Substances and Cycles

2021 ◽  
pp. 183-217
Author(s):  
Sarah Mallet ◽  
Dan Stansbie
Keyword(s):  
Iron Age ◽  
Rural Economy ◽  
Regional Food ◽  
Early Medieval Period ◽  
Late Iron Age ◽  
Animal Bones ◽  
Plant Remains ◽  
Direct Indication ◽  
Food Cultures ◽  
Changes Over Time

This chapter looks at two sets of evidence for food: first, we consider the archaeological evidence of bones, plant remains, and pottery, each a direct indication of the food consumed; we also gather together and synthesize information on isotopes from human and animal bones for periods from the Iron Age to the early medieval period. Isotope data shows changes over time and space, reinforcing the idea that the Roman rural economy was more intensive than that of other periods. We are able to identify a series of regional food cultures and changes through time, looking also at the influence of towns from the late Iron Age onwards. We integrate the evidence through a consideration of the thought of Deleuze and De Landa.

scholarly journals The Materiality of the Ancient Dead – Post-burial Practices and Ontologies of Death in Southern Sweden AD 800–1200

2021 ◽  
Vol 26 (1) ◽  
pp. 137-162
Author(s):  
Fredrik Fahlander
Keyword(s):  
Iron Age ◽  
Southern Sweden ◽  
Medieval Period ◽  
Top Down ◽  
Early Medieval ◽  
Burial Practices ◽  
Early Medieval Period ◽  
Logical Status ◽  
Late Iron Age ◽  
Living Dead

This text discusses reuse and modifications of older graves in southern Sweden during the Late Iron Age and early medieval period (c. 9th to 12th centu- ries AD). Post-burial practices in the Late Iron Age have in general been interpreted as means to nego- tiate status, identity and rights to land, while in the later part of the period they are comprehended as expressions of religious insecurity and syncretism. In this text, the continuity of post-burial practices during the whole period is stressed and instead of general top-down interpretative models, the onto- logical status and material aspects of death, dead bodies and their graves is emphasized. It is argued that the post-burial actions generally constituted ways of relating to a specific type of materiality, the bones of the ancient dead, which transgress binary categorizations such as living–dead, past–present, heathen–Christian, and human–nonhuman. The argument builds on five recently excavated sites in southern Sweden: Bogla, Broby Bro, Lilla Ullevi, Valsta and Vittene.

scholarly journals A multi-proxy Holocene palaeoenvironmental record of climate change and prehistoric human activity from Lough Cullin, southeast Ireland

The Holocene ◽  
2022 ◽  
pp. 095968362110665
Author(s):  
Kevin Kearney ◽  
Benjamin Gearey ◽  
Susan Hegarty ◽  
Suzi Richer ◽  
Carla Ferreira ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Bronze Age ◽  
Human Activity ◽  
Iron Age ◽  
Vegetation Change ◽  
Late Neolithic ◽  
Early Medieval Period ◽  
Late Iron Age ◽  
Subsequent Step ◽  
Woodland Regeneration ◽  
Radiocarbon Chronology

A multiproxy (pollen, microcharcoal, loss-on-ignition, magnetic susceptibility and geochemistry) sequence from Lough Cullin, southeast Ireland, supported by a high-resolution radiocarbon chronology, modelled using Bayesian approaches, provides a record of environmental change for much of the Holocene. Following the establishment of mixed deciduous woodland, climatic deterioration was likely responsible for pronounced vegetation change and erosion, 7615–6500 cal. BC to 6245–5575 cal. BC, evidence for the ‘8.2 Kyr’ BP climate event. The so-called ‘elm decline’ is dated to 4220–3980 cal. BC and whilst there are possible indications of an anthropogenic cause, clear evidence of woodland clearance with cereal pollen is recorded at 3900–3700 cal. BC, 3790–3580 cal. BC and 3760–3650 cal. BC, during a period of clearance and farming of 320–450 years duration. A reduction in farming/settlement and woodland regeneration during the Middle Neolithic parallels the archaeological record, with low levels of activity during the Late Neolithic/Chalcolithic after 2960–2525 cal. BC, prior to increases during the Bronze Age then woodland clearance and agriculture between 1500–1410 and 1275–1000 cal. BC, corresponding with the archaeological evidence. A subsequent ‘step-wise’ reduction in human activity follows, from the latter date to 815–685 cal. BC, and a brief but pronounced cessation at 690–535 cal. BC. Renewed woodland clearance and agriculture commenced until 415–250 cal. BC. From the latter date until cal. AD 390–540, the Late Iron Age/Early Medieval period, a phase of woodland recovery is attested, followed by renewed landscape disturbance and arable agriculture in particular, continuing to the close of the record at cal. AD 780–1035.

Bogs, Bodies and Burnt Mounds: Visits to the Soar Wetlands in the Neolithic and Bronze Age

2012 ◽  
Vol 78 ◽  
pp. 173-206 ◽  
Author(s):  
Susan Ripper ◽  
Matthew Beamish ◽  
A. Bayliss ◽  
C. Bronk Ramsey ◽  
A. Brown ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Bronze Age ◽  
Iron Age ◽  
Radiocarbon Dating ◽  
Violent Death ◽  
Late Bronze Age ◽  
Medieval Period ◽  
Early Medieval Period ◽  
Long Period ◽  
Animal Bones ◽  
The Bronze Age

The recording and analysis of a burnt mound and adjacent palaeochannel deposits on the floodplain of the River Soar in Leicestershire revealed that the burnt mound was in use, possibly for a number of different purposes, at the transition from the Neolithic to the Bronze Age. An extensive radiocarbon dating programme indicated that the site was revisited. Human remains from the palaeochannel comprised the remains of three individuals, two of whom pre-dated the burnt mound by several centuries while the partial remains of a third, dating from the Late Bronze Age, provided evidence that this individual had met a violent death. These finds, along with animal bones dating to the Iron Age, and the remains of a bridge from the early medieval period, suggest that people were drawn to this location over a long period of time.

scholarly journals Coastal Erosion and the Promontory Fort: Appearance and Use during Late Iron Age and Early Medieval County Waterford, Ireland

2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (14) ◽  
pp. 5794
Author(s):  
Edward Pollard ◽  
Anthony Corns ◽  
Sandra Henry ◽  
Robert Shaw
Keyword(s):  
Iron Age ◽  
Oral Tradition ◽  
Field Survey ◽  
Aerial Survey ◽  
Original Form ◽  
Northern Spain ◽  
Early Medieval ◽  
Early Medieval Period ◽  
Late Iron Age ◽  
Storm Frequency

Promontory forts are an understudied but distinctive maritime archaeological feature from the Iron Age to the early medieval period from northern Spain to Scotland. Their coastal location renders them susceptible to erosion and loss to history, a situation exacerbated by increased storm frequency and sea level rise. Reconstruction of their original form is important to determine their role in the society of the time. This paper concentrates on a particularly notable group of promontory forts along the Copper Coast of Co. Waterford, where traces of up to 32 remain today within a 24 km stretch of coastline. The methodology has involved using oral tradition, historical records and field survey. This has been enhanced by aerial survey using drones and light aircraft. This paper models the data to estimate areas eroded and show how forts were once significantly larger and dominated coastal resources with an economy of farming, fishing, mining and trading. This paper calculates a likely erosion rate of 4–5 cm/yr and anticipates the last remains to be lost in 350 years, perhaps sooner with climate change.

Le Yaudet, Ploulec'h, Côtes d'Armor, Brittany. An Interim Report on the Excavations of 1991–4

1995 ◽  
Vol 75 ◽  
pp. 43-70 ◽  
Author(s):  
Barry Cunliffe ◽  
Patrick Galliou
Keyword(s):  
Bronze Age ◽  
Iron Age ◽  
Eleventh Century ◽  
Third Century ◽  
North Coast ◽  
Agricultural Activity ◽  
Early Medieval Period ◽  
The North ◽  
Late Iron Age ◽  
Two Phases

The promontory site of Le Yaudet, on the north coast of Brittany, was occupied from the Bronze Age to the present day, at various stages during this period sharing in maritime exchange systems linking Brittany to Britain. In the Late Iron Age the site, of some 6ha, was surrounded by stone and rubble defences the main cross-promontory defence being of murus gallicus type. The defences are of at least two phases, the later probably dating to the time of Caesar. Occupation continued and in the late third century AD a new wall was built around the defensive circuit at a time when similar coastal sites on both sides of the Channel were being defended. On one site, agricultural activity of the early medieval period was followed by village development in the eleventh century. The present village is a shrunken remnant of the earlier, more extensive settlement.

Iron Age and Roman Enclosed Settlement at Winchester Road, Basingstoke

2019 ◽  
Vol 74 (1) ◽  
pp. 36-97
Author(s):  
Richard Massey ◽  
Matt Nichol ◽  
Dana Challinor ◽  
Sharon Clough ◽  
Matilda Holmes ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Iron Age ◽  
Roman Period ◽  
Field Boundary ◽  
Crop Processing ◽  
Late Iron Age ◽  
Middle Iron Age ◽  
Grave Goods

Excavation in Area 1 identified an enclosed settlement of Middle–Late Iron Age and Early Roman date, which included a roundhouse gully and deep storage pits with complex fills. A group of undated four-post structures, situated in the east of Area 1, appeared to represent a specialised area of storage or crop processing of probable Middle Iron Age date. A sequence of re-cutting and reorganisation of ditches and boundaries in the Late Iron Age/Early Roman period was followed, possibly after a considerable hiatus, by a phase of later Roman activity, Late Iron Age reorganisation appeared to be associated with the abandonment of a roundhouse, and a number of structured pit deposits may also relate to this period of change. Seven Late Iron Age cremation burials were associated with a contemporary boundary ditch which crossed Area 1. Two partly-exposed, L-shaped ditches may represent a later Roman phase of enclosed settlement and a slight shift in settlement focus. An isolated inhumation burial within the northern margins of Area 1 was tentatively dated by grave goods to the Early Saxon period.<br/> Area 2 contained a possible trackway and field boundary ditches, of which one was of confirmed Late Iron Age/Early Roman date. A short posthole alignment in Area 2 was undated, and may be an earlier prehistoric feature.

Middle and Late Iron Age Occupation at Cadnam Farm, Alton, Hampshire

2018 ◽  
Vol 73 (1) ◽  
pp. 110-136
Author(s):  
Oliver Good ◽  
Richard Massey
Keyword(s):  
Iron Age ◽  
The South ◽  
Late Iron Age ◽  
South West ◽  
Middle Iron Age

Three individual areas, totalling 0.55ha, were excavated at the Cadnam Farm site, following evaluation. Area 1 contained a D-shaped enclosure of Middle Iron Age date, associated with the remains of a roundhouse, and a ditched drove-way. Other features included refuse pits, a four-post structure and a small post-built structure of circular plan. Area 2 contained the superimposed foundation gullies of two Middle Iron Age roundhouses, adjacent to a probable third example. Area 3 contained a small number of Middle Iron Age pits, together with undated, post-built structures of probable Middle Iron Age date, including a roundhouse and four and six-post structures. Two large boundary ditches extended from the south-west corner of Area 3, and were interpreted as the funnelled entrance of a drove-way. These contained both domestic and industrial refuse of the late Iron Age date in their fills.

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