The Archaeology of Britain: An introduction from ... - waughfamily.ca

The Later Bronze Age
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common finds at this point, especially in southern Britain. The main products were presumably
clothes. This important new use for sheep as providers of wool would have had a significant
effect on their role in the agricultural economy, and textiles would have provided a new medium
for decoration and the representation of individual identities.
A little more has survived to demonstrate Bronze Age wood-working skills. A specialized
toolkit comprising saws, chisels and gouges made of bronze was produced, as well as the axes
which had a variety of functions. The more substantial nature of settlement structures demanded
an appropriate level of carpentry, and by the end of the Bronze Age wheeled vehicles were being
built. The sewn-plank boats known from Dover (Figure 6.8) and elsewhere show us the
achievements of Bronze Age skills, and the mass of material from Flag Fen casts much new light
on carpentry techniques.
The industries that have left the most evidence are bronze and pottery making. The range of
bronze types produced in the Later Bronze Age, and the developing technologies required to
make them, will be discussed in more detail below, but here it can be noted that the bronze
industry needed a supply of copper, tin and lead. All these metals were of limited geological
distribution and were therefore the focus for long-distance exchange mechanisms. Trace element
analysis of copper has revealed the use of sources in western Britain, but much of the bronze
metalwork of the Wilburton phase in eastern England was made from a distinctive copper that
originated in the Alpine region of continental Europe. This continued to circulate in later periods,
increasingly alloyed with metal from other sources as objects were melted down and recycled
(Northover 1982). In the later phases of the Bronze Age, large collections of broken bronze
items indicate the collection and recycling of scrap metal, in addition to supplies of new metal.
The complexity of the technology, as well as the problems of access to supplies of metal,
suggests that bronze working was a specialist skill, and the development of specialized tools such
as hammers and anvils supports this. Study of the bronze items themselves indicates that some
types, such as tools, ornaments and small spearheads, were made for comparatively local distribution
and use, while other larger or more complex types, such as swords, were made by a smaller
number of more skilled specialists and distributed more widely.
Pottery production and distribution in southern Britain shows a similar pattern. In the Deverel-
Rimbury phase, the coarse-ware jars were made from local materials for local use, while the
globular urns and other finer wares were distributed over a wider area. Less is known about the
production of vessels in the plain-ware phase, but these again seem mostly to have been of local
production. The Deverel-Rimbury and related traditions comprised a very limited range of forms,
mainly large jars and some smaller vessels, mostly in finer wares. In the plain-ware phase (Barrett
1980), there is a greatly expanded range of forms, with more jar types, and especially some bowls
and cups. These smaller vessels were often made in finer wares with careful surface finishing, and
in the final phase these were often decorated. These trends indicate new social uses for pottery,
and in particular its role in the serving and consumption of food and drink.
The evidence for some of these crafts, especially textiles and some pottery making, suggests
that they were widespread domestic activities. That does not mean that every household practised
them, though the majority probably did; it is also likely that such activities were allocated in some
way on the basis of age and gender within the household. Other crafts were certainly more
specialized; the complexity of the technology, and the skills and practical knowledge needed, the
production of specialized tools found in complete toolkits, and the quality of some of the finished
products all argue for the existence of specialists. The precise social context in which they worked,
and their relationship to other groups in society are unclear. Some may have been full-time
specialists, although many were also engaged in agricultural production; some may have worked