Professor Ian Armit is an archaeologist based at the University of York. He is an authority on the European Iron Age and the archaeology of conflict and violence. He is the author/editor of several books including most recently Cultural Encounters in Iron Age Europe (Archaeolingua 2016) An Inherited Place: Broxmouth Hillfort and the South-East Scottish Iron Age (Society of Antiquaries of Scotland), Headhunting and the Body in Iron Age Europe (Cambridge University Press 2012), Anatomy of an Iron Age Roundhouse (Society of Antiquaries of Scotland 2006), Scotland’s Hidden History (Tempus 2006, 2nd edn.), and Celtic Scotland (Birlinn 2016, 3rd edn.). He has also published more than eighty academic articles and has been an invited speaker in more than twenty-five countries. He has conducted fieldwork on sites and landscapes in the UK, Ireland, France and Sicily, and is currently leading a HERA/European Commission-funded international collaborative project, Encounters and Transformations in Iron Age Europe (ENTRANS) with colleagues in Slovenia and Croatia.
Darkness Visible: The Sculptor's Cave, Covesea, from the Bronze Age to the Picts, 2020
The Sculptor’s Cave takes its name from Pictish symbols carved around its distinctive twin entran... more The Sculptor’s Cave takes its name from Pictish symbols carved around its distinctive twin entrance passages. The first excavations, in the 1920s, yielded disarticulated human bones alongside rich objects from the Late Bronze Age and Roman Iron Age, but the methods of the time precluded any real understanding of activity inside the cave. Renewed excavations in the 1970s revealed complex stratigraphic and palaeoenvironmental data, but the work remained unpublished. New analysis, including a major programme of radiocarbon dating, shows that activity began during the Late Bronze Age, when the bodies of children were brought to the cave, seemingly as mummy bundles adorned with gold and bronze jewellery. Complex timber structures, hearths and cooking debris attest to sustained activity until the Roman Iron Age, when people once again came to lay out their dead. At some point in the third or fourth centuries AD, the cave also became the imposing ritual backdrop for the systematic beheading of several people. Finally, with the creation of the carvings, the cave passed into myth and memory.
Cultural encounters form a dominant theme in the study of Iron Age Europe. This was particularly ... more Cultural encounters form a dominant theme in the study of Iron Age Europe. This was particularly acute in regions where urbanising Mediterranean civilisations came into contact with ‘barbarian’ worlds. This volume presents preliminary work from the ENTRANS Project, which explores the nature and impact of such encounters in south-east Europe, alongside a series of papers on analogous European regions. A range of theoretical perspectives and methodological approaches are offered in an effort to promote dialogue around these central issues in European protohistory.
NoWe take a look at the revolutionary findings from the largest investigation of an Iron Age hill... more NoWe take a look at the revolutionary findings from the largest investigation of an Iron Age hillfort ever undertaken in Scotland, which shed new light on life on the edge of the Roman Empire
Cussans, J.E.M., Cross, P.J., Hosking, K., Mckenzie, J., Russ, H., Salvagno, L., and Wooding, J. ... more Cussans, J.E.M., Cross, P.J., Hosking, K., Mckenzie, J., Russ, H., Salvagno, L., and Wooding, J. (2013) “Reconstructing Economy and Subsistence at Broxmouth, Animal Bone.” Armit I., McKenzie J., and Hill P. (eds.) An Inherited Place: Broxmouth Hillfort and the South-East Scottish Iron Age, pp. 433-478. Edinburgh: Society of Antiquaries of Scotland. The excavations at Broxmouth produced considerable evidence for the subsistence strategies practised by its Iron Age inhabitants, as well as providing insights into wider patterns of landscape organisation. One of the principal reasons for excavation on such a scale, and at such a cost, was the likely quality of animal bone preservation in this unusual lowland limestone area. The excavations certainly did not disappoint in this regard, producing by far the largest and most important Iron Age faunal assemblage in the region; an assemblage only paralleled in northern Britain by the rich faunal assemblages of Atlantic Scotland. ...Horse bones were present throughout the assemblage, and were most numerous in Phases 3 and 6. Percentage representation is best in Phase 6, where they make up c 6% of the identified domestic mammal assemblage....
Recent analysis of the ceramic assemblage from the Neolithic loch islet settlement of Eilean Dòmh... more Recent analysis of the ceramic assemblage from the Neolithic loch islet settlement of Eilean Dòmhnuill, North Uist, in the Western Isles of Scotland has highlighted the intense conservatism of the potting traditions over a period of more than 800 years. Hebridean Neolithic pottery exhibits clear relationships with pottery from Argyll, Arran, and Bute, as well as Orkney and the north-east mainland of Scotland. It appears to have developed a distinctive, often decoratively elaborate regional form very soon after its initial appearance, which subsequently appears to have undergone little or no significant change until the introduction of Grooved Ware in the early 3rd millenniumbc. An association exists between large assemblages of elaborately decorated Hebridean pottery and a number of artificial islets in freshwater lochs, some very small and producing little or no evidence for domestic activities. This might be explained by the importance of commensality in mediating relations betwee...
This report describes the results of excavations undertaken within the burial chamber and entranc... more This report describes the results of excavations undertaken within the burial chamber and entrance area of the chambered cairn at Geirisclett, North Uist, Western Isles in 1996–7. The chamber of this cairn had been investigated by Erskine Beveridge in the early years of the 20th century, and the work described here was conducted because of the threat of tidal scouring of any remains which had survived previous attention. The excavation revealed evidence of disturbed Neolithic and Beaker funerary deposits within the two compartments of the chamber, which on architectural grounds falls into Henshall’s Clyde group. The burial chamber appears to have been used over the same time period both by humans as a burial place and by otters as a holt. The application of palaeoenvironmental studies has allowed the formation processes of the deposits and artefacts in the chamber to be understood, permitting the character of the burial rites to be better appreciated. The past and present landscape ...
Darkness Visible: The Sculptor's Cave, Covesea, from the Bronze Age to the Picts, 2020
The Sculptor’s Cave takes its name from Pictish symbols carved around its distinctive twin entran... more The Sculptor’s Cave takes its name from Pictish symbols carved around its distinctive twin entrance passages. The first excavations, in the 1920s, yielded disarticulated human bones alongside rich objects from the Late Bronze Age and Roman Iron Age, but the methods of the time precluded any real understanding of activity inside the cave. Renewed excavations in the 1970s revealed complex stratigraphic and palaeoenvironmental data, but the work remained unpublished. New analysis, including a major programme of radiocarbon dating, shows that activity began during the Late Bronze Age, when the bodies of children were brought to the cave, seemingly as mummy bundles adorned with gold and bronze jewellery. Complex timber structures, hearths and cooking debris attest to sustained activity until the Roman Iron Age, when people once again came to lay out their dead. At some point in the third or fourth centuries AD, the cave also became the imposing ritual backdrop for the systematic beheading of several people. Finally, with the creation of the carvings, the cave passed into myth and memory.
Cultural encounters form a dominant theme in the study of Iron Age Europe. This was particularly ... more Cultural encounters form a dominant theme in the study of Iron Age Europe. This was particularly acute in regions where urbanising Mediterranean civilisations came into contact with ‘barbarian’ worlds. This volume presents preliminary work from the ENTRANS Project, which explores the nature and impact of such encounters in south-east Europe, alongside a series of papers on analogous European regions. A range of theoretical perspectives and methodological approaches are offered in an effort to promote dialogue around these central issues in European protohistory.
NoWe take a look at the revolutionary findings from the largest investigation of an Iron Age hill... more NoWe take a look at the revolutionary findings from the largest investigation of an Iron Age hillfort ever undertaken in Scotland, which shed new light on life on the edge of the Roman Empire
Cussans, J.E.M., Cross, P.J., Hosking, K., Mckenzie, J., Russ, H., Salvagno, L., and Wooding, J. ... more Cussans, J.E.M., Cross, P.J., Hosking, K., Mckenzie, J., Russ, H., Salvagno, L., and Wooding, J. (2013) “Reconstructing Economy and Subsistence at Broxmouth, Animal Bone.” Armit I., McKenzie J., and Hill P. (eds.) An Inherited Place: Broxmouth Hillfort and the South-East Scottish Iron Age, pp. 433-478. Edinburgh: Society of Antiquaries of Scotland. The excavations at Broxmouth produced considerable evidence for the subsistence strategies practised by its Iron Age inhabitants, as well as providing insights into wider patterns of landscape organisation. One of the principal reasons for excavation on such a scale, and at such a cost, was the likely quality of animal bone preservation in this unusual lowland limestone area. The excavations certainly did not disappoint in this regard, producing by far the largest and most important Iron Age faunal assemblage in the region; an assemblage only paralleled in northern Britain by the rich faunal assemblages of Atlantic Scotland. ...Horse bones were present throughout the assemblage, and were most numerous in Phases 3 and 6. Percentage representation is best in Phase 6, where they make up c 6% of the identified domestic mammal assemblage....
Recent analysis of the ceramic assemblage from the Neolithic loch islet settlement of Eilean Dòmh... more Recent analysis of the ceramic assemblage from the Neolithic loch islet settlement of Eilean Dòmhnuill, North Uist, in the Western Isles of Scotland has highlighted the intense conservatism of the potting traditions over a period of more than 800 years. Hebridean Neolithic pottery exhibits clear relationships with pottery from Argyll, Arran, and Bute, as well as Orkney and the north-east mainland of Scotland. It appears to have developed a distinctive, often decoratively elaborate regional form very soon after its initial appearance, which subsequently appears to have undergone little or no significant change until the introduction of Grooved Ware in the early 3rd millenniumbc. An association exists between large assemblages of elaborately decorated Hebridean pottery and a number of artificial islets in freshwater lochs, some very small and producing little or no evidence for domestic activities. This might be explained by the importance of commensality in mediating relations betwee...
This report describes the results of excavations undertaken within the burial chamber and entranc... more This report describes the results of excavations undertaken within the burial chamber and entrance area of the chambered cairn at Geirisclett, North Uist, Western Isles in 1996–7. The chamber of this cairn had been investigated by Erskine Beveridge in the early years of the 20th century, and the work described here was conducted because of the threat of tidal scouring of any remains which had survived previous attention. The excavation revealed evidence of disturbed Neolithic and Beaker funerary deposits within the two compartments of the chamber, which on architectural grounds falls into Henshall’s Clyde group. The burial chamber appears to have been used over the same time period both by humans as a burial place and by otters as a holt. The application of palaeoenvironmental studies has allowed the formation processes of the deposits and artefacts in the chamber to be understood, permitting the character of the burial rites to be better appreciated. The past and present landscape ...
A multiproxy (pollen, microcharcoal, loss-on-ignition, magnetic susceptibility and geochemistry) ... more A multiproxy (pollen, microcharcoal, loss-on-ignition, magnetic susceptibility and geochemistry) sequence from Lough Cullin, southeast Ireland, supported by a high-resolution radiocarbon chronology, modelled using Bayesian approaches, provides a record of environmental change for much of the Holocene. Following the establishment of mixed deciduous woodland, climatic deterioration was likely responsible for pronounced vegetation change and erosion, 7615–6500 cal. BC to 6245–5575 cal. BC, evidence for the ‘8.2 Kyr’ BP climate event. The so-called ‘elm decline’ is dated to 4220–3980 cal. BC and whilst there are possible indications of an anthropogenic cause, clear evidence of woodland clearance with cereal pollen is recorded at 3900–3700 cal. BC, 3790–3580 cal. BC and 3760–3650 cal. BC, during a period of clearance and farming of 320–450 years duration. A reduction in farming/settlement and woodland regeneration during the Middle Neolithic parallels the archaeological record, with low ...
Present-day people from England and Wales harbour more ancestry derived from Early European Farme... more Present-day people from England and Wales harbour more ancestry derived from Early European Farmers (EEF) than people of the Early Bronze Age1. To understand this, we generated genome-wide data from 793 individuals, increasing data from the Middle to Late Bronze and Iron Age in Britain by 12-fold, and Western and Central Europe by 3.5-fold. Between 1000 and 875 BC, EEF ancestry increased in southern Britain (England and Wales) but not northern Britain (Scotland) due to incorporation of migrants who arrived at this time and over previous centuries, and who were genetically most similar to ancient individuals from France. These migrants contributed about half the ancestry of Iron Age people of England and Wales, thereby creating a plausible vector for the spread of early Celtic languages into Britain. These patterns are part of a broader trend of EEF ancestry becoming more similar across central and western Europe in the Middle to Late Bronze Age, coincident with archaeological evidence of intensified cultural exchange2-6. There was comparatively less gene flow from continental Europe during the Iron Age, and Britain's independent genetic trajectory is also reflected in the rise of the allele conferring lactase persistence to ~50% by this time compared to ~7% in central Europe where it rose rapidly in frequency only a millennium later. This suggests that dairy products were used in qualitatively different ways in Britain and in central Europe over this period.
The promontory site of Eilean Olabhat, North Uist was excavated between 1986 and 1990 as part oft... more The promontory site of Eilean Olabhat, North Uist was excavated between 1986 and 1990 as part ofthe Loch Olabhat Research Project. It was shown to be a complex enclosed settlement and industrialsite with several distinct episodes of occupation. The earliest remains comprise a small Iron Agebuilding dating to the middle centuries of the first millennium BC, which was modified on severaloccasions prior to its abandonment. Much later, the Early Historic remains comprise a smallcellular building, latterly used as a small workshop within which fine bronze and silverwork wasproduced in the fifth to seventh centuries AD. Evidence of this activity is represented by quantitiesof mould and crucible fragments as well as tuyere and other industrial waste products. The sitesubsequently fell into decay for a second time prior to its medieval reoccupation probably in the14th to 16th centuries AD. Eilean Olabhat has produced a well-stratified, though discontinuous, structural and artefactualsequenc...
NoThe aim of this session was to explore the nature and impact of cultural encounters in Iron Age... more NoThe aim of this session was to explore the nature and impact of cultural encounters in Iron Age Europe. In particular, our focus was on those regions occupying the boundaries between the urbanising centres of Mediterranean Europe and the ‘barbarian’ societies to the north. The session drew on a core of papers from the current ENTRANS Project, funded by HERA and the European Commission, which is examining Iron Age cultural encounters in the East Alpine region from the perspectives of art, landscape and the body: these presentations outlined some of the new approaches and techniques being applied by the ENTRANS Project team, and discussed preliminary results
Recent aDNA analyses demonstrate that the centuries surrounding the arrival of the Beaker Complex... more Recent aDNA analyses demonstrate that the centuries surrounding the arrival of the Beaker Complex in Britain witnessed a massive turnover in the genetic make-up of the island's population. The genetic data provide information both on the individuals sampled and the ancestral populations from which they derive. Here, the authors consider the archaeological implications of this genetic turnover and propose two hypotheses—Beaker Colonisation and Steppe Drift—reflecting critical differences in conceptualisations of the relationship between objects and genes. These hypotheses establish key directions for future research designed to investigate the underlying social processes involved and raise questions for wider interpretations of population change detected through aDNA analysis.
A multiproxy (pollen, microcharcoal, loss-on-ignition, magnetic susceptibility and geochemistry) ... more A multiproxy (pollen, microcharcoal, loss-on-ignition, magnetic susceptibility and geochemistry) sequence from Lough Cullin, southeast Ireland, supported by a high-resolution radiocarbon chronology, modelled using Bayesian approaches, provides a record of environmental change for much of the Holocene. Following the establishment of mixed deciduous woodland, climatic deterioration was likely responsible for pronounced vegetation change and erosion, 7615–6500 cal. BC to 6245–5575 cal. BC, evidence for the ‘8.2 Kyr’ BP climate event. The so-called ‘elm decline’ is dated to 4220–3980 cal. BC and whilst there are possible indications of an anthropogenic cause, clear evidence of woodland clearance with cereal pollen is recorded at 3900–3700 cal. BC, 3790–3580 cal. BC and 3760–3650 cal. BC, during a period of clearance and farming of 320–450 years duration. A reduction in farming/settlement and woodland regeneration during the Middle Neolithic parallels the archaeological record, with low ...
Present-day people from England and Wales harbour more ancestry derived from Early European Farme... more Present-day people from England and Wales harbour more ancestry derived from Early European Farmers (EEF) than people of the Early Bronze Age1. To understand this, we generated genome-wide data from 793 individuals, increasing data from the Middle to Late Bronze and Iron Age in Britain by 12-fold, and Western and Central Europe by 3.5-fold. Between 1000 and 875 BC, EEF ancestry increased in southern Britain (England and Wales) but not northern Britain (Scotland) due to incorporation of migrants who arrived at this time and over previous centuries, and who were genetically most similar to ancient individuals from France. These migrants contributed about half the ancestry of Iron Age people of England and Wales, thereby creating a plausible vector for the spread of early Celtic languages into Britain. These patterns are part of a broader trend of EEF ancestry becoming more similar across central and western Europe in the Middle to Late Bronze Age, coincident with archaeological evidence of intensified cultural exchange2-6. There was comparatively less gene flow from continental Europe during the Iron Age, and Britain's independent genetic trajectory is also reflected in the rise of the allele conferring lactase persistence to ~50% by this time compared to ~7% in central Europe where it rose rapidly in frequency only a millennium later. This suggests that dairy products were used in qualitatively different ways in Britain and in central Europe over this period.
The occurrence of human remains in Iron Age domestic contexts in southern England is well-atteste... more The occurrence of human remains in Iron Age domestic contexts in southern England is well-attested and has been the subject of considerable recent debate. Less well known are the human remains from settlement contexts in other parts of Iron Age Britain. In Atlantic Scotland, human bodies and body parts are found consistently, if in small numbers, in Atlantic roundhouses, wheelhouses, and other settlement forms. Yet these have remained unsynthesised and individual assemblages have tended to be interpreted on a site-specific basis, if at all. Examination of the material as a corpus suggests a complex and evolving set of attitudes to the human body, its display, curation, and disposal, and it is improbable that any single interpretation (such as excarnation, retention of wa r trophies, or display of ancestral relics) will be sufficient. Although the specific practices remain diverse and essentially local, certain concerns appear common to wider areas, and some, for instance the special...
Publikationsansicht. 56049320. Inside Kurtz's compound: headhunting and the human body in pre... more Publikationsansicht. 56049320. Inside Kurtz's compound: headhunting and the human body in prehistoric Europe (2006). Armit, Ian. Abstract. No. Not available. Details der Publikation. Download, http://hdl.handle.net/10454/4166. Archiv, NDLTD Union Catalog (United States). ...
The discovery of the extraordinary Hirschlanden figure was reported in this journal in 1964. Sinc... more The discovery of the extraordinary Hirschlanden figure was reported in this journal in 1964. Since then the statue has featured in numerous discussions of Iron Age art and society, to the extent that it has become one of the iconic images of the European Iron Age. It has become almost taken for granted that the Hirschlanden figure is an ‘intensely masculine’ warrior statue representing the heroised dead. However, certain aspects of the figure suggest a rather deeper, more ambiguous symbolism. The authors use their up-to-date critique to raise questions about the eclectic character of Iron Age spirituality.
Later prehistoric Europe has traditionally been studied in relation to a series of boundaries. Th... more Later prehistoric Europe has traditionally been studied in relation to a series of boundaries. These include the bounded chronological horizons which divide Late Bronze Age and Early Iron Age communities; geographical boundaries created through the development of separate national traditions of archaeological research; boundaries between perceived ethnic groups such as the Celts, Iberians, Veneti, Illyrians etc; and disciplinary divisions which separate ‘humanities’ from ‘scientific’ approaches. In recent years however this picture has begun to change. New research agendas seek to break down chronological horizons, with particular attention paid to transitional periods; more nuanced understandings of cultural identity are promoting cross-border collaboration, with a focus on zones of interaction between communities traditionally viewed as monolithic and bounded; interdisciplinary research frameworks are demonstrating the benefits of integrating scientific with more traditional approaches; and increasingly collaborative projects are fostering relationships and knowledge exchange on an international scale.
This session will draw on a number of papers from the ENTRANS Project (2014-16); a HERA-funded collaborative project between the Universities of Bradford (UK), Ljubljana (SLO) and Zagreb (CRO), which explores cultural identities and encounters across the Late Bronze Age and Iron Age transition in the East Alpine region- a zone of interaction and encounters between Mediterranean societies and their traditionally perceived ‘barbarian’ neighbours. We also invite papers which seek to break down chronological, geographical or disciplinary boundaries within other parts of later prehistoric Europe (broadly, the Bronze and Iron Ages).
Cross-culturally, naturally occurring hilltops, terraces, and other prominent locations have been... more Cross-culturally, naturally occurring hilltops, terraces, and other prominent locations have been the focus for long-lived and/or recurrent human activity. These places have frequently been enclosed with ditches, ramparts and palisades, creating culturally-prescribed arenas for human action. The practice of enclosure frequently forms just one element in the complex biographies of such places and is not always necessarily related to defence. At various points in their biographies, such places might be social and/or political centres, elite residences, centres of exchange, liminal zones where communication could be made with the gods, spirits or ancestors, funerary sites, or places of refuge. Despite the potential interpretive gains to be derived from cross-cultural analysis of the biographies of enclosed places, attempts to critically compare sites in different temporal and geographical contexts have been generally lacking. This session will address this lacuna, drawing on research from several parts of the world. Papers will focus on biographical approaches, the agency of natural places, and the role of enclosure in materialising social memory and identity.
"Over the last 3 years the University of Bradford have assessed legacy data generated from 10 yea... more "Over the last 3 years the University of Bradford have assessed legacy data generated from 10 years of archaeological geophysical surveys on Irish road corridors on behalf of the National Roads Authority (NRA). These extensive surveys were used by the NRA over the past decade to prospect for previously unknown archaeological sites and to investigate known or suspected sites on 70 new roads across Ireland, covering more than 1,700 hectares of survey. The surveys were carried out by a number of geophysical consultancies from the UK as well as Ireland and Germany, resulting in more than 170 individual reports available for analysis.
A key objective of the NRA is to ensure that the vast quantity of archaeological information generated by road scheme activity feeds back, not only into the decision-making and project-planning process, but also that this knowledge is disseminated and is transparently accountable to the Irish public, who have funded much of the work.
The major outputs of the assessment include a reappraisal of the geophysical data in light of subsequent excavations, a guidance document advising the NRA on the best practices for future geophysical assessments and a publicly accessible database of the geophysical reports (http://www.field2archive.org/nra/), made available by the NRA. The reappraisal of geophysical data has facilitated a technical review of the success or otherwise of detailed magnetometry and scanning surveys across a range of geologies and soils for which quantitative data is now available.
The research has served to place the NRA in a unique position with respect to development and application of new archaeological geophysical investigation technologies and techniques. This has direct benefits for the efficiency and suitability of the NRA's work on road schemes. The assessment of geophysical survey 'success' will lead to a sustainable future for geophysical survey on linear projects in Ireland, while some of the conclusions to the research are likely to have ramifications beyond the Irish road corridors from which the data derives."
Bonsall, J., Gaffney, C., Sparrow, T. and Armit, I. 2013. Multi Depth Electromagnetic Surveys in Ireland: Increasing our Chances of Detecting Archaeological Features. Archaeological Prospection: Proceedings of the 10th International Conference - Vienna, May 29-June 2 2013, May 29, 2013
Program of the EAA- Maastricht session “Constructing social theory for the “different Iron Ages”:... more Program of the EAA- Maastricht session “Constructing social theory for the “different Iron Ages”: critical insights in a comparative perspective” to be held next 2 September 2017.
Archaeomagnetic studies have been employed as a dating technique in the British Isles for the las... more Archaeomagnetic studies have been employed as a dating technique in the British Isles for the last 50 years, using the record of the ancient geomagnetic field recorded by fired archaeological materials. Archaeomagnetic dating can be a powerful chronological tool that dates the last anthropogenic use of an archaeological feature. However, in order to provide a date of last firing, variations in the past geomagnetic field must be established.
The impediment for archaeomagnetic dating of the UK Neolithic has been the lack of data of known date defining the past geomagnetic field. This paper will address this lacuna and present crucial developments in elucidating geomagnetic field variation in Orkney. Extensive sampling of fired material from the Neolithic sites at the Ness of Brodgar, Smerquoy and The Links of Noltland have enabled a compilation of 32 mean stable magnetic directions from over 700 samples. In particular, the internationally significant excavations at the Ness of Brodgar have yielded a large number of stone-built structures which contain formal hearth settings and other burnt deposits. This paper will specifically demonstrate the benefits from analysing multi-layered hearths containing well-stratified burnt deposits. By combining the radiocarbon dating evidence, the artefactual information and the archaeomagnetic study, this research shows the recent developments in defining the geomagnetic field variation. The outcomes of this research will allow archaeomagnetic dating of other archaeological sites in the Scottish Neolithic and will be a valuable contribution to the wider study of the past geomagnetic field.
From an archaeological point of view, "public space" can be understood as a specific location str... more From an archaeological point of view, "public space" can be understood as a specific location structurally and functionally devoted to social interaction, the negotiation of identity and "institutionalized" meetings and performances. Such spaces are quite recent in human history. This session examines different perspectives on the definition, structure and function of public space in later prehistoric Europe. It includes case studies examining the ways in which how public space is organized and understood in different communities and regions, as well as papers explaining transformation of public space within individual communities over time. Particularly important in that sense are the transformations and negotiation of such spaces that occur in transitional periods when Iron Age communities are becoming part of Hellenistic or Roman world.
Bell Beaker pottery spread across western and central Europe beginning around 2750 BCE before dis... more Bell Beaker pottery spread across western and central Europe beginning around 2750 BCE before disappearing between 2200-1800 BCE. The mechanism of its expansion is a topic of long-standing debate, with support for both cultural diffusion and human migration. We present new genome-wide ancient DNA data from 170 Neolithic, Copper Age and Bronze Age Europeans, including 100 Beaker-associated individuals. In contrast to the Corded Ware Complex, which has previously been identified as arriving in central Europe following migration from the east, we observe limited genetic affinity between Iberian and central European Beaker Complex-associated individuals, and thus exclude migration as a significant mechanism of spread between these two regions. However, human migration did have an important role in the further dissemination of the Beaker Complex, which we document most clearly in Britain using data from 80 newly reported individuals dating to 3900-1200 BCE. British Neolithic farmers were genetically similar to contemporary populations in continental Europe and in particular to Neolithic Iberians, suggesting that a portion of the farmer ancestry in Britain came from the Mediterranean rather than the Danubian route of farming expansion. Beginning with the Beaker period, and continuing through the Bronze Age, all British individuals harboured high proportions of Steppe ancestry and were genetically closely related to Beaker-associated individuals from the Lower Rhine area. We use these observations to show that the spread of the Beaker Complex to Britain was mediated by migration from the continent that replaced >90% of Britain's Neolithic gene pool within a few hundred years, continuing the process that brought Steppe ancestry into central and northern Europe 400 years earlier.
Between Worlds: Understanding Ritual Cave Use in Later Prehistory, 2019
Excavations in the 1920s and 1970s at the Sculptor’s Cave, north-east
Scotland, revealed that the... more Excavations in the 1920s and 1970s at the Sculptor’s Cave, north-east Scotland, revealed that the site was used for mortuary rituals during the Late Bronze Age (c. 1100–800 BC) and Roman Iron Age (late first–fourth centuries AD), whilst a series of Pictish symbols carved into its entrance walls suggest that the cave’s importance continued into the Early Medieval period. A new programme of analysis has utilised advanced 3D digital documentation and 3D metrology (specifically, 3D laser scanning) to enable this inaccessible site to be appreciated by wider audiences and analysed remotely. Detailed in situ recording of the Pictish symbols was undertaken using macro-level structured light scanning, and the high-fidelity digital models were subsequently blended with terrestrial laser scan data of the cave interior to show the location and detail of the carvings. This work highlights the value of emerging digital approaches in the analysis, presentation and management of the Sculptor’s Cave, from the elucidation of additional carved details and the monitoring of surface degradation, to the dissemination of this difficult-to-access site to the wider public via online platforms.
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This session will draw on a number of papers from the ENTRANS Project (2014-16); a HERA-funded collaborative project between the Universities of Bradford (UK), Ljubljana (SLO) and Zagreb (CRO), which explores cultural identities and encounters across the Late Bronze Age and Iron Age transition in the East Alpine region- a zone of interaction and encounters between Mediterranean societies and their traditionally perceived ‘barbarian’ neighbours. We also invite papers which seek to break down chronological, geographical or disciplinary boundaries within other parts of later prehistoric Europe (broadly, the Bronze and Iron Ages).
A key objective of the NRA is to ensure that the vast quantity of archaeological information generated by road scheme activity feeds back, not only into the decision-making and project-planning process, but also that this knowledge is disseminated and is transparently accountable to the Irish public, who have funded much of the work.
The major outputs of the assessment include a reappraisal of the geophysical data in light of subsequent excavations, a guidance document advising the NRA on the best practices for future geophysical assessments and a publicly accessible database of the geophysical reports (http://www.field2archive.org/nra/), made available by the NRA. The reappraisal of geophysical data has facilitated a technical review of the success or otherwise of detailed magnetometry and scanning surveys across a range of geologies and soils for which quantitative data is now available.
The research has served to place the NRA in a unique position with respect to development and application of new archaeological geophysical investigation technologies and techniques. This has direct benefits for the efficiency and suitability of the NRA's work on road schemes. The assessment of geophysical survey 'success' will lead to a sustainable future for geophysical survey on linear projects in Ireland, while some of the conclusions to the research are likely to have ramifications beyond the Irish road corridors from which the data derives."
The impediment for archaeomagnetic dating of the UK Neolithic has been the lack of data of known date defining the past geomagnetic field. This paper will address this lacuna and present crucial developments in elucidating geomagnetic field variation in Orkney. Extensive sampling of fired material from the Neolithic sites at the Ness of Brodgar, Smerquoy and The Links of Noltland have enabled a compilation of 32 mean stable magnetic directions from over 700 samples. In particular, the internationally significant excavations at the Ness of Brodgar have yielded a large number of stone-built structures which contain formal hearth settings and other burnt deposits. This paper will specifically demonstrate the benefits from analysing multi-layered hearths containing well-stratified burnt deposits. By combining the radiocarbon dating evidence, the artefactual information and the archaeomagnetic study, this research shows the recent developments in defining the geomagnetic field variation. The outcomes of this research will allow archaeomagnetic dating of other archaeological sites in the Scottish Neolithic and will be a valuable contribution to the wider study of the past geomagnetic field.
Scotland, revealed that the site was used for mortuary rituals during the Late Bronze Age (c. 1100–800 BC) and Roman Iron Age (late first–fourth centuries AD), whilst a series of Pictish symbols carved into its entrance walls suggest that the cave’s importance continued into the Early Medieval period. A new programme of analysis has utilised advanced 3D digital documentation and 3D metrology (specifically, 3D laser scanning) to enable this inaccessible site to be appreciated by wider audiences and analysed remotely. Detailed in situ recording of the Pictish symbols was undertaken using macro-level structured light scanning, and the high-fidelity digital models were subsequently blended with terrestrial laser scan data of the cave interior to show the location and detail of the carvings. This work highlights the value of emerging digital approaches in the analysis, presentation and management of the Sculptor’s Cave, from the elucidation of additional carved details and the monitoring of surface degradation, to the dissemination of this difficult-to-access site to the wider public via online platforms.