The thesis explores themes of settlement location, settlement form and settlement mobility from the Late Neolithic to the Late Bronze Age in north-east Powys and Shropshire. The study utilises existing finds and monument data, and incorporates new data from targeted field survey and excavation. It incorporates comparative evidence from other regions of Britain and detailed comparative data from studies in neighbouring regions. The study examines the evidence for settlement sites, the distribution of lithics in the landscape and the potential relationship between round barrows and settlement. The relationship between metalwork and settlement is examined as is the evidence for the presence of land division. A potential greater frequency of activity in the vicinity of lowland ring ditches is suggested through lithic distributions within a transitory pattern of occupation. This is supported with new excavation evidence for ephemeral settlement activity. At a broader level a greater intensity of activity is apparent in lowland gravel terraces than in neighbouring wetland areas of Shropshire and that the study area is part of a wider region characterised by low lithic densities in contrast to neighbouring regions to the south. Subtle spatial separations may have existed between settlement activity and monuments and the siting of monuments may have reflected existing axes of movement through the landscape. The distribution of upland monuments suggests that activities may have been relatively focussed and localised, whilst close conceptual links may have been maintained with lowland and distant landscapes. The distribution of metalwork emphasises rivers, floodplains and wetland contexts which may have been at the margins of settlement space. At a broader level the presence of metalwork in lowland landscapes serves to complement limited evidence for Middle Bronze Age occupation and places Late Bronze Age hilltop enclosures into a wider context. Targeted excavation has provided new dating evidence from pit alignment features in the study area which may indicate localised areas of land division closely post-dated ring ditch monuments in the Early Bronze Age. This may have implications for the interpretation of similar land divisions in other regions.

It is a well-established fact that all human societies have coexisted with and are dependent upon animals and it is increasingly recognized that the study of human-animal relationships provides vital insights into past human societies. Still this is yet to be widely embraced in archaeology. This thesis has examined human-animal interdependencies to explore the social identities and structure of society in the Norse North Atlantic. Benefitting from recent research advances in animal studies and the ever increasing volume of archaeological reports from Norse period archaeological excavations the North Atlantic this thesis was able to develop previous scholarship and define directions for future research. The thesis explored the role of animals in human society in the North Atlantic to reveal the complex Norse societies that existed. It revealed through human interdependencies with animals that these societies were far from homogeneous and had their own distinct identities with the individual islands as well as across the North Atlantic. The thesis achieved this by examining several important discrete but interlinked themes. These themes were divided into four chapters that focused on the individual aspects. This included an examination of previous North Atlantic Viking Age scholarship, consideration of human construction and perception of landscape through archaeological excavations, investigation of the role of domestic animals in human social activities, and an exploration of the role of domesticated animals in beliefs. Although these are all connected the structure of the thesis was deliberately chosen to restrict repetition, although given the interconnected nature of human social identities, society and worldview this was not entirely possible. This thesis addressed some of the most fundamental questions in Norse archaeology. Notably, through examination of human-animal interdependencies, it provided a detailed insight into how Norse society understood and perceived the world, and consequently the structure of Norse society and social identities.

The Roman period is well represented in Kent’s long history of excavation and discovery and it has some prominent sites. Nevertheless, there has been relatively little in the way of up-to-date synthesis or the application of current theoretical approaches. In common with many other areas of the country, rural settlement, especially ‘non-villa’ settlement, has received scant attention, whilst even its villas are mostly poorly understood. Since the advent of PPG 16 many more such rural sites have been excavated and there has been a corresponding rise, both qualitative and quantitative, in associated data, much of which remains unpublished. This thesis aims to reassess the Roman period of Kent from a rural standpoint, using a wide range of materials to construct a more nuanced and theoretically informed narrative. The basis of the study is the Kent HER. The archaeological data are combined with a number of landscape resources in order to reveal the influence of Kent’s highly varied terrain and the ways in which it was understood and exploited. Aspects of building and settlement morphology are examined and the potential of artefactual and ecofactual data for adding refinement to our understanding is explored. In its use of unpublished (‘grey’) literature, it is in line with current research priorities at national level. Results indicate that strongly patterned distributions of evidence were influenced both by Kent’s physical landscape and by human landscapes of tradition and culture. The county’s archaeological record has features that distinguish it from other southern counties and from the received trajectory of Roman Britain as a whole. This thesis places Romano-British Kent within its wider chronological and geographical context, noting its particular characteristics and finding that it is an eastern, rather than a southern county, following a trajectory very similar to that of northern Gaul.

The purpose of this study is ultimately to analyze the influence of cultural attitudes on the treatment of the Scottish estate in the first half of the 18th century (c.1715 – c.1776), making particular reference to the ideology of improvement, through the use of Sir Archibald Grant of Monymusk as a case study. Grant’s improvement of his estate is not understood as literally agricultural or economic development alone, but as a complex ideological commitment to the transformation of land, landscape and society. Whilst Grant of Monymusk has been discussed with reference to economic improvement, the relationship between his role as a publically acknowledged improver and his patronage of art and architecture, as well as his attempts at publication, has not been subject to similar interest. This thesis uses an innovative interdisciplinary approach which draws on archaeological as well as art historical methodologies. It discusses a wider range of estate commissions, in particular Grant’s patronage of the portrait artists John Smibert and William Robertson, the poet John Ogilvie, his commission of the architectural surveyors Alexander Jaffray and Robert Robinson, as well as his work to construct planned villages at Kirktown of Monymusk and Archiestown. The thesis attempts to place these commissions within the context of recent studies of improvement which emphasize its role as an ideology with cultural implications. The use of an individual case study allows for a more in depth discussion of specific reactions to historical and ideological change, providing a narrative of a specific site and thus creating an individual response towards broader cultural and scientific developments.