| Abstract: |
Landscape-based study, bringing together a range of information for a specific homogenous region (comprising Cheshire Northern Staffordshire and Shropshire) during the Bronze Age. The study takes a thematic approach, first listing previous research and models for the Bronze Age in the chosen area, a low-lying landscape formed after a period of glaciation and retreat, as well as giving a background to the Bronze Age in general. The soils of the region in question are heavy and damp, and the author makes it clear that the different soil types of the study area play an important role in the archaeological interpretation of various sites. He divides these soils into five main types: brown soils, surface water gleys, ground water gleys, podzols and peats. The study looks at a number of different aspects of the region, including burials, lithic remains, settlement evidence (especially in relation to the surrounding environment), metalwork and metal production. One of the main conclusions the author makes is that the data given by the soil analyses carried out shows that those soil types present during the Bronze Age were very different from those present prior to forest clearance, and that this shows that farming did indeed play an important role during this period, but that there is an accompanying lack of the major settlement evidence that this would suggest. The author explains this, and the lack of any large field systems on a mobile way of life, linking with it patterns of trade that had already been set in the Neolithic period, and many of the decorative and new items appearing in this period are attributed to this purpose. Although settlement was not widespread, the author states that burials are significantly linked to specific places, and that their spatial positioning is of importance, as is the link between the placing of metalwork in relation to burials. Concerning the nature of hilltop enclosures, the author believes that these were the hubs of Late Bronze Age social networks, and cites the movement of pottery in this area as a good indicator of this pattern. He states that it is probable that these sites were for specialist purposes only, and were thus located away from the regular and more obvious lowland sites, again stressing the importance of mobility in Bronze Age society in the period in question. He argues that the lack of evidence of lowland settlement during this period is an area which requires more study. |
