‘Late antique field archaeology’ : a legitimate aim?

This paper discusses some issues raised by Lavan et al. (2007) in relation to the study of everyday life: that is, do we need a distinctive set of fieldwork practices to investigate late antique sites. This paper argues that such an objective is both unnecessary and unhelpful. Instead, we should invest in reconnaissance and evaluation by using non-invasive techniques in advance of destructive excavation, then develop a more focused strategy by enhanced deposit modelling, involving a consideration of preservation levels, degrees of disturbance and deposit status. This has already been done successfully on several late antique sites, which I consider here. The above argument has important implications for the role of ‘interpretation at the point of the trowel’ in fieldwork practice. Counter to most recent commentators, I contend that, if we are to fully understand complex late antique archaeology, it is essential to retain a distinction between data gathered during excavation and interpretations reached as a result of their subsequent analysi

The urban poor: finding the marginalised

Why are archaeologists ‘missing’ the poor in Late Roman towns? This paper suggest that we are looking in the wrong place, and need to concentrate on areas of the townscape beyond its monumental centre; that we are looking in the wrong way, and need to develop more sophisticated methodologies in both gathering and analysing data; and that we are seeing our evidence through inappropriate interpretative frameworks. To remedy this last state of affairs, we must develop Marxist approaches defining different modes of production, and then apply them to the analysis of townscapes and landscapes, and to artefact and ecofact assemblage

The poverty of empiricism and the tyranny of theory

Since its emergence alongside New Archaeology in the 1970s, environmental archaeology has been criticised for focussing on methodology rather than social dynamics, this attack being particularly virulent amongst post-processualist in the 1990s. Here we suggest that the failure of the latter, recent perspectives to have much impact on environmental work is not due to closed minds on either side, but because post-processualism offers little to the detailed investigation and explanation of past social trajectories. Using environmental analyses from York in both Roman and medieval periods, we show how Marxist studies of the production and distribution of food can be linked to the analysis of patterns of consumption and disposal. In this was, it is possible to avoid the disabling polarisation between traditional empiricism and the idealism of post-processual theory

Categorising the past: lessons from the archaeological resource assessment for Yorkshire

This article will consider the implications of the Yorkshire regional assessment for how we categorise, analyse and synthesise the past. It argues that we must transcend the existing frameworks, especially their chronological elements, if we are to fully engage with the evidence currently at our disposal, and do so in a way which takes account of all of its lacunae and limitations, yet details and potentials. This has implications not only for the UK, but for problems facing archaeologists across the world: how to organise, within a coherent framework, the rapidly accumulating masses of data generated by developer-led archaeology and its international equivalents in cultural resource management, and how to forge a stronger relationship between the academic and curatorial spheres of archaeological endeavour

Burdale: an Anglian settlement in the Yorkshire Wolds

Investigation into night-hawk activity in Burdale dry valley revealed an Anglian assemblage of 8th-9th century date, consistent with a 'productive site'. Aerial photography demonstrated the presence of 'Butterwick' type irregular enclosures. Archaeological fieldwork was subsequently undertaken as a University of York training excavation in order to characterise the nature of the activity. The archive comprises the primary data and reports from field-walking, geophysical survey, and excavation

Landscape and Settlement in the Vale of York

The Vale of York, in North Yorkshire, has been used and shaped by communities since the end of the last Ice Age to the modern day. Its earliest, prehistoric features chart the way in which household groups shifted from mobile to more sedentary forms of occupation over time, culminating in the creation of landscape divisions from the end of the Bronze Age, and then recognisable field systems during the Iron Age. Throughout all periods, a variety of activity types on the landscape has been evident in the landscape, taking significantly different forms in different contexts: water management; the creation of boundaries; agricultural production; structural development, from domestic houses to larger monuments; exchange and consumption; and mortuary practices plus other ritual activity. This volume takes a thematic approach to these activities, revealing much about the area's development. Providing a thematic analysis of the excavated evidence from the Heslington East area, this volume combines the results of commercial, student training and local community fieldwork between 2007 and 2013. A concluding chapter discusses temporal change by looking at key points of transition in landscape activity in the area and interpreting one of the largest exposures of prehistoric and Roman activity in the immediate hinterland of Eboracum, a major Roman town in Britain

A Roman temple from southern Britain: religious practice in landscape contexts

Traditionally, Roman temples and shrines in Britain have been contextualised in relation to wider ‘Roman’ religious practices. Until recently, considerations of architectural form and named deities have dominated discussions. The wider turn in archaeological discourse recognising ritual in everyday contexts has highlighted the importance of lived experience and landscape practice in shaping belief. Here we reflect on the implications of such ideas when approaching ritual practice at Roman temples, using a recently excavated example from Wiltshire, southern Britain, as a case study. The exceptional artefactual assemblages from the site demonstrate the importance of local and regional landscape practices and belief in shaping ritual practice in a sacred space. In addition, geophysical survey and analysis of Portable Antiquities Scheme (PAS) finds suggests that those occupying the landscape had long-term access to wealth. Deposition in the temple itself indicates the continuing importance attached to prehistoric objects in the Roman period, but also to the adoption of new votive practices of miniaturisation, mutilation and sacrifice. These rituals, although part of wider grammars of religious behaviour, had their roots in specific local contexts. Our detailed analyses provide a picture of a temple dedicated to a previously unknown local god, Bregneus, framed against that of an active community involved in farming, iron processing, quarrying, hunting and woodland management

Bipartition systems and how to partition polygons

SIGLECopy held by FIZ Karlsruhe; available from UB/TIB Hannover / FIZ - Fachinformationszzentrum Karlsruhe / TIB - Technische InformationsbibliothekDEGerman