The Archaeology of Britain: An introduction from ... - waughfamily.ca
The Archaeology of Britain: An introduction from ... - waughfamily.ca
The Archaeology of Britain: An introduction from ... - waughfamily.ca
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<strong>The</strong> Later Bronze Age<br />
• 109 •<br />
access to rare materials and technologies; whether as part <strong>of</strong> funeral ceremonies or as gifts to the<br />
gods, such deposits could be highly public statements about an individual’s identity. To modern<br />
eyes, such a practice may seem an inexpli<strong>ca</strong>ble waste, but the value <strong>of</strong> bronze may have lain in the<br />
status conferred by the ability to acquire it, to possess it and to dis<strong>ca</strong>rd it, and its use in the<br />
demonstration <strong>of</strong> such status, as much as in any functional utility as a tool.<br />
<strong>The</strong> second theme is warfare. <strong>The</strong> use <strong>of</strong> slashing swords and armour suggests a new form <strong>of</strong><br />
combat, and a new status for the fully armoured warrior. <strong>The</strong> edges <strong>of</strong> many swords show signs<br />
<strong>of</strong> use, but the shields and helmets appear too thin to have <strong>of</strong>fered much protection in battle, and<br />
may have been more for display, though one shield seems to have been pierced by a spear. <strong>The</strong><br />
swords and sheet metal armour were certainly some <strong>of</strong> the most elaborate products <strong>of</strong> the Bronze<br />
Age smiths, requiring many complex skills. Whether such weapons were worn in real battles, or in<br />
symbolic rituals <strong>of</strong> warfare, or simply in showy parade, they were undoubtedly a very obvious<br />
symbol <strong>of</strong> power.<br />
<strong>The</strong> third theme concerns feasting, the other main function for which sheet bronze was used.<br />
Cauldrons and their associated flesh-hooks and buckets represent the material evidence <strong>of</strong> the<br />
ritualized preparation and serving <strong>of</strong> meat and drink, while finds <strong>of</strong> pottery and animal bones<br />
<strong>from</strong> some sites have also been interpreted in this way.<br />
Finally, wheeled vehicles represented the most complex technologi<strong>ca</strong>l achievements <strong>of</strong> the<br />
Bronze Age, demanding high levels <strong>of</strong> skill in <strong>ca</strong>rpentry, metalwork, leatherwork and animal<br />
management. <strong>The</strong> uses to which such wagons were put are not clear. <strong>The</strong>re may have been<br />
utilitarian versions, but others probably had a signifi<strong>ca</strong>nt ritual role; wheeled vehicles have remained<br />
a favourite theme for lavish expenditure and symbolic display ever since. <strong>The</strong> recovery <strong>of</strong> a hoard<br />
<strong>of</strong> vehicle parts near the summit <strong>of</strong> Horsehope, Peeblesshire, indi<strong>ca</strong>tes something <strong>of</strong> the<br />
possibilities.<br />
<strong>The</strong>se new areas <strong>of</strong> social activity show the relationship between prestige, material culture and<br />
technology; the demand for such items was a powerful stimulus to the development <strong>of</strong> techni<strong>ca</strong>l<br />
skills by innovation and imitation. Control over access to such items and the skill to produce<br />
them was an important basis for prestige in Later Bronze Age society and a means <strong>of</strong> demonstrating<br />
it. <strong>The</strong> importance <strong>of</strong> feasting links these ideas to the consumption <strong>of</strong> food, but the full articulation<br />
<strong>of</strong> the system <strong>of</strong> prestige goods to the agricultural economy is not clear. <strong>The</strong> intensifi<strong>ca</strong>tion <strong>of</strong><br />
agricultural production, the increasing signs <strong>of</strong> land division, and the development <strong>of</strong> the salt<br />
industry all suggest that control over the production and distribution <strong>of</strong> food was also an important<br />
feature <strong>of</strong> Later Bronze Age society.<br />
<strong>The</strong> material evidence for these prestige activities assumes a high pr<strong>of</strong>ile in the archaeologi<strong>ca</strong>l<br />
record, creating an inevitable emphasis on the hierarchi<strong>ca</strong>l nature <strong>of</strong> Later Bronze Age society,<br />
but it is not clear how extreme such inequalities were or how they were manifested in daily life.<br />
Nor are these relationships the only ones <strong>of</strong> interest, though they may be the most obvious. <strong>The</strong><br />
emerging role <strong>of</strong> specialist craft producers has been discussed above. Relationships <strong>of</strong> age and<br />
gender may also have been changing at this time, and may have been more meaningful for most<br />
people’s lives, even if it is difficult to detect them archaeologi<strong>ca</strong>lly. <strong>The</strong> changing nature <strong>of</strong> pottery<br />
produced in the Later Bronze Age, at least in southern <strong>Britain</strong>, provides one possible insight into<br />
such relations, and suggests that the domestic rituals <strong>of</strong> preparing, serving and consuming food<br />
were being ordered in new ways throughout society (Barrett 1989).<br />
BRITAIN IN WIDER PERSPECTIVE<br />
<strong>Britain</strong> was not isolated, and we have already seen some <strong>of</strong> the evidence for contacts in the form<br />
<strong>of</strong> boats and continental imports. <strong>The</strong> links ran much deeper, however, and <strong>ca</strong>n be seen in a wide