This thesis seeks to offer a substantial contribution to a new understanding of brochs. It reviews the subject of brochs in their main area of occurrence in Atlantic Scotland with the objectives of improving the information base; of recasting the conceptual basis of broch study; and of drawing up a strategy for further research and selective excavation. The results of original research in Caithness, Sutherland, and Skye, are presented, comparing and contrastingjthese with the results of research work by others in Orkney and Shetland. The original research is based on a detailed field analysis, including new survey plans and descriptions, of individual sites within selected study areas; a reassessment of old excavations; and a consideration of the contemporary environment of brochs. The thesis concludes by considering the implications of the research results for the traditional understanding of the nature of a broch, pointing out that brochs are generally dissimilar from their popular textbook image; by examining difficulties of terminology and classification arising from the new understanding; by discussing approaches to broch study; and by suggesting an amended conceptual basis for further study of brochs.

The characteristics of S British (England and Wales) Beaker/Bronze Age burial monuments are examined, using data drawn from a sample of 411 sites excavated since 1920. These data are critically summarized on a site by site basis in Volume 2. A review of the history of barrow digging in Britain (Chapter 2) traces the origin of certain misconceptions which have dominated thinking about Bronze Age burials up to the present day, notably the assumption that the typical Bronze Age barrow was intended by its builders to commemorate the remains of a single distinguished personage buried at the centre. Barrow typology is reviewed in Chapter 17 and doubt cast on the status of the bell barrow as a legitimate typological category. In Chapters 3-16, which review the burial practices of each of the regions of S Britain, proof is provided for the proposition that most Bronze Age barrows marked cemeteries belonging to kinship or residence groups, the main lines of evidence pursued being the age and sex composition of burials and the relationship between age/sex class and variables such as sequential position and position on plan, rite, and the presence or absence of grave goods. Attention is also paid in these chapters to the identification of inter-regional differences and similarities in burial practice and in the typological forms of the barrows and other monuments. Some of the topics mentioned are discussed in a more general way in Chapter 18.

This is an examination of the major phases of land-use and settlement in Caithness. These have been considered to consist of four main chronological groups: firstly that dating from the Agrarian Revolution, a watershed in the agricultural history of the region, to modern times; secondly the traditional feudal farming systems up to the time of the Improvements; the third group is that associated with the Norse colonisation of the country; and fourthly the land-use and settlement evidenced by the extant prehistoric monuments. Each category was examined with reference to all available sources -documentary and toponymic as well as archaeological. The historically documented categories were examined in their own right and were also seen to cast light on earlier periods by revealing the effects of these later systems of land-use on the prehistoric distribution pattern. A database was formed of all prehistoric monuments with information on their recorded dimensions and positional attributes, such as altitude, aspect, land type and proximity to a water source, from which their lo-calional preferences could be obtained. In order to gauge the effects of later formation processes on the prehistoric landscape it was seen that to examine a broad chronological period was of value in regional studies.

The present study represents a major new survey of the artefactual evidence, last comprehensively treated by Maxwell-Hyslop (1946, 1949), and based as far as possible on first hand examination of museum collections in Europe and the Middle East. An extensive range of new drawings and photographs provides the basis for a complete new corpus of material; a full catalogue of the basic data is provided in a series of Appendices. A review of existing studies is followed by discussion of the aims and methods of typology as practised in archaeology. The position taken here is outlined, and the methods employed, which include various statistical techniques, described. A range of types are defined for various artefacts (daggers, axes etc.), and their chronological and spatial patterning described. Formal typological study is combined with a consideration of the material in its archaeological (and hence cultural) context. A new body of metal analyses is presented and its implications discussed. It is shown that the weapons known from the archaeological record are connected to matters of prestige and status, and are not necessarily representative of current military hardware. The distribution of weapon forms can offer some indication of changing relationships between ruling groups. Hence, weapon typology provides valuable evidence which can be related to socio-political developments. The results of the above investigation are then considered in terms of the wider archaeological and historical perspective.

The aim of this research, carried out at Creswell Crags, Derbyshire, was to investigate the decomposition of small mammal remains in temperate caves, with particular regard to the impact upon the cavernicolous invertebrate community and the cave sediments. The carcasses of laboratory rats were deposited in the threshold, deep threshold and hypogean regions of two caves, on sediments of differing depths layered with markers to assess the extent of bioturbation. Carcasses were covered by wire mesh to exclude vertebrate scavengers. The physical condition of the carcasses, the succession of the carrion community and the diversity of the cavernicolous invertebrates were monitored for a minimum of one year. To investigate the effect of season on decomposition, experiments were begun in both summer and winter. The processes of decomposition observed in this investigation differed considerably from those reported by other authors working on carrion deposited above ground or buried. This is especially true of the rate of carrion consumption by invertebrates which is strongly influenced by abiotic conditions. In the caves, carcasses persisted for much longer than on the surface. Carcasses in the threshold region were rapidly colonised by necrophagous Diptera, whilst the decomposition of those farther underground was initially microbial. The diversity and evenness of the invertebrate community in the threshold region were disrupted by the influx of non-cavernicolous species. In the hypogean region, the over-representation of certain troglophilic species changed the structure of the invertebrate community. These results have been incorporated into a descriptive model, which proposes decomposition pathways for small mammal carrion deposited in the threshold, deep threshold and hypogean region of shallow temperate caves. The activity of arthropods, particulary dipterous larvae, was found to disrupt the sediment beneath carrion to a depth of at least 10 cm, which has implications for cave sediment stratigraphy. A laboratory population of the staphylinid cave beetle Quedius mesomelinus was established to examine its life history and behaviour. It was concluded that the species shows a number of adaptations to cavernicolous life, including a K-selected reproductive strategy.

In ancient Egypt the body was often anointed with scented oils and unguents not only for everyday toilette but also for ritual and religious ceremonies. The main religious context was during mummification when the body was anointed with unguents during ritual parts of the procedure, and also with substances for preservation. In some instances the anointing was extended to include the entire mummy, cartonnage, coffin and funerary furniture such as shabti boxes. Whilst extensive research into the materials used for preservation has been carried out, it has focused on samples taken from the body and bandages. This study explores anointing in ancient Egypt by analysing samples from ancient remains, analysed by microscopy and gas chromatography-mass spectrometry. In some rare circumstances the wrapped mummy, cartonnage, coffin and funerary items were coated with a black unguent, the composition and purpose of which was unknown. Coating such items which included finely painted scenes with an opaque black substance raised the question whether the coating was intended to be black or not? The hypothesis was that if the coating contained bitumen (a naturally black substance), then it would have been black at the time of application. If it was resin based however it would have been translucent at the time of application, turning black through oxidisation over time. GC-MS results show that the coating did contain bitumen, thus the coating of the artefacts with a black substance was purposeful. This implies that the act of coating the artefacts was more important than the finely painted scenes being visible, and likely it was applied for ritual purposes. The hair and head were a focus for anointing during the funerary ritual, and were also covered with bandages during mummification. Due to the fondness of the ancient Egyptians for hair dressing, it was also possible that unguents may have been used for this purpose too. It was unknown whether the hair was covered with embalming material as was the entire body. Analyses showed that the treatment of the hair varied greatly, perhaps just due to personal preference. Some mummies were found with the embalming materials covering the entire head, often the case when the hair was shaved. Other mummies with extensively styled hair did not have any embalming material applied to the hair at all. In some cases fat was used as a fixative to style the hair, much like modern hair gel. This also indicated the hair, when long, was actually covered over with a cloth to protect it rather than be included in the pile of natron used to dry out the body for mummification. Another significant finding was that the red coloured hair often seen on mummified remains was caused by the embalming material and degradation of the hair, not by henna dye as has been previously suggested. The analytical techniques utilised <1mg of sample, proving that positive results can be gained from tiny amounts of sample. This is particularly important for rare archaeological remains.

This thesis investigates the development of Lincoln in the period c. 870-1000 AD. Traditional approaches to urban settlements often focus on chronology, and treat towns in isolation from their surrounding regions. Taking Lincoln as a case study, this PhD research, in contrast, analyses the identities of the settlement and its inhabitants from a regional perspective, focusing on the historic region of Lindsey, and places it in the context of the Scandinavian settlement. Developing an integrated and interdisciplinary approach that can be applied to datasets from different regions and time periods, this thesis analyses four categories of material culture - funerary deposits, coinage, metalwork and pottery - each of which occur in significant numbers inside and outside Lincoln. Chapter 1 summarises previous work on late Anglo-Saxon towns and introduces the approach adopted in this thesis. Chapter 2 provides a discussion of Lincoln's development during the Anglo-Saxon period, and introduces the datasets. Highlighting problems encountered during past investigations, this chapter also discusses the main methodological considerations relevant to the wide range of different categories of material culture that stand central to this thesis, which are retrieved through a combination of intrusive and non-intrusive methods under varying circumstances. Chapters 3-6 focus on funerary deposits, coinage, metalwork and pottery respectively, through analysis of distribution patterns and the impact of changes in production processes on the identity of Lincoln and its inhabitants. It is argued that a straightforward distinction between 'town' and 'country' is too simplistic. Viking- ; Age Lincoln was firmly embedded within the surrounding region, and neither Lincoln nor Lindsey was a homogenous entity. The formation of Lincoln's 'urban' identity was the outcome of changes in late ninth- and tenth-century socio-political structures, many of which had been set in motion centuries before the Scandinavian settlement.

With the destruction of the Mycenaean palaces, Aegean Bronze Age society underwent dramatic transformations. The palaces, along with much of their associated material expressions, disappeared. In this comparative study I examine why the Mycenaean political institutions were never reinstated and the nature of the social dynamics that subsequently created a situation traditionally characterized as the 'Dark Ages'. To this end, analyses of the Linear B documents from Pylos are used to examine palatial and 'extra-palatial' social identities, relationships and the dynamics of socio-political change. Examining firstly the concept of an administrative archive, I propose a fundamental revision to our understanding of what these docunients represent, how they were used and, for Pylos, where their primary context of expression lay. Specifically, I argue that the tablets were not a passive administrative tool, but were active devices in the manipulation of social relationships and identities within and beyond the Palace of Nestor. As mnemonic aids to the establishment of relationships of patronage, debt and obligation within an oral/aural arena of negotiation, they reflected clear divisions within Mycenaean society; divisions that laid the foundations for a rejection of that socio-political system. From this, a model is suggested whereby the dynamics of Early Iron Age society were driven by factions and factional competition, initially focussed upon authority figures such as the basileis. It is further proposed that the archaeological variability characteristic of this period is a direct reflection of competing factional identities whose ideologies can be distinguished by varying degrees of affinity to the preceding palatial system. Finally, the hiatus in the use of writing between the 12th and 8th centuries B.C is suggested to be a direct result of the connotations arising from the use to which Linear B was put and the concomitant antipathy towards the accoutrements of Mycenaean palatial identity.

The century of archaeological excavations carried out at Corinth, Greece have resulted in the accumulation of a collection of Byzantine glazed pottery unparalleled in the Aegean. The site is set apart from others as being one of only a few sites in the Byzantine world where glazed pottery manufacture has been confirmed. The glazed pottery assemblage demonstrates a changing industry there. During the eleventh century local production consisted of brown glazed, unslipped vessels in a conservative range of forms that were in use alongside the imported, fine Constantinopolitan slip painted and polychrome White Wares. By the end of the eleventh century the local industry had established itself and these imports had ceased as a competitor. At this time local pottery production went through a major revolution in terms of decorative techniques and vessel morphology. Instead of the earlier plain glazed products slips and green and brown glazes were used in combination to produce a range of decorative styles each lasting only a generation or so. In this thesis, the development of production technologies of Byzantine glazed pottery manufactured at Corinth between the eleventh and thirteenth centuries are examined using a number of archaeometric techniques: pottery fabrics are examined using ceramic petrography and inductively coupled plasma-atomic emission spectroscopy and their corresponding glazes are investigated using electron probe microanalysis. The data collected were used to establish patterns of pottery production and trade, and in particular explore developments in methods of glazing. A period of transition in glazing technologies is identified, while certain technological practices are shown to be more sophisticated than has previously been acknowledged for the period in question.

Traditionally, two horizons have been identified in the funerary archaeology of the middle Anglo-Saxon period (c. A.D. 650-850): the cessation of apparently pagan practices and the beginning of churchyard burial. However, it is increasingly apparent that churchyard burial did not become the norm until the lOth century, and that the preceding period is characterised by a diverse range of funerary practices and burial locations that have scarcely begun to be understood. This thesis investigates the funerary rites of cemeteries dating to c. A.D. 650-850 from northern England. First, a corpus of cemeteries from the region and period of study was collected, and the funerary rites that characterise them described. A variety of different cemeteries, and a range of different practices relating to the form of the grave, position of the body and the provision of grave elaborations or grave goods were identified. The funerary practices of middle Anglo-Saxon England are conventionally summarised by the ''final phase" model, but when considered in light of evidence from northern sites, the model was found to be too restrictive to accurately reflect the true variability of burial rites that characterise northern cemeteries. Second, in order to investigate funerary rites further, a bio-cultural case-study of burial practices at six major cemeteries was undertaken (Adwick-le-Street; Ailcy Hill, Ripon; Norton Bishopsmill School; Pontefract; Spofforth; and Thwing). This integrated evidence from funerary rites with osteological data regarding age at death, biological sex, health and lifestyle, in order to investigate the provision of burial practices at these cemeteries. This study revealed several significant patterns in the identities of individuals afforded certain forms of burial, and particularly, individuals afforded burial in certain locations within the cemetery. The study concludes by presenting a wider context for these patterns in relation to the funerary rites of early medieval Britain.