This thesis describes the application of archaeomagnetic techniques to the study of archaeological materials from Britain and China. It also explores the compilation and construction of the archaeomagnetic calibration curve, with particular reference to British data. One of the primary objectives of this study has been to extend the range of materials dated by archaeomagnetism to include waterlain sediments. Over 30 different sediments from a wide variety of archaeological environments were investigated by archaeomagnetic methods. Information on the environment of deposition was provided by measurements of magnetic fabric, while isothermal remanent magnetisation determinations were used to identify the magnetic minerals present. The results have been compared with the archaeological evidence and in many cases good correspondence has been found. It has been possible to make some general inferences as to which environments are most likely to yield sediments datable by archaeomagnetism. Similar measurement techniques were used to study six, dated, fired structures from the Xi'an area of Shaanxi Province, China. Together with other archaeomagnetic data published for this vicinity, these measurements provided the nucleus of information necessary for the construction of a calibration curve for this region and their magnetic properties were compared with those of the sediments. Central to both the study of sediments and Chinese fired material was the construction and use of the archaeomagnetic calibration curve. A database was formulated and implemented in order to archive British archaeomagnetic information and provide a basis on which to construct a revised curve. A number of methods of curve production were examined, particularly 'moving window' smoothing, which provided a rigorous, mathematical approach and produced a curve with realistic error bounds.

The primary objective of this thesis is the construction of a landscape-scale synthesis of past human behaviour during the Mesolithic-Neolithic in the Milfield Basin, Northumberland. Previous archaeological studies in this area have been dominated by site-based research with little account taken of the wider landscape setting, settlement patterns and land-use strategies. To acquire the appropriate 'landscape' (off-site) data this study has included a fieldwork component consisting of a 7km sampling transect which extended across the interfluve from watershed to watershed and sampled all the different environmental zones of the basin. This area, of nearly 6 million square metres, was systematically fieldwalked, geomorphologically mapped and test-pitted. A total of 146 test pits were opened to sample the subsurface lithic content and sediment stratigraphy of each of the different geomorphological slope types. The subsequent data was analysed in a G.I.S. environment and interpreted in combination with published palynological data, existing site-based archaeological data including the author's recent excavations at the Coupland complex. The method of acquiring, analysing and interpreting the fieldwalking data is an innovative contribution to landscape archaeology techniques and includes a model of lithic scatter slope displacement and archaeological inference for ploughed slope environments. The study culminates in a diachronic synthesis of Mesolithic-Neolithic behaviour together with associated thematic discussion. Consequently, this thesis contributes towards two areas of research: landscape archaeological syntheses and methodological/taphonomic studies. The principal findings of this study include new models of prehistoric settlement and land-use for this area, a re-evaluation of the Mesolithic-Neolithic transition, a reconsideration of the late Neolithic 'ritual complex' and the identification of processes affecting surface lithic scatters and their implications for subsequent interpretation.

This study is concerned with the Early Medieval freestanding stone crosses and related sculpture of three Irish counties, Offaly, Kilkenny and Tipperary. These monuments are recorded both descriptively and photographically and particular emphasis has been placed on a detailed analysis of the Hiberno-Saxon abstract ornament, the patterns used and, where possible, the way in which they were constructed. The discussion begins with a survey of the origins and morphology of the freestanding cross in Ireland examining both archaeological and documentary evidence. The monuments are then divided into groups according to similarity. Each group is discussed, the form and layout of the monuments, their abstract and iconographical ornament, and these are compared with sculpture elsewhere, objects in other media, and the origins of the various motives are also considered where appropriate. Chronologically, three main groups emerge. In the late eighth and early ninth centuries there are several local groups making use of a wide variety of abstract ornament, often influenced by metalwork and manuscript motives, but with little figural iconography. Close links have also been noted with sculpture in Scotland. During the ninth century the abstract ornament gives way to an increasing use of Scriptural iconography, probably popularised by contact with Carolingian Europe, which may first be detected on some 'Transitional' monuments. Finally, the figural iconography predominates, giving rise to the distinctive 'Scripture' crosses of the late ninth and tenth centuries.

The thesis follows an interdisciplinary approach combining sediment analysis and luminescence dating of sediments from selected archaeological sites. The work aims to assess the role of sediment analysis for luminescence dating, and the potential of TL and IRSL for dating waterlain material of Holocene age. A comparative chronology based on radiocarbon, stratigraphic and archaeological grounds is important. However, the viability of comparing different dating techniques is considered in the light of the dating results. The novel IRSL and established TL techniques were shown to successful for dating waterlain sediments, provided that a suitable light source is used for laboratory bleaching. Age comparisons between the luminescence techniques was excellent. Disparities between luminescence and C-14 ages is largely explained on a sedimentological basis. The role of sediment analysis is shown to be of great importance for luminescence dating. Certain sedimentological and luminescence characteristics are shown to be closely linked. The relationship between undated sediments affected by instability or low intensity of signals, and weathering in the strata from which the samples were taken is tested by experiment. This demonstrates that weathering of feldspars in the stratum severely affects the luminescence signals and therefore the potential for dating these samples. This represents a step towards the recognition of problematic samples in the field. In conclusion, it is shown that luminescence is suitable as an absolute dating technique for a wide variety of inorganic sedimentary material between 0-200 000 years old. This exceeds the C-14 technique both in range of material and in age limits. The main source of error is associated with variations in water content, which with the recognition of the significance of weathering, demonstrates the importance of sediment analysis in support of luminescence dating studies.

No description available.

No description available.

The first two chapters of this thesis trace the development of historical and archaeological thought in an attempt to arrive at an understanding of the reasons behind the present polarization of the two disciplines. It is concluded that this polarization is the result of the stress placed on a series of oppositions -structure/agency, society/individual, synchrony/diachrony, past/present. It is argued that a rapprochement between History and Archaeology Is essential, especially for those who study the early med e.val period where both have some relevance, and that this rapprochement is only possible through an adequate theorisation of the recursive links which connect each of the oppositions. This theorisation is the subject of chapters 3 and 4. The essential elements of the theoretical perspective produced are that all the traces of the past should be seen as material culture produced by agents working in and through societal structures. The link between the past and the present is also stressed, and the past is seen as a resource drawn upon in the creation and negotiation of social relations. I use this theoretical perspective in a re-examination of the nature of settlement patterns and social structures in early medieval central Italy. I suggest that the archaeological evidence used to support the notion of massive depopulation at the end of the Roman empire, refers more to the dominance of the feudal mode of production. This is not to argue that population did not decline. It did, and much of this thesis is concerned with attempting to isolate the mechanisms through which elites tried to exercise control over people. These included increased management of production through the use of the written text and the development of administrative sites. These efforts culminated in the tenth century with the "incastellation" of much of the rural population.

Following the conquest, local and 'Roman' funerary customs introduced to Britain mainly through the medium of the army began to interact at a different speed and rate according to the geographical distribution and intensity of pre- existing burial traditions. At the early stage of the invasion, the new-corners made themselves 'identifiable' by following their own Romanised customs. During the 11 century the fashion of urned cremation spread throughout the province with the funerary trends in the civilian areas progressively conforming to the military. The towns continued to follow the trends imported from the Continent by adopting the rite of inhumation during the course of the 111 century, with a movement of ideas from the major to the minor urban centres and the rural settlements. By the IV century the evidence for regional patterns had started to fade, the process of assimilation set in motion in the course of the earlier centuries becoming far more wide-reaching and uniform in character. Uniformity and less apparent display of wealth in burial do not seem to have stemmed from increased management (whether religious or secular). By the IV century, the cemeteries had developed as a means of communicating civic pride through the representation of a stable society in the context of an increasingly autonomous province. In the early period civic pride had found expression in the provision of public buildings, with the collective character in the dedication of the early monuments surviving in the later cemeteries as projection of the community imagery. At the same time, the arena for burial had been extended from the country to the town as the latter had become an acceptable place for social display albeit in private forms. It is in the 'conceptual ruralisation' of the towns that Romanisation played a part by creating the premise for the re-consolidation of familial ties and traditional customs, and by contributing towards the homogenisation of the substantial rural character of Roman Britain.

No description available.

This thesis argues that the traditional methods of archaeological research have had the effect of forcing the British Neolithic into a mould formed by modern western values. This orthodoxy might be challenged through the use of ethnographic material concerning the structure and operation of precapitalist societies. However, it is often the case that the variability of the ethnographic record is merely used to patch up archaeological explanations of the past. A methodology is therefore proposed in which anthropological theory is used in the construction of a model of Neolithic social relations in northwest Europe, and the archaeological evidence for the study area is used to detect contrasts with this model. It is recognised that lithic assemblages, faunal remains, mortuary practices and monuments cannot of themselves be sufficient for the development of an holistic view of a prehistoric society. Instead, each class of data can be used in much the same way as an historian might use a written text: to search for distortions and contradictions between each form of data and the general model. Having developed methodology, general theory and the European model in the first three chapters, each subregion of the study area is discussed. Subsequent chapters concern southern Wessex, the Mendip and Cotswold Hills, the Upper Thames Valley and the Avebury region. It is argued that a change can be discerned in Neolithic Europe from large social units articulated about kinship and the circulation of livestock and prestige items, to smaller communities whose external relations are more temporary and opportunistic in nature. Despite this, it is shown that in the study area considerable variability exists, seen in the settlement record, economic activities, mortuary practices and the building of monuments. This variability, it is argued, can be accounted for by variation in the social relations of production between different areas, and consequently in the forms of power and authority in operation.