Statistical models for the calibration of both independent and related groups of radiocarbon determinations are now well established and there exists a number of software packages such as BCal, OxCal and CALIB that can perform the necessary calculations to implement them. When devising new statistical models it is important to understand the motivations and needs of the archaeologists. When researchers select samples for radiocarbon dating, they are often not interested in when a specific plant or animal died. Instead, they want to use the radiocarbon evidence to help them to learn about the dates of other events, which cannot be dated directly but which are of greater historical or archaeological significance (e.g. the founding of a site). Our initial research focuses on formulating prior distributions that reliably represent a priori information relating to the rate of deposition of dateable material within an archaeological time period or phase. In archaeology, a phase is defined to be a collection of excavated material (context or layers) bounded early and late by events that are of archaeological importance. Current software for estimating boundary dates only allows for one possible type of a priori distribution, which assumes that material suitable for dating was deposited at a uniform rate between the start and end points of the phase. Although this model has been useful for many real problems, researchers have become increasingly aware of its limitations. We therefore propose a family of alternative prior models (with properties tailored to particular problems within archaeological research) which includes the uniform as a special case and allows for more realistic and robust modelling of the deposition process. We illustrate, via two case studies, the difference in archaeological conclusions drawn from the data when implementing both uniform and non-uniform prior deposition models. The second area of research, that we take the first steps towards tackling, is spatiotemporal modelling of archaeological calibration problems. This area of research is of particular interest to those studying the response of plants and animals, including humans, to climate change. In archaeological problems our temporal information typically arises from radiocarbon dating, which leads to estimated rather than exactly known calendar dates. Many of these problems have some form of spatial structure yet it is very rare that the spatial structure is formally accounted for. The combination of temporal uncertainty and spatial structure means that we cannot use standard models to tackle archaeological problems of this kind. Alongside this, our knowledge of past landscapes is generally very poor as they were often very different from modern ones; this limits the amount of spatial detail that can be included in the modelling. In this thesis we aim to make reliable inferences in spatio-temporal problems by carefully devising a model that takes account of the temporal uncertainty as well as incorporating spatial structure, to provide probabilistic solutions to the questions posed. We illustrate the properties of both the conventional models and the spatio-temporal models using a case study relating to the radiocarbon evidence for the Late glacial reoccupation of NW Europe.

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This dissertation addresses the failure in common practice to fully integrate different parts of the archaeological record systematically, thus leading to a breakdown between excavation theory and practice. The relationship between deposit and assemblage, and thereby the use of deposit status designation is examined. A more accurate definition of status is adopted, overcoming the conceptual inadequacy linking find to deposit. The analysis of status is based on the following basic assumptions: firstly, that status is the relationship between the find and the context; secondly, that this relationship is based upon information on the function, chronology and spatial characteristics of the finds and contexts. With the concept of deposit status established, this thesis presents a method that ates all the relevant elements of the archaeological record that enable an understanding of deposit signatures; deposits and assemblages. Deposit types are examined, checking the relationships between basic physical descriptions and interpreted function. Assemblage data for ceramics and faunal remains are integrated based upon quantification that reflects their separate formafion histories. The resulting deposit signatures provide a platform for new and interesting means of reating site narrative. The new narratives reflect developments and changes in eposit formation, and ultimately, the landuse history of a site. This thesis demonstrates that the integration of finds and site data allows for more fruitful interpretation of excavation data. This approach helps to match site details with specific research agendas in both academic and commercial contexts, and can help achieve the maximum potential for research output.

This thesis employs an interdisciplinary approach to the understanding of salvage and re-use within the construction industry of the capital. It uses the extant archaeological remains, epigraphic and other documentary sources in combination with pre-modern building manuals and modern concepts of quantity surveying in order to set the evidence against the broader background of the economics of Roman building practices. To this end, it focuses on the contextual background for the study as a whole, looking at interpretations of spolia and examining some of the previous assumptions, concepts and explanations for the application of re-used materials, while placing re-use in a broader history of Roman construction (Chapter 1); the archaeological evidence for both demolition and salvaging (Chapter 2); the re-use of mass-materials such as bricks, blocks and rubble, as well as high-status material, such as column shafts, capitals and marble blocks (Chapter 3); the practicalities of dismantling and re-use (Chapter 4); the methodology behind the deconstruction-analyses of different types of Roman construction techniques based on the use of post-antique documentary evidence, in particular nineteenth-century building manuals, such as such as Giovanni Pegoretti's 'Manuale practico per I'estimazione dei lavori architettonici, stradali, idraulici e di fortificazione, per uso degli ingegneri ed architetti' 1864-1864 (Chapter 5); and finally, an economic analysis of recycling through a determination of the costs and manpower required, according to formulae provided by 19th-century handbooks, for demolishing different types of Roman construction, and an estimation of the quantities of material generated (Chapter 6). To-date only the striking manifestations of recycling have received detailed attention - the re-use of large-scale architectural elements and reliefs, termed spolia, on the Arch of Constantine and other later Roman monuments, and the impact on architecture during Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages. The extent and significance of such spoliation in Roman building practices, however, has yet to be recognised. This thesis examines current and past debates regarding the motivation behind the use of spolia and argues that a primary definition as either symbolic or pragmatic is not helpful. By analysing the evidence for the salvage of decorative marble prior to demolition, and also of building stone, brick and other materials, in both public and private buildings, the thesis demonstrates that the recycling of older material was a constant and vital feature of the development of construction methods at Rome during the Late Republic and first three centuries AD. I conclude that recycling was of general economic advantage to the construction industry in Rome at all periods and one of the contributing factors that allowed the process of monumentalisation of the city. These practices must now be systematically catalogued, analysed and published for a fuller understanding of the Roman building industry, and scholars should therefore beware of classifying spolia as a peculiarly Late Antique practice.

Magnetic survey has become increasingly important in locating and characterising sites of archaeological potential. Magnetometry and topsoil magnetic susceptibility are the principal methods employed. In recent years advances in the design of magnetometers have made their use almost universal, somewhat to the detriment of magnetic susceptibility survey. This is especially true when the efficacy of various geophysical methods in locating sites of archaeological potential is compared. Such direct comparisons are, however, open to serious question. When sealed below the soil archaeological features acquire a degree of permanence, and their relatively static nature allows them to be identified by magnetometer survey on morphological grounds. By contrast, soil is continuously exposed, and over a period of 'deep time' is subject to the vagaries of human activity. The soil itsc1fbecomcs an artefact and the information it contains at any given time need not be site - specific but extensive. The problem addressed here is that of the interpretation of such topsoil magnetic data. Through occupation, industry, and agriculture, communities have historically affected the nature and proportion of the iron minerals (mostly oxides) in the soil, which establishes its magnetic identity. The problems of identifying the cultural influences which impact on the magnetic signature are simplified here by introducing three separable dynamic agencies: viz. chemical, exotic (inclusion) and mechanical (intervention, or perturbation). The incorporation of exotic materials into the soil, and human mechanical perturbation, arc both capable of creating soil magnetic patterns without directly affecting the soil's natural minerals. A search of early agricultural literature has identified activity which aids the interpretation of otherwise enigmatic data. The results of over 200 surveys have been reviewed, and from them examples selected to illustrate the three dynamic models. The results confirm that magnetically enhances soils often indicate buries archaeology but also may have no underlying archaeological source, the historic information residing exclusively within the topsoil itself. Long-term dispersal of magnetic material within the topsoil is examined and seen to be related to both bioturbation and agricultural activity. Documentary evidence shows that historic enclosure, selective land-use, and ploughing have contributed to soil magnetic pattern formation. Far from being a poor relative of other prospecting methods, topsoil susceptibility has its own unique contribution to make. Information resides within, not only below the soil, and the full potential of the method has not yet been realised. Recently the idea of cultural soilscapes has emerged, an historical perspective gained from archaeological soil surveys increasingly aids an understanding of how soils have been utilised, exploited and, more recently, degraded.