Prehistoric Landscapes

Between 1998 and 2000 three seasons of archaeological fieldwork were carried out by Cornwall Archaeological Unit within the Imerys Stannon China Clay Works, Bodmin Moor. The first two seasons involved the excavation of an Early Bronze Age cairn group and Middle Bronze Age and Middle Iron Age settlement activity. The third season on the Northern Downs involved the evaluation a number of cairns, field systems and palaeoenvironmental sites.
The cairn group consisted of three earlier Bronze Age ring-cairns and two ‘tailed’ cairns. One ring-cairn, Site 9, continued to be used as a ceremonial monument in the Middle Bronze Age and was reused during the Iron Age as a dwelling. An artefact assemblage including Bronze and Iron Age pottery and stonework was recovered. Two prehistoric beads one of faience, the other of amber, were also found.
Ten Bronze Age radiocarbon determinations ranging between 2490 BC and 1120 BC and two Iron Age determinations ranging between 370 and 40 BC were obtained from three of the cairns. Two pollen columns on the Northern Downs were also dated. Significantly, a series of eight determinations were obtained from a single column, which provided environmental information from the Mesolithic through to the early medieval period. The radiocarbon dating showed that impact on the vegetation of the Down commenced during the Neolithic, with larger-scale clearance during the Bronze Age. Widespread open grassland was established by the Middle Bronze Age.
It is suggested here that use of space within the cairn group was structured and that the cairns formed a monument complex which was part of a wider landscape cosmology, involving groupings of particular monument types and the referencing of rocky outcrops and tors.

The investigations on Stannon Down were important as an opportunity to study an Early Bronze Age ceremonial landscape and reconsider how later Middle Bronze Age and Iron Age peoples on Bodmin Moor might have engaged with and interpreted the materiality of earlier prehistoric monuments.

The purpose of this study is to provide some interpretation and synthesis for Cornwall's regional archaeology. Contents: Introduction and Background - structure and methodology, barrow studies, 18th, 19th, 20th and recent research and models; The Later Neolithic Background and the role of Beakers in Cornwall - comparative studies, ceremonial sites and ritual traditions; The Evidence from the Barrows - dating, the Watch Hill Barrow and Needham's chronology; Barrow Cemeteries and their Landscape; The Role of Bronze Age Barrow Cemeteries in Cornwall - 4 case studies; Devon; Cornish Ceremonial Landscapes - New Interpretations. Appendices include lists of terminology and excavated barrows.

Resumen: En este artículo presentamos los datos sobre la ocupación de la Prehistoria reciente en el entorno del yacimiento de La Calzadilla (Almenara de Adaja-Puras, Valladolid) y una interpretación de la relación entre las distintas etapas y los condicionantes del paisaje de esta zona de las campiñas arenosas del sur del Duero.
Palabras clave: poblamiento prehistórico, paisaje, dependencia hídrica.
Abstract: In this paper we present the fndings about late Prehistory near the site of La Calzadilla (Almenara de Adaja-Puras, Valladolid) and an interpretation of the relationship between the diferent periods and the infuence of landscape in the sandy countryside south of river Duero.
Key words: prehistoric settlement, landscape, water dependence

Uz geografski prikaz i opis značenja Velikog Rujna za gospodarstvo priobalnog stanovništva južnog Velebita, autorica izvještava o rezultatima arheoloških istraživanja koja su provedena između 1986. i 1988. godine na Gradini, usred rujanskog polja. Na Gradini je u osam arheoloških sonda potvrđeno već ranije pretpostavljano prethistorijsko naselje, nastanjeno kroz brončano doba, kada je ovuda prolazio važan karavanski put. Veliko Rujno je i kasnije ostalo stjecištem pastirskih i trgovačkih putova, posebno obilježeno hodočasničkom crkvom Gospe od Rujna. U posljednjim je desetljećima, zahvaljujući zalaganjima Gradskog muzeja u Senju, porastao interes širokoga kruga stručnjaka raznih znanstvenih grana za sistematska istraživanja područja Velebita, impozantnoga gorskog masiva priobalja sjevernog Jadrana na koji su se ranije osvrtali tek pojedinci entuzijasti i istraživači, a ponajviše oni s planinarskim sklonostima. Timski istraživački rad 1 U rasponu od 1983. do 1989. godine prof. Ante Glavičić je u ime Gradskog muzeja Senj organizirao svake godine interdisciplinarne stručne ekipe za istraživanje Velebita. Autorica ovoga rada sudjelovala je s ekipama studenata arheologije i arhitekture na istraživanjima graditeljske baštine te na arheološkoj problematici iz sredstava znanstvenog projekta financiranog od Ministarstva znanosti, a preko Arheološkog instituta Sveučilišta u Zagrebu. U istraživanjima na Rujnu sudjelovala je i prof Mira Trošelj iz Zagreba.

"Summary
This dissertation examines the settlement patterns of the early Iron Age through analysis of the
structure of single settlements as well as the dynamics of the overall settlement pattern in Western
Jutland in general.
The major part of the work presented here is focused on seven settlements from Pre-Roman and
early Roman Iron Age, including the well-known
Hodde village. Viewed separately, these seven settlements and their development differ slightly in detail. But on a coarse scale they all follow the same pattern of development. At the threshold of the late Pre-Roman Iron Age, the scattered farms nucleate
into more densely settled entities, villages, hamlets
or farm clusters. With the nucleation in farm-clusters the settlement pattern at the same time stabilises considerably.
The farmsteads are often rebuilt more than once
within the same plot, and the houses are in the late
Pre-Roman and early Roman Iron Age built to last.
In most settlements, the largest farmstead is also
the most permanent and the most elaborated, built
with surrounding fences, stone-clad paths and stone-paved byre. These large farmsteads are situated prominently on high ground and at one end of the open common space within the farm-cluster. The largest farm is also the one placed next to the small
burial grounds and in more than one case, the two
largest farms of a settlement are situated in opposition, mirroring each other across the open space. All in all, the layout of the small farm clusters allows an interpretation of the interrelations between
different farmsteads and the structure of the local
community.
In the surroundings of modern day Oksbøl, several farm clusters, differing in size but all with long settlement continuity, have been discovered within a small geographic area. The vast concentration
of smaller settlements with as little as 250 meters between contemporary farm clusters shows that the settlements are elements of a larger nucleation of closely connected settlements situated within a specific resource area. This settlement density and the continuity of the small farm clusters must be viewed in relation to their access to the marshlands as an important grazing resource. The resources are abundant enough for these small societies to remain stable throughout late Pre-Roman and early
Roman Iron Age. In a long-term perspective, the overall settlement dynamics are evident on a both local and regional level. Point pattern analysis of finds distributions in a large area shows several major shifts in the landscape usage. During the Pre-Roman Iron
Age settlements move towards the coastal areas and throughout the early Iron Age, settlements contract towards the areas offering the best resources. Towards the late Roman Iron Age, settlements move inland leaving most of the coastal settlements
primarily investigated in this study, while inland areas with abundant resources for large scale iron production now become densely settled.

The two major shifts in landscape usage in the mid Pre-Roman Iron Age and at the beginning of the Late Roman Iron Age coincide with other fundamental changes such as farmstead organisation,
material culture and, to a certain extent, agricultural production. ""

A conference session for ‘The Mesolithic in Europe Conference’, MESO 2015, in Belgrade, Serbia, 14th-18th September 2015 has been proposed. The proposed session has been accepted by the Scientific Committee in March 2015. A total of 8 speakers from UK, Belgium, Norway and USA will discuss the technological, chronological and environmental aspects that help define the Middle Mesolithic across Europe.