An Inventory of the Ancient Monuments in Brecknock (Brycheiniog)

An Inventory of the Ancient Monuments in Brecknock (Brycheiniog)
Author: Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Wales
Publisher: Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Wales
Total Pages: 374
Release: 1997
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 1871184193

This publication forms Part i of the Royal Commission's Inventory of the Prehistoric and Roman remains of the County of Brecknock (Brycheiniog). Part ii, Hill-Forts and Roman remains was produced in 1986. This volume covers Mesolithic, Neolithic and Bronze Age sites with all undefended and unenclosed settlements of probable pre-Norman date, together with summary finds lists and a handlist of Dark Age inscribed stones. Of particular interest in this volume are plans of the unenclosed settlements, some forming parts of palimpsest landscapes, the survey of which was a new departure for the Royal Commission. Inventory Part i: Later Prehistoric Monuments and Unenclosed Settlements to 1000 A.D. Physical Background and Post-glacial History Cave Archaeology Prehistoric (and later) cave sites The Upper Palaeolithic and Mesolithic Periods Upper Palaeolithic and Mesolithic sites and findspots Neolithic Settlement and Burial Neolithic Court Tombs Burial and Ritual Structures of the Bronze Age Round Cairns and Barrows of the Bronze Age Other Bronze Age Burials and Lost Cairns; Tithe Award and other Placenames Stone Circles and Stone Settings Stone Circles and Stone Settings: the sites Standing Stones Standing Stones: the sites Mounds of Burned Stone Burned Mounds Later Prehistoric and Protohistoric Settlement Unenclosed Settlements Hillforts (Addendum to Vol 1 (ii) Early Medieval Landholding, Estates and Ecclesiastical Centres Crannog A Handlist of Early Christian Stones Later Prehistoric Lithic Finds Handlist of Bronze Age Bronze Artefacts Index of National Grid References Glossary: General Glossary: Welsh Place-name Elements General Index

Giants in the Landscape: Monumentality and Territories in the European Neolithic

Giants in the Landscape: Monumentality and Territories in the European Neolithic
Author: Vincent Ard
Publisher: Archaeopress Publishing Ltd
Total Pages: 105
Release: 2016-02-08
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 1784912867

Proceedings from the session held at the XVII World UISPP Congress, Burgos, 2014. The session considered the various manifestations of the relationship between Neolithic enclosures and tombs in different contexts of Europe, notably through spatial analysis.

The First Stones

The First Stones
Author: William Britnell
Publisher: Oxbow Books
Total Pages: 323
Release: 2022-12-31
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 1789257425

This book brings together the results of recent research on the Neolithic long cairns lying in the shadow of the Black Mountains in south-east Wales, focusing upon Penywyrlod and Gwernvale, the two best known tombs within the group, previously excavated in the 1970s. Important results lie in both new site detail and reassessment of the wider context. Small-scale excavation, geophysical survey and geological assessment at Penywyrlod - the largest of the Welsh long cairns - gave further information about the distinctive external and internal architecture of the monument. In turn, this opened the opportunity to reassess the pre-monument sequence at Gwernvale, with re-examination of both Mesolithic and Neolithic occupations, including timber structures and middens, lithic and pottery assemblages, and cereal remains. The frame for wider reassessment is given by fresh chronological modelling both of the monuments themselves, suggesting a sequence from Penywyrlod and Pipton to Ty Isaf and Gwernvale, probably spanning the 38th to 36th centuries cal BC, and of early Neolithic activity in south Wales and the Marches across the same sort of period. A detailed study of the major assemblages of human remains from the Black Mountains tombs includes evidence for diet, trauma and lifestyles of the populations represented. Recent isotope analysis of human remains from the tombs is also reviewed, implying social mobility and migration within local populations during the early Neolithic. This book makes a significant contribution to the study of tomb building, treatment of the dead, place making, and Neolithisation in western Britain. Viewed within the context of tombs within the Cotswold-Severn tradition as a whole, it leads to an appreciation of the local and regional distinctiveness of architecture and mortuary practice exhibited by the tombs in this area of south-east Wales, emerging as part of the intake of a significant inland area in the early centuries of the Neolithic.

Orientation of Prehistoric Monuments in Britain: A Reassessment

Orientation of Prehistoric Monuments in Britain: A Reassessment
Author: Alistair Marshall
Publisher: Archaeopress Publishing Ltd
Total Pages: 704
Release: 2021-07-08
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 1789697069

Reassesses major axial alignment at many megalithic ritual and funerary monuments (Neolithic to Bronze Age) in Britain and Ireland, not in terms of abstract astronomical concerns, but as an expression of repeated seasonal propitiation involving community, agrarian economy and ancestry in an attempt to mitigate variable environmental conditions.

Hazleton North

Hazleton North
Author: Alan Saville
Publisher: English Heritage
Total Pages: 308
Release: 2013-01-15
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 1848021615

Hazleton North is an Early Neolithic chambered long cairn of the Cotswold-Severn group, which was selected for total excavation between 1979 and 1982 after survey showed continued damage from ploughing. This trapezoidal long cairn is an example of the laterally-chambered type of tomb with two very similar L-shaped chambered areas near its centre, entered from opposite sides of the monument. Particular attention is given to two aspects which make Hazleton North of outstanding importance for the study of Neolithic chambered cairns in Britain: the details of the cairn construction and the burial remains. The account is supported by a full range of specialist studies, including analysis of the artefacts, human and animal bones, plant and molluscan remains, soils, geology, and numerous radiocarbon samples, and is concluded by a discussion of the results of the excavation and its significance for the study of Cotswold-Severn cairns and the earlier Neolithic of the region.

Experimental Archaeology and Neolithic Architecture

Experimental Archaeology and Neolithic Architecture
Author: John Hill
Publisher: Cambridge Scholars Publishing
Total Pages: 216
Release: 2024-03-04
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 1036400220

Our understanding of the construction processes involved with British Neolithic architecture needs further investigation. The people were preliterate and there is no archaeological evidence of written or pictorial information regarding construction. So how could they build complex monuments like Stonehenge without a plan? This book argues that the Neolithic builders used rudimentary techniques to plan before building their monuments (circa 4000 – 2500 BC) – essentially, using ropes to set out the physical design of any structure they intended to build, whilst finger reckoning numeracy dictated how their measured ropes were folded to position the monument’s features. Finally, they used the sun’s shadow at midday to achieve orientation. To support this premise, the book offers both the results of the author’s “rope experiments” and instructions for repeating them. Importantly, this form of experimental archaeology delivers a unique approach for understanding the nature of complex Neolithic architecture. Essentially, the book explains the mental processes involved between design and construction.

Prehistoric Britain from the Air

Prehistoric Britain from the Air
Author: Timothy Darvill
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Total Pages: 320
Release: 1996-07-04
Genre: History
ISBN: 9780521551328

This book provides a bird's eye look at the monumental achievements of Britain's earliest inhabitants. Arranged thematically, it illustrates and describes a wide selection of archaeological sites and landscapes dating from between 500,000 years ago and the Roman conquest. Timothy Darvill brings to life many of the familiar sites and monuments that prehistoric communities built, and exposes to view many thousands of sites that simply cannot be seen at ground level. Throughout the book, he makes a unique application of social archaeology to the field of aerial photography.

The Oxford Handbook of the Archaeology of Death and Burial

The Oxford Handbook of the Archaeology of Death and Burial
Author: Sarah Tarlow
Publisher: OUP Oxford
Total Pages: 921
Release: 2013-06-06
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 0191650390

The Oxford Handbook of the Archaeology of Death and Burial reviews the current state of mortuary archaeology and its practice, highlighting its often contentious place in the modern socio-politics of archaeology. It contains forty-four chapters which focus on the history of the discipline and its current scientific techniques and methods. Written by leading, international scholars in the field, it derives its examples and case studies from a wide range of time periods, such as the middle palaeolithic to the twentieth century, and geographical areas which include Europe, North and South America, Africa, and Asia. Combining up-to-date knowledge of relevant archaeological research with critical assessments of the theme and an evaluation of future research trajectories, it draws attention to the social, symbolic, and theoretical aspects of interpreting mortuary archaeology. The volume is well-illustrated with maps, plans, photographs, and illustrations and is ideally suited for students and researchers.

Time and Stone: The Emergence and Development of Megaliths and Megalithic Societies in Europe

Time and Stone: The Emergence and Development of Megaliths and Megalithic Societies in Europe
Author: Bettina Schulz Paulsson
Publisher: Archaeopress Publishing Ltd
Total Pages: 392
Release: 2017-09-15
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 1784916862

This analysis is concerned with the dating of megaliths in Europe and is based on 2410 available radiocarbon results and the application of a Bayesian statistical framework. It is, so far, the largest existing attempt to establish a supra-regional synthesis on the emergence and development of megaliths in Europe.