Documenting the results of some ten years of fieldwork, this volume explores the prehistoric occupation of a small valley near Broom, on the Bedfordshire gravels. It traces a biography of the landscape from the later Mesolithic through to the Iron Age, a sequence that saw profound changes in the character, scale and temporality of occupation. Undertaken in advance of gravel extraction, the scale of the fieldwork reported here made it possibe to track not only the sequence of occupation, but also how prehistoric communities encountered, appropriated or ignored the 'archaeology' of their time. Set against sequences from across southern England, this work sheds important light on the relationship between local histories and broader processes, and on the complex and geographically varied ways in which the past itself was understood in the past.

Past and Present: Excavations at Broom, Bedfordshire 1996-2005

History

Cooper, Anwen

Edmunds, Mark

Europe

Cambridge Archaeological Unit

Taking its inspiration from Cyril Fox's groundbreaking 1923 study of its namesake, and with its first volume issued to mark the 85th anniversary of his book, this series is dedicated to the archaeology of Cambridge's hinterland. In recent years an enormous amount of fieldwork has occured within the City's environs, to the point that it must now rank as one of the most intensively investigated landscapes in southern England. This volume reports the 2002/03 Hutchinson Site excavations beside Addenbrooke's Hospital. While primarily concerned with its Iron Age/Roman Conquest-Period dynamics, there was also significant later Bronze Age and Middle Saxon occupation. The site's sequence both informs, and is informed by, the results of an evaluation survey extending over 200ha west to the River Cam, which led to the recovery of some 15 new sites. Thereafter, three other landscape evaluation case-studies are presented, drawn both from the County's southern chalklands and also its western and northern clays. Seeing comparable site-discovery rates, this enormous increase in known site densities has fundamental implications for understandings of early land-use and settlement/population levels, and allows archaeologists to appreciate for the first time what is, in effect, the past fabric of the land . The case is made that such grand-scale surveys should be considered as 'stand-alone' programmes of investigation in their own right.

Borderlands: The Archaeology of Addenbrooke's Environs, South Cambridge (New Archaeologies of the Cambridge Region)

Evans, Christopher

Webley, Leo

MacKay, Duncan

At its core, this volume reports upon three large-scale excavations at Fengate, Peterborough. These cast new light on Briton's premier Bronze Age fieldsystem and their results lead to significant reappraisal of facets of Pryor's earlier interpretations and, also, approaches to the period's land-use generally. Reflecting upon such crucial issues as the character of settlement, landholding/territory and power, their discussion is furthered by the book's summary presentation of other recent prehistoric fieldsystems projects within the East Anglian Fenlands. Indeed, greater contextual overview is provided by an in-depth interview contribution by the 'Fieldsystem Triumvirate' of the '70/80s: Richard Bradley, Andrew Fleming and Francis Pryor himself. In keeping with its series' groundbreaking directive of 'Historiography and Fieldwork', having access to Wyman Abbott's archival sources (augmented by his correspondence with E.T. Leeds), for the first time, his early 20th century investigations can now be fully incorporated with subsequent excavations. This historiographic perspective allows, moreover, for unique insights into Edwardian archaeological practices, particularly the impact of type-based methodologies - pots, pits and peoples - and even the lingering influence today of prehistoric 'type cultures' concepts.

Fengate Revisited: Further Fen-edge Excavations, Bronze Age Fieldsystems and Settlement and the Wyman Abbott/Leeds Archives (Cambridge Archaeological ... Archives: Historiography and Fieldwork)

Lucas, Gavin

Beadsmoore, Emma

Brudenell, Matt

Charting a decade of intensive fieldwork along a 2km stretch of the Colne Fen, Earith fen-edge, the scope of these books is formidable and together they include the work of 65 contributing specialists (with a foreword by Ian Hodder). The fieldwork involved innovative methodologies, and groundbreaking scientific and micro-sampling studies are presented within the volumes. Portions of text are, moreover, avowedly experimental (e.g. intertextuality and antiquarian-informed perspectives) and it explores the long-term interplay of landscape process and (proto-) historicism. Appropriate to the practice of a comparative archaeology and the ‘challenge of numbers’, throughout emphasis is given to multiple-scale settlement and spatial/distributional analyses.Concerned with the landscape’s prehistory, Volume I, apart from relating the project’s palaeoenvironmental researches, outlines the excavation of two ring-ditch monuments (with accompanying cremation cemeteries), major Middle Bronze Age fieldsystems and their accompanying occupation clusters, and seven Iron Age settlements.

Prehistoric Communities at Colne Fen, Earith: Bronze Age Fieldsystems, Ring-Ditch Cemeteries and Iron Age Settlement (Process and History at Colne Fen, Earith)

Patten, Ricky

Regan, Roddy

Ancient Civilizations

<p>Charting a decade of intensive fieldwork along a 2km stretch of the Colne Fen, Earith fen-edge, the scope of these books is formidable and together they include the work of 65 contributing specialists (with a foreword by Ian Hodder). The fieldwork involved innovative methodologies, and groundbreaking scientific and micro-sampling studies are presented within the volumes. Portions of text are, moreover, avowedly experimental (e.g. intertextuality and antiquarian-informed perspectives) and it explores the long-term interplay of landscape process and (proto-) historicism. Appropriate to the practice of a comparative archaeology and the ‘challenge of numbers’, throughout emphasis is given to multiple-scale settlement and spatial/distributional analyses.<br>The scale of Volume II — the ‘Roman book’ — is even more daunting. Aside from including reports of earlier local excavations, it is primarily concerned with two major ‘set-piece’ sites. The one, Langdale Hale, was a mass-production supply farm; the other, The Camp Ground, a great inland barge-port settlement linked to the Car Dyke canal. Both reflect upon the potential role of the state and address crucial issues of ‘Romanization’, with facets of their sequences markedly contrasting with the Stonea-engendered Fenland Imperial Estate model. Besides uniquely detailing the character of the settlements’ Late Roman usage (involving terpen-like mounds and raised ‘platformed’ structures) and trade connections, the port-site’s aftermath is also discussed as an important assemblage of Anglo-Scandinavian bonework was recovered. To provide further immediate-landscape context, the results from neighbouring sites also<br>feature, including an important Late Roman cemetery at Knobbs Farm, Somersham.</p>

Romano-British Communities at Colne Fen, Earith: An Inland Port and Supply Farm (Process and History at Colne Fen, Earith)

Lucy, Sam

Appleby, Grahame

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