This thesis investigates the social role of hunting and wild animals in Late Bronze Age west Crete, particularly in Chania. The areas addressed are: the nature of human interaction with wild animals (red and fallow deer and agrimia) in Late Bronze Age Crete, including how might concepts of ‘wild’ and ‘domestic’ have been perceived and enacted; the evidence for the ‘social’ role played by wild animals in Late Bronze Age Crete; and the role human-(‘wild’)animal engagement played in the social and political transformations that were taking place in Late Bronze Age west Crete. These questions are investigated predominantly through primary zooarchaeological analysis, but also referring to other categories of data such as iconographic material. This analysis is situated within a broader body of theoretical approaches to understanding human-animal relationships and adopts, as far as possible, a non-anthropocentric approach. In order to investigate the data, a framework of analysis was devised to link the relationships with the living animal, with the dead animal, and with the animal bone remains, as an interconnected series of embodied events, termed here ‘a cycle of engagement’. It is concluded that interaction with wild animals was an important practice in Late Bronze Age Crete, however a ‘wild’ or ‘domestic’ status may, in cases, have been contextually defined. It is proposed that interaction with ‘wild’ animals would have been encounters of (mutually) heightened physical and sensory awareness, which would have contributed to a sense of relationship between hunter and hunted, and perhaps created contexts within which traditional boundaries might be transcended. It is suggested that consumption of these hunted animals in large-scale (multi-species) communal consumption events would have contributed to the development and maintenance of the west Cretan regional identity at the end of the Late Bronze Age.

This study examines how the dead were engaged with, treated and managed by one of the most influential of medieval monastic orders, the Cluniacs. At the heart of this study is a consideration of the eleventh-century Cluniac customaries. These invaluable yet under-exploited texts prescribe in minute detail how the dying, the dead body and the monk’s memory should be physically and spiritually treated and commemorated. Through them we see a highly ritualised approach to the body, structured by interplay of repetitive symbolic actions, combined with the practical requirements of treating and disposing of a cadaver. These texts were intended to regulate daily life at Cluny, and of her dependencies and affiliates (Paxton 1993a: 1), for as Abbot Hugh’s statute in 1200 directed, ‘as we are one congregation and order, we should conform in all things’ (Constable 2010: 140). They have, however, been described as ‘living texts’ (Kerr 2007: 14) and the practices they prescribe termed, ‘adaptable to local needs and desires’ (Constable 1976: 160-161). An integration of osteological and archaeological evidence has permitted a direct examination of the extent to which this was the case for the treatment of the dead. Specifically, it questions how far Cluny could impose conformity in funerary practice amongst its dependencies, which although members of the same familia, varied considerably by ‘type’ of house and geographical location. The varied ways in which Cluniac customary practice could be adapted and the diverse temporal and spatial factors influencing conformity and digression are thus addressed. Over 400 burials from four well-excavated Cluniac sites in England and France (dating predominantly from the late-eleventh through to the fifteenth century) form the comparative data-sets, where their rich archaeological and osteological documentation has permitted a direct examination of text versus practice. These sites represent two very different types of establishment: the large, original foundations of Bermondsey Abbey (London), Lewes Priory (Sussex) and La Charité-sur-Loire (Burgundy), and the smaller reformed house of Beaumont-sur-Oise (Picardy). This study has thus moved beyond individual house-specific enquiries or broad inter-order comparisons to a detailed examination of how diverse houses within one order responded to the spiritual and practical requirements of managing the dead. Novel in a British later medieval context, the taphonomic approach of anthropologie de terrain has been successfully applied post-excavation using burial photographs and associated archival material. Placing the body at the centre of enquiry, this approach has permitted a more accurate reconstruction (in the absence of ‘direct’ archaeological indicators) of the multiplicity of acts performed to and for the body in each stage of the Cluniac funerary procedure. It has permitted detailed analysis of pre-burial body preparation, interment strategies and post-burial treatment of disturbed remains, as the deceased were manipulated and re-integrated in varying ways within the funerary landscapes. The concept of the ‘death-course’ has been introduced to envisage this continual inter-related cultural and biological process; the body and soul are physically and spiritually ‘managed’ by the living, whilst the corpse is simultaneously transforming through the natural processes of decomposition and decay. Situating the deceased within this framework has helped direct enquiry towards Cluniac attitudes and responses to the dead body in each stage of the death-course, as it evolved from fresh cadaver through to skeletal matter. The results have demonstrated that a complex and dynamic relationship existed between each of the houses, their relative adherence to the customaries, and their attitudes to the dead. Influence from pre-existing monastic customaries and local traditions, developments in Cluniac customary practice, reform pressures, economic practicalities, varied emphasis on doctrinal and folkloric teachings/beliefs and broader social, political and religious changes all contributed to spatial and temporal variability in adherence. Crucially, underlying this was also the practical and unpredictable requirements of managing the realities of death: the biologically and possible spiritually unstable ‘dynamic cadaver’ (Nilsson 1998). As well as relative distance from Cluny, the ‘type’ of house was shown to be paramount; circumstances of foundation and community size greatly influenced spiritual and practical responses to the dead. This was also the case on a smaller scale, where the specific burial location was shown to directly influence how the physical and metaphysical manifestations of death were viewed, handled and managed. For Cluny’s dependencies examined here, the customaries were shown on the whole to be highly theoretical in terms of the death and burial rites. They promulgated a carefully selected or ‘ideal’ image of Cluniac spirituality, which may have been more attainable for Cluny, but practically unrealistic for many of the diverse houses under its rule. This study has revealed, however, that customary influence in funerary practice could be more subtle and indirect. A closer and more holistic scrutiny of these texts, alongside the anthropologie de terrain assessment, has revealed that the dead body (in various stages of decomposition) could fulfil diverse roles. The customaries carefully structured and directed daily practice towards cementing and reaffirming community bonds, perpetual meditation on death and continual commemoration of the dead. A number of the identified practices, particularly those relating to the management of disturbed remains, mirrored this structuring. Through handling and staging of the deceased’s body, it could acquire new meaning and purpose as a ‘tool’ for reflecting on death, as a malleable entity for promulgating Cluniac ideals, and as an ‘object’ around which a shared Cluniac identity and community bond could be created and maintained.

This thesis applies a multi-scalar, multi-disciplinary approach to evaluate the ways in which we have constructed the Mesolithic for the purposes of archaeological research. The human-environment relationship in the southern North Sea basin is used as the lens through which this period is reexamined and redefined. Exploring the nature of this complex interaction on the macro, meso and micro-scale provides greater insight into what it meant to dwell within this landscape during the Mesolithic period. In discussing scales of approach, the means by which research is divided over space and time become a decisive element. The use of political borders to orientate prehistoric archaeology is critically examined and a diffuse structure based on environmental parameters key to the Mesolithic experience of the southern North Sea landscape is offered as a better alternative. Due to the time-transgressive nature of Mesolithic chronology in the North Sea basin, temporal divisions framing the research period, nominally 11,700BP to 7,000BP, are equally permeable; the larger chronological context from the end of the Last Glacial Maximum to the early Neolithic is incorporated into interpretations. To build a multi-scalar interpretation, data from the southern North Sea Mesolithic is analysed at the macro, meso and micro scales. At the micro-scale, a case study in the Waveney valley is used to ground the ideas set forth in this thesis in the complex reality of combining archaeological and palaeoenvironmental data to form interpretations. A database of 2000 boreholes is used to form an understanding of the Mesolithic environment at key stages in the development of this landscape. This is compared with the archaeological record for the region and the possible human perceptions of environmental change during the Mesolithic period are discussed. At each scale, the persistent importance of dynamic change across each axis of evidence considered; environmental, cultural and conceptual; is apparent. This idea of dynamism is, therefore, suggested as the best categorisation of what the Mesolithic experience the southern North Sea landscape; one which provides a more sympathetic and useful conceptualization of the Mesolithic period. It is, therefore, argued that the application of a multi-scalar, multi-disciplinary approach, reflecting this new definition, is substantiated as the most constructive means of carrying out future interpretation.

This thesis deals with the parallel threads of colonial politics, nationalism and archaeology in the Cretan State (1898 – 1913), a semi-autonomous, semicolonial regime, established on the island of Crete by some of the “Great Powers” of the time (Great Britain, France, Russia and Italy). This polity ended 250 years of direct Ottoman rule, in a region inhabited by both Christians – the majority – and Muslims. Some of the most significant archaeological projects began during that period, mainly directed by western archaeological missions. Amidst this setting, a local elite of intermediaries supported Greek irredentism and demanded a nationally “pure” present, heir to an equally “pure” past. At the same time, an obedient stance towards the occupying forces and their archaeological demands secured their individual and collective interests. Both stances lead them to clash with Western archaeologists, Greek archaeologists, and especially the local peasantry, whose behaviour towards antiquities they considered ignorant and non-patriotic. How did the colonial foundations of Cretan archaeology affect its relationship with Greek nationalism? How was modern archaeology received and “consumed” by the Cretans of the time? In order to answer these questions, I organise my chapters by focusing upon different “groups” of people related to my subject (the Western archaeologists, the local archaeological elites, the Cretan peasants etc.) and studying how their intermingling evolved regarding the management of the material past. Most of my resources are of an archival nature, some of them never published before. They come from personal collections, memoirs, correspondence between key figures, press articles and administrative records. My findings clearly highlight how the Westerners managed to incorporate successfully the Cretan archaeological production within their identity-building, focused on the origins of the European civilisation. This material bond subsidised their collective, “civilised” identity, allowing them the privilege to colonise the world beyond their perception. At the same time, Crete was occupied by the Greek national imagination. The new archaeological narrative was used by the local elites in order to remodel the Cretan society, particularly the most “unruly” parts of it, the rural population, into obedient national subjects. The Cretan peasants reacted to these practices with a remarkable flexibility and resistance, which was evident in both their narrative and activity related to the material remains of the past. The outcomes of my research have wider relevance, especially for studies that may include, among others, topics such as the social history of Crete, archaeology and the politics of identity, ethnocratic applications of archaeology, memory destruction and reconstruction, conflict archaeology and archaeology “from below”.

Research into the British Lower and Middle Palaeolithic has traditionally focused upon artefact typology and the in situ stone and bone scatters from primary context sites. The majority of the evidence has been rejected as difficult data from which little or nothing can be said. In this thesis it is proposed that the data can support a wide range of archaeological investigations, and that their apparent weaknesses reflect the asking of unsuitable questions. This thesis presents a three-stage methodology for the interpretation of all the British Lower and Middle Palaeolithic data from the Hampshire Basin, southern Eng¬ land. The formation of the archaeological record is addressed with respect to the mod¬ ern excavation of Palaeolithic deposits, the chronology of the geological contexts, and the transportation and redeposition of lithic material into secondary contexts. The re¬ sults of the research methodology are interpreted for the management and protection of Britain's Palaeolithic heritage through spatial analytical techniques and GIS-based predictive modelling. Applications of the data to models of middle Pleistocene hominid behaviour are investigated, with particular emphasis upon long-term survival strategies and a highlow latitude comparison of demographic trends and population characteristics. Spatiotemporal patterns in regional lithic signatures indicate sporadic occupation of the region, characterised by discontinuous, low density populations. This model was supported by the demographic data generated from the regional evidence and existing on-site data. Other suitable applications of the data explored within the thesis are highlighted, including models of biface form and raw material transportation. The thesis demonstrates the potential of all the available data to investigations of the British Lower and Middle Palaeolithic. The secondary context data can offer a valu¬ able spatio-temporal perspective upon hominid behaviour during the middle Pleistocene which cannot be gained from the investigation of on-site data.

Archaeological research and practice is based on a paradox; the excavated three-dimensional data are transformed into two-dimensional representations in an attempt to create a sustainable record, which will act as a reference back to the process of excavation. These two-dimensional products, which carry interpretations, ambiguities and contradictions are restored to three-dimensional information, and are utilised in computer graphic simulations in an attempt to visualise, research and understand past experiences, attitudes and structures. This thesis examines the variable and dialectic processes among excavation, recording, perception, interpretation and simulation in order to understand how knowledge is produced in any project that aims to model three-dimensional aspects of the past. Koutroulou Magoula, a distinctive Middle Neolithic tell site in Phthiotida, Greece, provides a case study to problematise the process of reconstruction and contributes a novel three-dimensional approach to the study of Greek Neolithic space.

This research explores the extent to which food residues from ceramics can contribute to archaeological understanding of the fourth millennium BC. Known archaeologically as the Early and Middle Neolithic, this prehistoric period is disputed among archaeologists and food-related evidence is especially contested. This research explores food-related evidence from new angles in that traditional approaches to diet are abandoned in favour of smaller-scale study of cookery practices. Food residues from Early and Middle Neolithic ceramic vessels were analysed by GC/MS and GC/C/IRMS. The techniques target the lipid (fats, oils, and waxes) component of foods that were cooked in the ceramic vessels in prehistory. The scientific datasets thus obtained were integrated with contextual information from the ceramic assemblages and the sites at which they were recovered. The sampled ceramic assemblages were recovered from archaeological sites made up primarily of pit features, which contain important evidence of life beyond the conspicuous monuments of the Neolithic. Several pit sites have come to light in the Upper and Middle Thames Valley during developer-funded excavation in the last couple of decades, and a new picture of everyday lives in the fourth millennium BC is emerging. This research contributes to this emerging picture in that it reveals local variation and regional consistency in foodways and pottery use. It demonstrates that pottery and food were closely connected during this period and that potters actively responded to the requirements of food preparation. This interplay between pottery and food has implications for more traditional typological studies of the ceramic record. It is argued that food residues from ceramics can be a source of information for material culture studies as well as for dietary reconstruction.

Iron Age coastal communities in England have been poorly understood since the beginning of our discipline. This is mainly as result of the lack of evidence for everyday maritime activities and also the focus of research on explaining an agro-pastoral way of living. Evidence of fishing, boats, harbour structures and ports are very rare archaeologically, and thinking about people living by the sea in this period has been widely overlooked as most of the interest has been the nature of the connections and trade-networks (mainly by Cunliffe 2008). In contrast, evidence for non maritime activities, such as farming and cattle rearing is so rich that looking to the coast only happens in special situations. Using the Isles of Scilly as a case study, this research challenges the established views that societies on the coasts of south-west of England were mainly cattle herders and farmers. Through palaeolandscape reconstruction, site analysis and material culture study, this research argues that settlement on the coastline is as important as that found inland. It shows that Iron Age maritime aspects of culture were deeply embedded within cultural traditions and that the maritime way of living had little to do with extraordinary or unusual situations. This research shows that preconceived ideas of what a maritime site should look like, as is the case of harbour structures and important ports, divert the attention from the subtleties of recognising maritime culture’s signature. It is through the study of archaeological context and environmental evidence that these are likely to become more obvious. Therefore, throughout this document the analysis of maritime landscape, settlement pattern and material culture generates new perspectives on how to approach the study of maritime societies in archaeology.

The thesis examines the Neolithic pottery from Wales and attempts to write a history of practices concerned with its construction and use. This work is undertaken from the standpoint that contingency, that is the constraints and possibilities of the history of objects, has a major role in their construction and use. The thesis begins with an examination of some ideas about contingency and history in archaeology, biological science, material culture studies, and philosophy to build a pragmatic methodology for the study of the material. This methodology is particularly based upon the ideas of Stephen Jay Gould and Richard Rorty. A discussion of the evidence for the Neolithic period in Wales is then followed by the application of this methodology to five regional study areas within Wales. Localised narratives about the construction and use of Neolithic pottery are produced for each region. The methodology is then applied to the study of the material from Wales as a whole to produce a more general narrative. This narrative is then related to the discussion of the period as a whole, and to previous categorisations of the Neolithic and the Neolithic in Wales. The thesis allows to addition of more precise chronological resolution and some social interpretation to a body of evidence which has previously been marginalized within British Neolithic studies.

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