Prehistoric Britain

by Pollard, Joshua

• ISBN13: 9781405125468
• ISBN10: 1405125462
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2008-06-23
• Publisher: Wiley-Blackwell

Summary

The momentum provided by ongoing fieldwork and innovative archaeological interpretation is pushing British prehistory to the forefront of contemporary archaeological research. Prehistoric Britain taps into and incorporates the very latest archaeological findings to provide a fascinating overview of the development of human societies in Britain from the Upper Paleolithic to the end of the Iron Age. Breaking free of the constraints of traditional, period-based narratives, Prehistoric Britain offers readers an incisive synthesis and much-needed overview of current research themes. The book presents a series of essays from leading scholars and professionals who address the very latest trends in current research. Drawing upon original, innovative fieldwork and in-depth analysis, Prehistoric Britain provides a thorough examination of the issues central to the study of British prehistory.

Author Biography

Joshua Pollard is Senior Lecturer in Archaeology at the University of Bristol. Since 1999, he has been actively engaged in fieldwork on the late Neolithic monument complexes at Avebury and Stonehenge in southern England. Dr Pollard is the UK editor of the Journal of Social Archaeology and has published several books, including Avebury (with Mark Gillings, 2004), and Monuments and Material Culture (editor, with Rosamund Cleal, 2004).

Table of Contents

List of Figures	p. vii
List of Tables	p. x
Notes on Contributors	p. xi
Acknowledgements	p. xv
The Construction of Prehistoric Britain	p. 1
The British Upper Palaeolithic	p. 18
The Mesolithic-Neolithic Transition in Britain	p. 58
Foodways and Social Ecologies from the Early Mesolithic to the Early Bronze Age	p. 90
Temporary Spaces in the Mesolithic and Neolithic: Understanding Landscapes	p. 121
The Architecture of Monuments	p. 135
Lithic Technology and the Chaine Operatoire	p. 160
How the Dead Live: Mortuary Practices, Memory and the Ancestors in Neolithic and Early Bronze Age Britain and Ireland	p. 177
The Development of an Agricultural Countryside	p. 202
Foodways and Social Ecologies from the Middle Bronze Age to Late Iron Age	p. 225
The Architecture of Routine Life	p. 248
Later Prehistoric Landscapes and Inhabitation	p. 268
Ceramic Technologies and Social Relations	p. 288
Exchange, Object Biographies and the Shaping of Identities, 10,000-1000 B.C.	p. 310
Identity, Community and the Person in Later Prehistory	p. 330
Index	p. 351
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