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

The Later Bronze Age
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nature of settlement systems and their histories of long-term change. This makes it difficult to
extrapolate from one set of evidence to a wider scale, but raises important questions about the
social groupings that lie behind such patterns.
Although archaeological understanding of some bronze finds, especially deposits in watery
places, has improved enormously in recent years, there are still major problems with other find
types, such as dryland hoards, objects from settlements and the many so-called ‘stray finds’.
These make up a large part of the record, but are still little understood. There are also many
questions still to be answered about the organization of bronze production.
Fundamental problems also remain for our understanding of the nature of the changes in
Later Bronze Age society. The emergence of new forms of ritual and new sources of prestige
and authority, the connections between changes in agriculture and the elite activities of feasting
and conspicuous consumption, and the nature of social relationships and differences of age,
gender and status are some of the key problems that await more detailed examination.
Key texts
Barrett, J. and Bradley, R. (eds) 1980. Settlement and society in the British later Bronze Age. Oxford: British
Archaeological Reports British Series 83.
Bradley, R., 1990. The passage of arms; an archaeological analysis of prehistoric hoards and votive deposits. Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press, 97–154.
Fleming, A., 1988. The Dartmoor Reaves: investigating prehistoric land divisions. London: Batsford.
Megaw, J.V.S. and Simpson, D.D.A. (eds) 1979. Introduction to British prehistory: from the arrival of Homo sapiens
to the Claudian invasion. Leicester: Leicester University Press, 242–343.
Pryor, F., 1991. Flag Fen: prehistoric Fenland centre, London: Batsford and English Heritage.
Bibliography
Barrett, J., 1980. ‘The pottery of the later Bronze age in lowland England’, Proceedings of the Prehistoric Society
46, 297–319.
Barrett, J., 1989. ‘Food, gender and metal: questions of social reproduction’, in Sørensen, M.L. and Thomas,
R. (eds) The Bronze Age-Iron Age transition in Europe: aspects of continuity and change in European societies c1200
to 500 B.C.. Oxford: British Archaeological Reports International Series S483, 304–320. (2 vols).
Barrett, J., Bradley, R. and Green, M., 1991. Landscape, monuments and society: the archaeology of Cranborne Chase.
Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Bond, D., 1988. Excavation at the North Ring, Mucking, Essex. Chelmsford: Archaeology Section, Essex County
Council.
Bradley, R. and Gordon, K., 1988. ‘Human skulls from the River Thames, their dating and significance’,
Antiquity 62, 503–509.
Bradley, R., Lobb, S., Richards, J. and Robinson, M., 1980. ‘Two Late Bronze Age settlements on the Kennet
gravels: excavations at Aldermaston Wharf and Knight’s Farm, Burghfield, Berkshire’, Proceedings of the
Prehistoric Society 46, 217–295.
Bradley, R., Entwistle, R. and Raymond, F., 1994. Prehistoric land divisions on Salisbury Plain: the work of the
Wessex Linear Ditches Project. London: English Heritage.
Britton, D., 1971. ‘The Heathery Burn Cave revisited’, in Sieveking, G. de G. (ed.) Prehistoric and Roman
Studies. London: British Museum Press, 20–38.
Brown, N., 1988. ‘A Late Bronze Age enclosure at Lofts Farm, Essex’, Proceedings of the Prehistoric Society, 54,
249–302.
Brück, J., 1995. ‘A place for the dead: the role of human remains in Late Bronze Age Britain’, Proceedings of
the Prehistoric Society 61, 245–277.
Buckley, D.G. and Hedges, J.D., 1987. The Bronze Age and Saxon settlements at Springfield Lyons, Essex: an interim
report. Chelmsford: Essex County Council.
Buckley, V. (ed.) 1990. Burnt offerings: international contributions to burnt mound archaeology. Dublin: Wordwell.
Burgess, C.B., 1968. ‘The later Bronze Age in the British Isles and northwestern France’, Archaeological
Journal 125, 1–45.