This thesis examines the production, exchange and consumption of pottery around the Saronic Gulf, Greece, during Late Mycenaean period, specifically Late Helladic IIIB1 to Late Helladic IIIC Phase 1, roughly 1300-1130 BC. While the focus of many studies of Mycenaean political economy has fallen on Messinia and the Argolid, the choice of the Saronic Gulf offers the chance to examine ceramic crafting, movement and use in an area which hosts no accepted ‘palatial’ centres. It aims to examine the role of pottery in everyday social and economic transaction, taking a ‘bottom-up’ approach to shedding light on Mycenaean society and economy. Pottery from a wide range of sites has been studied: urban centres such as Athens; harbours at Kanakia on Salamis and Kalamianos in coastal Corinthia; small settlements of Stiri in Corinthia, Myti Kommeni on Dokos and Lazarides on Aegina; sanctuary sites of Eleusis and Ayios Konstantinos, Methana; and finally the settlement and pottery production site of Kontopigado, Alimos near the Attic coast. Based on typological and macroscopic fabric studies, a large number of samples have been chosen for examination by an integrated programme of petrographic, chemical (by neutron activation analysis) and microstructural analysis (by scanning electron microscopy), in order to group and characterise to pottery according to composition, to reconstruct key aspects of ceramic manufacture and, where possible, to suggest the area or location of their production. Major production centres are identified, including Aegina, which is well-known from previous work, and those from the Corinthia and Kontopigado, Alimos. The reconstruction of the production technology of wide range of ceramic products at the latter centre provides a basis to examine contrasts in the history and organization of pottery production in closely neighbouring centres and to trace the overlapping distributions of their products. Patterns of choice in the use of pottery in different locations enable the exploration of consumption choices made on an everyday basis. It is suggested that the complex and widespread exchange of pottery and the choices made by communities carrying out differing activities make the correlation of pottery distribution and political boundaries problematic. Instead the wealth of information revealed by this approach for the first time offers basic information on the widespread movement of goods across clear geographical and, most likely, political boundaries.

Despite recent interpretations of the fluvial terrace stratigraphies of the Palaeo-Solent River and its major tributaries, the River Test and River Stour, fundamental issues concerning correlation both within and between key parts of the system remain. Addressing these issues is important to provide a secure stratigraphic framework for the Palaeolithic archaeological record of the region. Disagreement centres on contrasting approaches to the construction of long profile projections of terrace sediments and landforms, and on alternative interpretations of limited stratigraphic and topographic data. During the study extensive fieldwork has been carried out in the region, comprising ground penetrating radar surveys, coastal section recording and reexcavation of key sites. In addition, an examination of the available borehole archive held by the British Geological Survey has provided a substantial body of new data on which a reanalysis of the terrace stratigraphy is based. During fieldwork 26 samples of suitable fluvial sediments were also taken for optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) dating. A rigorous OSL analysis and test program applied to these samples highlights a number of issues inherent in dating sediments from Middle Pleistocene fluvial environments. It also raises potential issues with previously published OSL dates from similar environments, including in the Solent Region, which typically have not received such detailed test procedures. Despite the problems encountered age estimates have been produced for a number of terraces in the Solent River. The enhanced stratigraphic dataset produced by this study is used to critique published stratigraphic models of the Solent system and to create alternatives. A reinterpretation of the terrace stratigraphies of the Solent River, the River Test and River Stour is presented and revised correlations between the three parts of the Solent system are proposed. These provide a new stratigraphic framework for the Palaeolithic archaeology of the Solent River system.

This thesis presents geochemical records of metalliferous enrichment of soils and isotope analysis of metal finds at Iron Age and Romano-British period settlements in North Ceredigion, Mid Wales, UK. The research sets out to explore whether North Ceredigion’s Iron Age sites had similar metal-production functions to other sites along the Atlantic fringe. Six sites were surveyed using portable x-ray fluorescence (pXRF), a previously unused method in the archaeology of Mid Wales. Also tested was the pXRF (Niton XLt700 pXRF) with regard to how environmentally driven matrix effects may alter its in situ analyses results. Portable x-ray fluorescence was further used to analyse testing a range of certified reference materials (CRM) and site samples to assess target elements (Pb, Cu, Zn and Fe) for comparative accuracy and precision against Atomic absorption spectroscopy (AAS) and Inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) for both in situ and laboratory sampling. At Castell Grogwynion, one of the Iron Age sites surveyed recorded > 20 times Pb enrichment compared to back ground values of 110 ppm. Further geophysical surveys confirmed that high dipolar signals correlated to the pXRF Pb hotspots were similar to other known Iron Age and Roman period smelting sites, but the subsequent excavation only unearthed broken pottery and other waste midden development. Broken pottery remains were dated to no earlier than the medieval period suggesting a re-occupation, possibly for Pb prospection. It was established that Pb and metal rich soils within the villa footprint have similar isotope signatures to local ores found ca. 4km east, suggesting local ores were used in its construction, possibly with some evidence of in situ metal working.

Chickens first arrived in northwest Europe in the Iron Age, but it was during the Roman period that they became a prominent part of life. Previous research on the domestication and spread of chickens has focused on the birds themselves, with little discussion of their impact on the beliefs and symbolism of the affected cultures. However, an animal that people interact with so regularly influences more than simply their diet, and begins to creep into their cultural lexicon. What did chickens mean to the people of Roman Britain, France, and Belgium? The physical remains of these birds are the clearest sign that people were keeping them, and fragments of eggshell suggest they were being used for their secondary products as well as for their meat. By expanding zooarchaeological research beyond the physical remains to encompass the material culture these people left behind, it is possible to explore answers to this question of the social and cultural roles of chickens and their meaning and importance to people in the Roman world. Other species, most notably horses, have received some attention in this area, but little has been done with chickens. Studies of depictions on various types of artefacts have touched on chickens alongside other species, but they rarely play a central role. Rather than starting with a single type of object and exploring all of the concepts it embraces, this study starts with a concept, namely the social perception of chickens, and draws from objects regardless of typology. A database of artefacts depicting or relating to chickens was compiled from Late Iron Age and Roman sites in the project area. A total of 508 artefacts, including metal- detected finds, were identified from approximately 270 sites in England, Scotland, and Wales, and 1368 artefacts were identified from approximately 200 sites in France and Belgium. These objects include jewellery, fine pottery, sculpture, and standalone figurines from sites across the region. The majority represented single birds, but some accompanied human figures, often representations of Mercury, and others included additional images with potential symbolic synergy. This collection of chicken-related artefacts shows that the chicken had a role that extended beyond the next meal, linking them with deities, such as Mercury, and ideals, such as virility and abundance, which people may have tried to connect with by owning such items. Through careful contextual and iconographic analysis of these objects, this thesis places chickens into the cultural landscape of Roman Britain, France, and Belgium, and allows their role and meaning within peoples’ social consciousness to be better understood. Chickens were depicted throughout the Roman period, appearing across both of these provinces in a variety of styles and materials that suggested that they a wide appeal across social classes. That they appear so often on personal objects and less on monumental, institutionalised artwork suggests that the symbolism they embodied arose from within those cultures in a bottom-up fashion rather than being pushed down from above. They are not as strongly linked with the underworld or the sun as they are often claimed to be, but rather show an association with wealth and prosperity and likely acted as a symbol of luck and good fortune.

Using complementary methods of palaeoecological reconstruction (pollen, microscopic charcoal, organic content, peat humification and tephrochronology) integrated with a critical and contrastive re-evaluation of archaeological data, this PhD project is the first to test the hypothesis that marginal, upland settlements were abandoned because of 'catastrophic' climatic or environmental changes during the Later Bronze Age (ca. 1200 BC). The Strath of Kildonan possesses a remarkably rich and well preserved record of multi-period settlement and land-use situated in an area, currently and historically, perceived as culturally, economically and environmentally 'marginal'. Previous archaeological work has been used to support the abandonment hypothesis, making it an ideal location for reconstructing associated palaeoclimatic and vegetation changes from 'off-site' environmental contexts. There are no extant palaeoclimatic reconstructions and existing pollen work is of low spatial/temporal resolution. Three deep peat sites were selected for their relationship to archaeological sites which reflect a gradient of increasing ecological 'marginality', thus sensitivity to climate change. Palaeohydrological reconstructions reveal a highly variable Late Holocene climate with regional shifts recorded ca. 4,360-4,090 cal BP (ca. 2410-2140 cal BC); ca. 3,160-2,870 cal BP (ca. 1210-920 cal BC); 2,160-1,940 cal BP (ca. 210 cal BC-cal AD 10); ca. 1,520- 1,350 cal BP (ca. cal AD 430-600). Pollen- and peat-stratigraphic data reflect the continuity of settlement, through the record of land-use, during and after the inferred Late Bronze Age climate deterioration ca. 3,160-2,870 cal BP (ca. 1210-920 cal BC) at the two most marginal sites, Loch Ascaig and Kinbrace Hill. The only significant evidence for abandonment occurs at Loch Ascaig substantially before the palaeohydrological shift ca. 1,520-1,320 cal BP and persists for ca. 200 years. The results of the palaeoenvironmental programme and re-appraisal of the archaeological record in the Strath of Kildonan, northern Scotland, have led to a rejection of a Later Bronze Age 'catastrophe' as a stimulus of land-use change and settlement abandonment. There is no evidence that climatic change or Icelandic volcanic eruptions were detrimental to 'marginal' agricultural settlements in the Strath of Kildonan during the past 4,000 years. The results both challenge environmentally deterministic interpretations and also highlight some of the ways which culture and cultural adjustments provide strategies for coping with times of uncertainty and scarcity. This research has highlighted the importance of examining how settlements and landscapes were inhabited and transformed by the dynamic interaction of human activity, climatic variability and internal environmental processes, not merely identifying the 'if and 'when' of abandonment.

This thesis is a contribution to the debate about the emergence of politically complex societies in the southern Brazilian highlands from a regional, community and household approach. At the regional level, I compare settlement patterns of the Southern Proto-Jê (Taquara/Itararé Tradition) in different areas, developing a model of territories structured around central places – represented by dense pit house villages and oversized pit houses. I test this model with new survey data from a yet unexplored region. At the centre of the pilot area, the site Baggio 1 – a dense, well-planned settlement focused around an oversized pit house – was chosen for excavations. I frame the discussion about the function of oversized structures in the broader theoretical debates about aggrandising vs corporate strategies in early complex societies and their archaeological correlates. Thus, the excavations at Baggio 1 were targeted at understanding community organisation, functional variation between pit houses of distinct sizes, and inter-household differentiation. I demonstrate how the oversized House 1 emerged as the founding structure in the settlement, hosting ceremonies of house renewal during the first part of the site’s history. Later, as the settlement grew, House 1 persisted as the social epicentre of the community. However, major differences emerged between the hilltop, formally arranged residential sector around House 1 and the periphery of the site. Although the earlier house renewal ceremonies were no longer practised, the inhabitants of House 1 asserted their presence in the same dwelling for over two centuries, maintaining the oversized structure as a conspicuous mark in the landscape and potentially deriving special status from their descent of the site’s founders. The excavations at Baggio 1 reveal a complex interplay of corporate and aggrandising strategies to power in the southern Brazilian highlands.

The domestic fowl, Gallus gallus domesticus, or chicken, features as an important part of human society, culture and subsistence, both now and in the past. Despite studies into the origins and spread of many of the other domestic animals, the origins and nature of spread of the chicken west and into Europe has been largely neglected due to a lack of sufficient compiled evidence. It is widely accepted that chickens are descended from junglefowl in Asia and South East Asia, but more precise origins of the chicken are debated. As a bird with limited flight capability, the chicken has been transported worldwide by humans. Once the chicken arrived in Europe, very little attention has been given to the human-chicken interactions which governed its success, and enabled it to become permanently established in a region very different to where its ancestor originates- geographically, environmentally and culturally. This study compiles zooarchaeological evidence for the chicken across Europe, combines it with evidence from archaeology and anthropology, and takes the novel approach of applying ecological and biogeographical techniques. Such techniques complement traditional methods of archaeological assessment, and provide new and unique insights into the origins, spread and impact of this significant species. I establish the regions which are most suitable for initial domestication, and demonstrate that Europe would not be suitable for indigenous populations of the ancestor bird. This informs us about the human investment required to m aintain early populations of chicken. I identify India as the most likely origin of early European chickens, based on environmental suitability, presence of the ancestor species, and practical routes from Asia to Europe; but propose multiple centres of domestication in Asia. Once the chicken reaches Europe, multiple diffusion events associated with specific cultures are identified, primarily via trade routes. The niche of the ancestor is compared to the niche of the early domestic chicken and found to have shifted, indicating adaptation under domestication. The introduction of the chicken into Europe as a non-native species is shown to have directly and indirectly affected certain species, but the chicken itself is most affected by human agency. The date, location and context for the faunal remains, combined with literary evidence and material culture, establishes change and continuity in both use and perception of chickens by human societies. The conclusions and methods presented in this thesis are relevant to several subjects, including archaeology, zooarchaeology, ecology and conservation, and demonstrate the benefits of a multi- disciplinary approach.

No description available.

Archaeology undertook a process of definition and exclusivity in order to develop as a discipline. It justified its increasing control and management of the archaeological resource as being on behalf of the public. This has been challenged by the concept of community archaeology, which was originally defined as a collaborative process, where non-archaeologists are considered equal partners in the research process. In the UK local archaeology societies have been interpreted as community archaeology. They developed in parallel to the profession and are traditionally managed by and for volunteers, some of whom have considerable archaeological experience. The term community archaeology has also been used to describe a much wider range of projects, many of which have been stimulated by professional organisations wishing to demonstrate impact. These usually, but not always, aim to engage the community through participation. There has been some theoretical discussion about community archaeology. This has predominantly revolved around definition but little research has taken place into the practice occurring within the UK. This has resulted in a lack of published guidance. This PhD thesis will start to fill this gap. It considers the concept of community archaeology and its relationship with professional archaeology. In particular it focuses upon the concept of the volunteer and the local archaeology society. The research used a qualitative approach to understand current practice. Interviews with volunteers from local archaeology societies identified that they conduct archaeological research for a range of reasons. Primarily these are site accessibility and personal interest however volunteers are also motivated by a sense of wider purpose and they desire to conduct their research to professional standards. The thesis compares this to interviews with professional archaeologists, who value these societies for the support that they provide to the archaeological profession. Case study projects were used as a second methodology to explore the practice of community archaeology in the UK upon theoretical guidance, and in particular the concept of collaboration in. Volunteers in archaeology look towards professional archaeologists to provide guidance, identifying them as experts. They also require a range of different archaeological experiences. Relationships between the public, experienced volunteers and professional archaeologists were demonstrated to be complex and these categories are not exclusive. The research concludes that community archaeology has previously been described as a bottom up or collaborative practice, this research demonstrates that the practice has evolved and that now many examples conform to the Authorised Heritage Discourse. This has created a lack of guidance; in response this PhD presents a model of best practice for professional and volunteer archaeologists. This will ensure that community archaeology is practiced to the maximum benefit of all involved.

An understanding of population dynamics is essential for reconstructing the trajectories of central and southern Levantine Pre-Pottery Neolithic (PPN) villages during the Neolithic Demographic Transition (NDT). Whilst pre-existing population estimates of PPN villages have made a valuable contribution to our understanding of the Neolithic, these are based on limited methodological and theoretical frameworks, reducing the efficacy of these estimates for exploring the relationship between demographic parameters and socio-cultural development during this period. The aim of this investigation is to derive more empirically and statistically robust absolute demographic data than currently exist and to produce a more precise chronology of population size, density and growth of these early villages. Several methodologies are explored, including those based on dwelling unit size and dwelling number; residential floor area per person; population density; and allometric growth formulae. The newly devised storage provisions formulae, based on the space available for sleeping individuals within structures, was found to be the most robust and viable method. A major contribution of this research is the production of precise structural contemporaneity values derived from building use-life and phase length estimates based on a combination of archaeological, ethnographic and experimental research, and Bayesian chronological modelling of radiocarbon dates. From the results of micro-level analysis of 15 villages/village phases, a site type classification system and constants for several variables are developed for systematic application of methodologies to reconstruct population parameters of a large database of central and southern Levantine PPN villages (n = 106). Based on the final population estimate ranges, new allometric growth formulae are proposed for estimating PPN village populations in future from an assigned site type and total site extent. This research has major implications for current theory relating to PPN village population density. In particular, the commonly utilised ethnographically derived population density coefficients are found to be too low to accurately estimate the population of central and southern Levantine PPN villages. In addition, the notion that nuclear families formed the predominant dwelling unit type within these villages is dismissed in favour of more variable dwelling unit composition. Finally, the population estimates produced in this investigation were assessed against the archaeological evidence to evaluate the suitability of previously hypothesised group size thresholds and to propose additional thresholds for this period relating to changing subsistence practices, the introduction of mechanisms for reducing scalar stress and the emergence of social complexity.