Stones, Bones and Homes: An Examination of Regionality in the Iron Age Settlements and Landscape of West Wales (original) (raw)
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Proceedings of the Prehistoric Society, 2012
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Proceedings of the Prehistoric Society, 2017
Over the last 20 years interpretive approaches within Iron Age studies in Britain have moved from the national to the regional. This was an important development which challenged the notion that a unified, British, Iron Age ever existed. However, whilst this approach has allowed regional histories to be told in their own right, there has been far too much focus on ‘key’ areas such as Wessex and Yorkshire. Our knowledge of the ‘gaps’ in-between these regions is uneven across the country and seriously distorts our understanding of the period. This situation is particularly acute in Wales where there is a paucity of very large material and structural assemblages. As with many ‘in-between’ areas, developer-funded archaeology has increased the baseline dataset, although the interpretations of those data have not developed in parallel. This paper will demonstrate that, to more fully understand the integrated regional composition of Iron Age Britain, we must give detailed consideration to ...
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MPhil Thesis, 2012
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Archaeology, 2005
The aim of this paper is to provide an archaeological research framework for the early medieval period in Wales, which we would expect to be refined in the light of new work and fresh debates. The process for the archaeology of Wales as a whole was initiated in a conference held by IFA Wales/Cymru in 2001 (Briggs 2003), though this failed to include a paper on the early middle ages, the only period of Welsh archaeology not to be represented. Following this conference the four Welsh Archaeological Trusts were funded by Cadw to compile regional resource audits and from the data identified a research assessment was initiated. In autumn 2002 four regional seminars were held at which papers on the early medieval period were included (Bapty 2003; Edwards 2003; Lane 2003; Redknap 2003). These were followed up in May 2003 with a seminar hosted by the Early Medieval Wales Archaeology Research Group in association with the National Museum & Gallery Cardiff; the fruits of this discussion have been incorporated into this pan-Wales paper. A short paper (Bapty 2004) was included in a national seminar in September 2004 on the development of a research agenda and a research strategy for all periods of Welsh archaeology. However, it was thought that the problems of identifying the archaeology of the early medieval period in Wales and a research strategy for their possible solution merited more extensive consideration. SETTLEMENT ARCHAEOLOGY The settlement evidence for the early medieval centuries is poor throughout most of western and northern Britain. A few areas, in particular those with alkaline sand deposits such as the Hebrides or Orkney, have exceptional preservation but otherwise settlements, houses and artefacts are difficult to recognise and poorly understood. These problems affect substantial parts of upland England as well. After the relative
TOWARDS AN UNDERSTANDING OF THE SETTLEMENT PATTERN IN SOUTHEAST WALES DURING THE ROMAN PERIOD
This paper (drafted in 2001 but never formally published) reports on the South East Wales Romano-British Lowland Settlement Survey, carried out by the Glamorgan-Gwent Archaeological Trust with grant aid from Cadw, between 1998 and 2001. Following a review of known Roman period sites in the former counties of Glamorgan and Gwent, an area of some 15 square km was selected for further study by means of fieldwalking supplemented by limited geophysical survey and trial excavation. The results provide an insight into settlement patterns, which are likely to be representative of a wider area.
CIFA Wales/Cymru, 2023
Early medieval archaeology in Wales is particularly challenging. There is little diagnostic material culture and comparatively few sites have been identified and excavated. Nevertheless, the period since the last review has witnessed significant advances and knowledge. The publication of Professor Nancy Edwards' monograph on Life in Early Medieval Wales (2023, Oxford University Press) heralds a major watershed, to which readers are referred for a comprehensive and detailed overview of the current state of knowledge. This revision of the Research Framework offers an opportunity to re-evaluate its content, structure and scope. The fundamental issues that were set out in the three earlier versions of this Research Framework are still relevant. Thus, key research priorities remain: the identification and investigation of settlements, cemeteries, and ecclesiastical sites; improvement of chronological frameworks; analysis of artefacts, ecofacts, paleoenvironmental and osteological data; the further of understanding of power and authority; and also of the development of understanding of frontiers and dyke systems. The failure to significantly address and move on from these priorities demonstrates the severity of the challenges to the realisation of research potential for the early medieval period in Wales. In the light of this and the fact that Professor Edwards' monograph offers an up-to-date synthesis of the archaeology of the period, this revision of the Framework aims to set priorities that will facilitate and maximise opportunities for research, funding, and collaboration. This document considers nine overarching themes: working better together; maximising fieldwork potential; improving resources; sharing knowledge; improving and refining chronology; landscape perspectives on sites, monuments, social and economic processes; artefact and ecofact/biofact analysis; burials; power and authority; and community and engagement. Recent publications (post 2016) are noted in a separate bibliography.
University of New Mexico Dissertation, 2016
The social structure of the British Iron Age has long been seen as enigmatic, especially in the North of Wales, the Marches, and Northwest of England. An increasing dissatisfaction with models of tribes, chiefdoms, and petty kings has led to the advancement of egalitarian models in the last two decades. This paper moves to further the new model of social organization through heterarchy, but does not entirely discard hierarchical systems. Furthermore, through the examination of excavated examples of hillforts and ethnographic analogy a system of feminine symbolism is proposed in explaining the importance of hillforts. Claims about the indecipherable nature of the Iron Age are firmly refuted and a system of civic organization through ceremonial society is proposed alongside a geographic analysis.