The Prehistory of Britain and Ireland

Richard Bradley0521848113, 9780521848114, 0521848113

Sited at the furthest limits of the Neolithic revolution and standing at the confluence of the two great sea routes of prehistory, Britain and Ireland are distinct from continental Europe for much of the prehistoric sequence. In this landmark study – the first significant survey of the archaeology of Britain and Ireland for twenty years – Richard Bradley offers a new interpretation of the unique archaeological record of these islands based on a wealth of current and largely unpublished data. Bradley surveys the entire archaeological sequence over a 4,000 year period, from the adoption of agriculture in the Neolithic period to the discovery of Britain and Ireland by travellers from the Mediterranean during the later pre-Roman Iron Age. Significantly, this is the first modern account to treat Britain and Ireland on equal terms, offering a detailed interpretation of the prehistory of both islands.

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Table of contents :
Half-title……Page 3
Series-title……Page 5
Title……Page 7
Copyright……Page 8
Dedication……Page 9
Contents……Page 11
Illustrations……Page 13
Preface……Page 17
The View from Afar……Page 21
The Importance of British and Irish Prehistory……Page 24
The Sense of Isolation……Page 28
The Lie of the Land……Page 30
The Waterways……Page 36
The Mental Map……Page 42
Observing What Has Vanished……Page 45
Two Models……Page 47
Houses and Settlement Patterns……Page 58
Beyond the House: Long Mounds and Mortuary Monuments……Page 66
Beyond the House: Settlements, Bodies, and Tombs……Page 79
Beyond the House: Cursus Monuments and Bank Barrows……Page 82
Causewayed Enclosures……Page 89
The Future: Cursuses, Round Barrows, and Circular Enclosures……Page 98
The Past: Ancestors and Origins……Page 104
Time and Space……Page 108
Houses and the Character of Settlement, 3300–2000 BC……Page 114
Houses, Tombs, and Arenas: Ireland, Orkney, and Northern Britain……Page 118
Across the Sea……Page 136
The Later History of Henges……Page 142
Making Connections……Page 152
A World Elsewhere……Page 162
Distance and Enchantment……Page 173
Relations with the Dead……Page 178
Monuments and the Settlement Pattern 2000–1500 BC……Page 188
At the Limits……Page 196
Period Details……Page 198
Characterising a Later Bronze Age……Page 201
The Initial Transformation: The Middle Bronze Age (1500–1100 BC)……Page 207
Subsequent Developments: The Late Bronze Age (1100–800 BC)……Page 222
Summary: Production, Alliance and Exchange……Page 242
Foreground and Background……Page 246
From Possession to Dispossession……Page 250
Houses and Enclosures……Page 256
The Organisation of the Land……Page 260
Variations on an Original Theme……Page 272
An End of Isolation……Page 281
Summary……Page 290
The End of Prehistory……Page 291
Bibliography……Page 299
Index……Page 327