In its early decades, Antiquity regularly featured the subject of linear earthworks that crisscross the British landscape. Subsequently, however, discussion has been largely relegated to
period-specific and local journals. As a result, interpretations of these imposing but often
poorly dated earthworks have been drawn in the contrasting research traditions of later
prehistory and the early medieval period. Here, the authors propose a comparative dialogue
as a means for reinterpreting these landscape features, and as a lens through which to explore
social complexity. Combined with advances in archaeometrical dating, this new approach
promises to reinvigorate the study of some of Britain’s largest archaeological monuments
