Abstract: |
Discussing the possibilities of assessing population figures from the known settlement pattern, Barry Cunliffe (pp 3-24) takes evidence from excavated hillforts and from the intensively researched parish of Chalton to arrive at a maximum population of Iron Age/Roman Britain which could even exceed that of pre-Black Death Britain. Various possible growth curves are discussed and three phases of major socioeconomic change defined. Warwick Rodwell (25-41) discusses six groups of square and rectangular buildings, both small and large, earthfast and earthfree, occurring frequently in SE England (and including Pilsdon Pen in Dorset). Such buildings can lie alongside circular structures, although the latter die out with the emergence of the Belgic dynasties. Paul Drury (43-76) discusses the continuously developing settlement of Little Waltham, analysing house plans and their reconstructions; the change from open to closed settlement, and other developments, may reflect social upheavals. A preliminary synthesis for Essex suggests four main Iron Age phases from 8th century BC to the arrival of 'Belgic' pottery and rectangular houses (see also 79/6339). Possible links between the Northamptonshire late medieval landscape and its Iron Age predecessor are explored by Frances Brown & Chris Taylor (77-89), who conclude that in both periods, although settlements were quite mobile, and land use did change, this happened within a framework of stable land units. Christopher Smith on the Trent gravels (91-101) deduces a relatively even scatter of mainly enclosed homesteads surrounded by hedged and ditched fields, with trackways connecting settlements and leading to open grazing and woodland. Stock raising was the main activity but arable cultivation satisfied domestic and animal needs, and a rich natural environment lent variety to the diet (see also 79/6347). In the Upper Thames valley George Lambrick (103-19) synthesizes recent work on selected settlements, demonstrating a wide variety of settlement type and comple styles of mixed farming. Turning to the Continental mainland, J A Brongers (121-2) summarizes investigations on the Emmen-Odoorn region in the Iron Age. New results of research in the Frisian-Roman contact zone are given by Peter Schmid (123-45): Bentumersiel was a mixed farming settlement ?connected with army supply; Feddersen-Wierde is a terp in the marshland, containing eight stratified villages; and Flögeln, on the sandy deposits, had farmsteads grouped into units of 'Vielbetriebsgehöfte'. More details on Flögeln are provided by W H Zimmermann (147-65) with the help of air photographic studies, phosphate analysis, plotting of Celtic fields (the banks also cultivated), pedology, quantitles of cattle footprints, haymaking tools and ard shares, quern manufacture, precision of house measurements etc. B Stjernquist (167-85) concludes the volume by presenting a dynamic model drawn up as a research aid in the study of Swedish Iron Age continuity and change in settlements like Gardlösa. The model takes account of all the activities of a social system and their interrelationships. |