and contrast some of the main archaeological aspects of the Late Bronze Age and Early Iron Age of the Thames Valley – settlement and house forms; artefact production, exchange and deposition; monumentality and landscape use - and argues that this period saw a dramatic shift in how past generations were perceived and the roles that ancestors played in the communities of the living. The last centuries of the Late Bronze Age (c.1000-800 BC) are characterised by fleeting relationships with material possessions, settlements, houses and some landscape features. The Early Iron Age (c.600-350 BC), in contrast, witnessed much longer-term relationships, passing objects and place down through the generations. This suggests significantly different meanings and associations attached to everyday features, with previous generations playing a larger role in the communities of the living in the Iron Age.

Social Organisation in the Upper and Middle Thames Valley from the Late Bronze Age to the Middle Iron Age. PhD Thesis. Cardiff University

Social organisation in the Upper and Middle Thames Valley from the Late Bronze Age to the Middle Iron Age

Objects, Place and People: Community Organization in Southern Britain in the First Millennium bc

Cambridge Archaeological Journal, 2018

SHARE: Studies In History, Archaeology, Religion And Conservation, 2014

Unusual Deposition on Bronze Age and Iron Age Settlements and Hillforts in the Upper and Middle Thames Valley

Oxford Journal of Archaeology, 2022

Cambridge Archaeological Journal

Oxford Archaeology Client Report (Grey literature), 2020

To be published in Proceedings of the Somerset Archaeological and Natural History Society

Objects of the Past in the Past Investigating the significance of earlier artefacts in later contexts, 2019

Open Access download:
http://www.archaeopress.com/ArchaeopressShop/Public/download.asp?id={ED75D039-F2F1-48FC-B310-FF364DBD5A8F}

Later Bronze Age Ornaments

'Multi-period' hoards from the late Bronze Age and Iron Age in southern Britain: interpreting patterns and contextualising deposition. TAG, Cardiff December 2017

Feasting, Deposition and the Dead: Social Change and Social Integration in Britain and the Aegean during the 8th century BC. TAG, Cardiff December 2017

A new interpretation of the Late Bronze Age and Iron Age of the Thames Valley. Talk to the Royal Archaeological Institute. November 2015

The Late Bronze Age of the Upper and Middle Thames Valley: Synthesis and Interpretation. Bronze Age Forum. November 2015

Forgetting and Remembering in the Late Bronze Age and Early Iron Age of Southern Britain: Personhood, Identity and Ancestors. EAA Glasgow 2015

Contextualising the Thames: Late Bronze Age and Iron Age finds from the Thames Valley and Beyond. Prehistoric Society and Later Prehistorc Finds Group. British Museum. April 2015

The Past in Transition: The Changing Role of the Past in the Late Bronze Age and Early Iron Age in the Thames Valley. TAG Manchester. December 2014

Personal Ornaments of the British Late Bronze Age and Earliest Iron Age. Later Prehistoric Finds Group. Hull October 2014.

This paper analyses the evidence for personal adornment in Britain during the Late Bronze Age-Ear... more This paper analyses the evidence for personal adornment in Britain during the Late Bronze Age-Earliest Iron Age (c. 1150-600 BC). Beyond occasional bone pins and surviving textile fragments, the vast majority of the c. 1100 personal ornaments are primarily made from bronze
and gold, but also include amber, shale, jet and latterly iron objects. Though there are few radiocarbon dates, it is possible to construct a typo-chronological sequence for each ornament type using frequently associated and well-dated metalwork types. The ornaments can be sub-divided into three c. 150-200 year periods. Around 70% of ornaments date to the Ewart Park phase (c. 1000-800 BC) and are more numerous than the Middle Bronze Age ‘ornament horizon’ (c. 1400-1150 BC). This framework enables further spatial and temporal similarities and differences in personal ornament production, circulation and depositional practices to be explored. The potential existence of local, regional and pan-regional ornament sets - as reflected in depositional practices - is also analysed. Finally, the paper investigates the relationship of the personal ornaments to the placing of settlements, non-ornament hoards and the dead.

Prehistoric Society Review of Gosden, C and Lock, G 2014, Histories in the Making: Excavations at... more Prehistoric Society Review of Gosden, C and Lock, G 2014, Histories in the Making: Excavations at Alfred's Castle 1998-2000, Oxford University School of Archaeology

Oxoniensia, 2022

Excavations to the north-east of Wantage (formerly Berks.) uncovered an Iron Age settlement that ... more Excavations to the north-east of Wantage (formerly Berks.) uncovered an Iron Age settlement that was established in the eighth or seventh century BC. Eleven roundhouses, variously defined by postholes and penannular ditches, dated to the earliest or early Iron Age. A total of fifteen roundhouses defined by penannular ditches dated to the middle Iron Age, alongside further settlement features. Activity appears to have diminished during the late Iron Age before the site was significantly reorganised early in the Roman period when two rectilinear enclosures and minor subsidiary enclosures were established. These enclosures were recut multiple times throughout the following centuries and the organisation of the site remained remarkably consistent until its abandonment at the end of the fourth century AD. Corndryers dating to the middle and late Roman periods suggest a focus on cereal processing. One early Anglo-Saxon sunken-featured building was discovered, probably dating to the sixth or seventh century AD. The site was cultivated in the later medieval period, signified by the presence of numerous furrows, and a trackway of late fifteenth- to sixteenth-century date was found to extend southwards towards Wantage.

Oxoniensia, 2022

Excavations at Dunmore Road, Abingdon (formerly Berks.) uncovered activity dating from the Neolit... more Excavations at Dunmore Road, Abingdon (formerly Berks.) uncovered activity dating from the Neolithic to the early Roman period. Following some ephemeral traces of Neolithic and Bronze Age activity, the earliest clear evidence of settlement was represented in the early Iron Age by a series of post-built and ditched roundhouses, numerous pits, and four- and six-post structures. Middle Iron Age activity was represented primarily by a series of enclosures accompanied by an inhumation burial and several pits. One of the enclosures was recut in the late Iron Age and a larger adjoining enclosure was established during this time. The larger enclosure was recut three times in the early Roman period, showing continuity in local activity, which also saw the construction of a probable masonry building. A previously unknown Roman road, flanked by ditches c.20–28 m apart with layers of metalling in between, was found extending across the site. Projection of the road alignment southwards connects it to the late Iron Age oppidum and Roman nucleated settlement at Abingdon. No road has previously been found that links Abingdon to the main Roman road network. Activity ceased in the early second century AD, around the time of settlement and landscape reorganisation observed more widely in the Abingdon area. The road does not appear to have been refurbished thereafter, and the extent to which it continued in use through the later Roman period is unknown. Medieval furrows crossed the site on the same alignment as the Iron Age and early Roman enclosures and perpendicular to the Roman road. However, the furrows may have been aligned upon Wootton Road to the west rather than indicating any influence from the late prehistoric or Roman remains.