In this thesis, data from 232 archaeological sites in England, Scotland and Wales are used to build the foundations of a standard methodology for charcoal identification and interpretation. Sampling methods are examined, including sample selection, recovery, sample size, fragment size, and their effects on results. A computer key for native woody plants (and some introduced species) was constructed to aid identification of archaeological charcoals. Thirty-one taxa were identified from the sites studied. Results are compared by histograms, presence analysis and multivarlate analysis. The broad pattern is found to display little variation in relation to archaeological period or context type. Quercus sp, Rosaceae (subfamily Pomoldeae), Corylus sp, Prunus sp, and Fraxinus ap are the five most common taxa on the majority of sites. The relationship of this finding to anthropogenic factors is discussed. Compared to pollen or molluscan analysis, charcoal is shown to be insensitive to changes in woodland distribution and type. There are, however, indications of environmental effects in the occurrence of some less commonly recorded taxa (e.g. Rhamnus sp and Calluna sp) and in the overall results from a number of sites. Temporal and spatial distributions of Fagus sp, Acer sp, Carpinus sp, Pinus sp, Tilia sp and others are considered in relation to their known history and ecology. This illustrates the value of large-scale charcoal evidence in helping to reconstruct woodland history. The importance of these findings to the interpretation of individual results is considered in terms of a fuel selection: availability hypothesis. This, for example, suggests a possible reason for the lime decline. Multi-faceted analysis of taxa identified, charcoal concentration, the number of fragments identified per taxon and the proportion of twiggy material present is shown to be a potential means of characterising deposits, and one which also promises to yield further information in the future.

This thesis explores the evidence for the earliest brooches in Britain. The first brooches were used and made in Britain in the Early Iron Age from c.450 BC. During this period, and into the Middle Iron Age, methods were devised for constructing brooches with mock springs and hinges. In tandem with these changes a greater variety of types came into use. Some are relatively widespread across Wales, England and into Scotland. Others are concentrated in central or western and eastern regions of England. Brooches were manufactured from both bronze and iron. Bronze brooches dominate in the earlier period but iron brooches are as common as bronze in the Middle Iron Age. Some bronze brooches are constructed with small elements of iron and vice versa. Other materials are also employed as decoration on the body of the brooch including coral and glass. A revised chronology and typology are proposed, drawing on both intrinsic attributes and external archaeological evidence. The evidence from burials shows brooches were used to clasp fabric. The fabric was probably a woollen cloak wrapped around the body as a shroud. The brooch was positioned so it was visible during the funerary process. Some brooches fastened bags and other small brooches were better suited as ornaments or badges. These have distinctive designs that would have made them recognisable, perhaps as objects belonging to a particular person and/or associating that person with a specific group. Brooches are also found at settlements, at hillforts and in rivers, as well as at sites with or deposits of a ritualised character. Aside from cemeteries these latter sites contain the highest numbers of brooches. The deposition of personal objects at these types of site may have asserted the individual’s connection to the community in a manner comparable to the burial of a person in a cemetery.

This dissertation is in the nature of prolegomena to the subject, rather than an attempt at a complete or final survey. In many respects its purpose is to indicate lines of development for future research. Such is the range and importance of the many facets that it would be impossible to devote exhaustive attention to each in one work. For instance, Isurium, the Roman capital of Brigantia, demands separate large-scale treatment as soon as full reports on the most recent excavations are made available. The geographical extent of Brigantia, too, has necessitated a selective rather than a comprehensive study of the important aspect of economic conditions generally; and a study of the native pottery is reserved for a later specialist examination which cannot fail to he of the first importance.

This thesis assesses the environmental marginality of a site at the Atlantic fringe of the British Isles, occupied at various points throughout prehistory. Palaeoclimatic proxy records from the North Atlantic show that climatic fluctuations have occurred in the mid- and late-Holocene, at amplitudes likely to be perceptible to human communities. Coincident environmental changes occurred to affect the development of landscapes via vegetation change and pedogenesis. The degree to which prehistoric agricultural economies were vulnerable to these external fluctuations is tested in this thesis. The archaeological complex at Belderg Beg, Co. Mayo, Ireland, consists of a sub-peat stone-built field system of the sixth millennium cal. BP, a Middle Bronze Age roundhouse and adjacent areas of ridge-andfurrow cultivation. By the time of Bronze Age occupation, blanket bog already covered a significant proportion of the landscape. A combination of on- and off-site investigation strategies included AMS 14C dated sediment stratigraphic analyses, palynology, soil micromorphology, peat humification and geochemistry. Results show that peat initiation occurred during Neolithic agricultural occupation, at c. 5465 cal. BP. The initial woodland assemblage was a combination of typical upland and lowland tree types, and had been subjected to disturbance. The economy was primarily pastoral but with an arable component. Abandonment occurred at c. 5375 cal. BP, and woodland regenerated rapidly. Neolithic abandonment occurred several centuries prior to the spread of blanket peat over the fields. Peat spread upslope at an average rate of c. O.385m/cal. yr. The Bronze Age archaeological remains probably represent several discrete phases of occupation, associated with intensive arable agriculture which included soil amendment strategies, and ceasing in the mid-second millennium cal. BP. Geochemical analysis failed to support previous hypotheses that a vein of copper ore 2km distant was exploited during the Bronze Age. The results from this investigation add to a growing corpus from western Ireland suggesting a clear pattern of Early and Middle Neolithic sedentism and mixed agriculture, followed by abandonment until reoccupation in the Early Bronze Age. As the Neolithic field system at Belderg Beg was apparently smaller and less regular than that at nearby Ceide Fields, it may represent an economically marginal site in terms of core-periphery relationships. Abandonment occurred during a phase of relative climatic aridity and it is concluded that soil deterioration and erosion was probably a factor in the demise of agriculture. The Bronze Age occupation is more difficult to characterise in terms of economy, but the gradual contraction of intensive agriculture suggests that again, soil quality rather than direct climatic shifts was the limiting factor and that the location eventually became environmentally marginal for an economy including significant cereal production.

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In the first part of this thesis, current models of interaction between Rome and Barbaricum are examined, includes both the models developed for Germany and more general theoretical models of interaction and exchange. It also includes previous models developed for Scotland and Ireland. The state of pre-Roman society in northern Britain is discussed, paying particular attention to pre-Roman cultural and economic differences between lowland and highland tribes of Scotland.. The role of the Roman army in northern Britain, and its impact on native society is also discussed. The argument is put forward that Rome's presence on the Clyde-Forth line during the Antonine period was driven by a need to protect its allies in southern Scotland. The concept of `diplomatic exchange' is developed, which used exchange as a means by which to forge diplomatic and economic ties with those beyond the Empire in a way which was mutually benifical. The study concludes that there was a relationship between the amount of Roman material found in native hands in a particular area, the relationship which Rome enjoyed with that area and the level of economic and social development which that culture had attained. Security was always the paramount concern of Rome, and where diplomatic exchange was unable to work, alliances were sought,and allies were aided.

This thesis explores the Late Bronze Age and Earliest Iron Age midden sites of southern Britain and aims to enhance broader understandings of life during this period of transition (c. 1250 - 600 BC). The varied elements of life were mixed together at these sites, and this interweaving build-up of architectures and residues with seasonal traditions of occupation, created a special sense of place. Considerations of materiality are central to this thesis - such elements were critical to the way in which life in the Bronze Age was constructed and experienced. Through the fine grained analysis of large data-sets, I argue that the relationships, identities and worldviews of the inhabitants of southern Britain were redefined and reassembled at these central places. This thesis produces for the first time a synthesis of these sites across Britain, and it has entailed the excavation of a new midden site recently discovered in the West Midlands. Variations in the extent and depths of the sites, the density and types of finds, stratigraphic make-up, chronologies and settings are explored. The broader context of the later Bronze Age in Britain is discussed, enabling rich histories to be produced and key similarities and differences between different sites to be highlighted. Detailed contextual analyses have been undertaken at the case-study sites of Potterne and Runnymede Bridge, providing an invaluable means for interpreting human action. I have attempted to identify and narrate elements of life - the habits, practices, values, beliefs and emotions - from the various sequences, and to situate these vignettes within the historical processes of the Bronze Age. Anxieties surrounding deteriorating climatic conditions, farming practices and exchange networks contributed to a dramatic shift in some people's worldviews, and ultimately a transformation in the ways that people engaged with animals, materials and place. The increases in depositional practices, particularly of fine and decorated artefacts and metalwork and feasting remnants, do not necessarily reflect the development of new hierarchies or `economic' intensification, but rather a transformation in the ways that values were created, expressed and destroyed. Environments are always being created, and similar to persons, they too are in a constant state of becoming - the micro- and macro-scale analyses presented in this thesis have enabled the exploration of such moments of uncertainty and transition.

This thesis examines the Pictish carved stones from the Tarbat peninsula, which include the cross-slabs at Nigg, Shandwick and Hilton of Cadboll, as well as the numerous fragments from Portmahomack. While many of these have been previously mentioned by scholars, they have never been closely studied as a group that might express a coherent political and/ or spiritual program, and which may contribute to the understanding of the Pictish settlements on the peninsula. In order to do so the known cultural background of the early medieval world is initially investigated to provide a context within which to study this group of carvings. This investigation includes a survey of the historical and literary texts, and the history and liturgical practices of the church in the Insular world. Once this background is presented, each individual site and carving is thoroughly explored as regards historiography and archaeological context (as it is known so far). The decoration on each monument or carved fragment is then scrutinized in order to place the work in an art-historical context. Once this has been done, the iconographic significance of the images carved on these stones is determined, and the iconology of the monuments surmised. The monuments of the Tarbat peninsula thus emerge as complex conveyers of meanings both sacred and secular. Placed within the context of the 8th to mid 9th - century Insular world they strongly support the argument that the Tarbat peninsula was home to an important and influential monastic estate with possible royal ties, which had established links with other ecclesiastical sites throughout Britain and Ireland, and contacts with the Continent and the Eastern Mediterranean.

This thesis examines the Channel Islands in the Atlantic Bronze and Early Iron Age and looks at the way islanders defined their own identity and incorporated material culture into existing and emerging social . - structures. It is a study of interaction and the way prehistoric inhabitants of islands engaged with the world around them. Inter-island and island-mainland relations are explored and chronologies for Channel Island later prehistory are refined. In particular, it is proposed that the Early Bronze Age in the Channel Islands does not begin until after 1750/1700 BC, when a series of events are recognised in the archaeological and palaeoenvironmental records. Tumuli are introduced along with specific material culture related to second series barrows of Armorica, contemporary (potentially) with the first bronze hoard. Long term deforestation begins, alongside a rise in the pastoral economy and selective pockets of arable farming. Changing sea levels and improvements in seafaring technology opened up the sea as a mechanism for interaction and enabled islanders to undertake voyages to other places. Such voyages were a way of maintaining alliances, trading goods and gaining knowledge that led to the successful reproduction of Channel Island society. Certainly after 1300 BC the islands become more deeply involved in Atlantic and cross-channel exchange networks as demonstrated by the St Helier Gold Torque and the deposition of bronze hoards of excessive size (three are over 200 pieces each). These hoards also show a divergence from neighbouring French zones through the accumulation of metalwork from a wider geographical area. The ceramic assemblages for the islands show a clear parallel with NW France and in some cases southern Britain. Long term perspectives on the ways islanders impacted on their world are also explored and it is suggested that the intensive process of deforestation that begins to occur in the Early Bronze Age was tempered by sustainable management of the landscape, through a pastoral economy and selective arable farming. This was replaced in the Early Iron Age by aggressive burning strategies and the rapid clearance of land for arable purposes. These activities had a long lasting impact, removing the ancient woodland that had once dominated the prehistoric islands and creating a landscape that was irreversibly altered.