Overview

Britain is internationally renowned for the high quality and exquisite crafting of its later prehistoric grave goods (c. 4000 BC to AD 43). Many of prehistoric Britain's most impressive artefacts have come from graves. Interred with both inhumations and cremations, they provide some of the most durable and well-preserved insights into personal identity and the prehistoric life-course, yet they also speak of the care shown to the dead by the living, and of people's relationships with 'things'. Objects matter. This book's title is an intentional play on words. These are objects in burials; but they are also goods, material culture, that must be taken seriously. Within it, we outline the results of the first long-term, large-scale investigation into grave goods during this period, which enables a new level of understanding of mortuary practice and material culture throughout this major period of technological innovation and social transformation. Analysis is structured at a series of different scales, ranging from macro-scale patterning across Britain, to regional explorations of continuity and change, to site-specific histories of practice, to micro-scale analysis of specific graves and the individual objects (and people) within them. We bring these different scales of analysis together in the first ever book focusing specifically on objects and death in later prehistoric Britain. Focusing on six key case study regions, the book innovatively synthesises antiquarian reports, research projects and developer funded excavations. At the same time, it also engages with, and develops, a number of recent theoretical trends within archaeology, including personhood, object biography and materiality, ensuring that it will be of relevance right across the discipline. Its subject matter will also resonate with those working in anthropology, sociology, museology and other areas where death, burial and the role of material culture in people's lives are key contemporary issues. AUTHORS: Anwen Cooper has worked extensively in both commercial and academic archaeology sectors. She is interested in the later Bronze and Iron Ages of north-west Europe, interpretative approaches to material culture and landscape, critical approaches to archaeological practice and prehistoric pottery. Duncan Garrow teaches later European prehistory and archaeological theory at the University of Reading. His research interests include long-term histories of deposition, burial practices, island archaeologies and interdisciplinary approaches to material culture. Catriona Gibson has worked extensively in both commercial and academic archaeology. Her research interests include exploring evidence for connectivity and mobility during later prehistory, the Beaker/EBA periods in western Europe, and forging stronger bridges between developer-led and academic archaeology. Melanie Giles teaches archaeology at the University of Manchester, specialising in the Iron Age, particularly Celtic art, as well as the bog bodies of north-western Europe. She works not just on the analysis and interpretation of burials but on aspects of visualisation and display. Neil Wilkin is curator of Early Europe (Neolithic and Bronze Age collections) at the British Museum. His research focuses on grave goods, hoards, and the relationships between different strands of archaeological knowledge.

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9781789257472

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[T]his is a well-researched and presented book and discussions of the whys and wherefores of grave goods throughout later prehistory are discussed in a generally open-minded way. * Archaeologia Cambrensis - Cambrian Archaeological Association *

Author Information

Anwen Cooper has worked extensively in both commercial and academic archaeology sectors. She is interested in the later Bronze and Iron Ages of north-west Europe, interpretative approaches to material culture and landscape, critical approaches to archaeological practice and prehistoric pottery. Duncan Garrow teaches later European prehistory and archaeological theory at the University of Reading. His research interests include long-term histories of deposition, burial practices, island archaeologies and interdisciplinary approaches to material culture. Catriona Gibson has worked extensively in both commercial and academic archaeology. Her research interests include exploring evidence for connectivity and mobility during later prehistory, the Beaker/EBA periods in western Europe, and forging stronger bridges between developer-led and academic archaeology. Melanie Giles teaches archaeology at the University of Manchester, specialising in the Iron Age, particularly Celtic art, as well as the bog bodies of north-western Europe. She works not just on the analysis and interpretation of burials but on aspects of visualisation and display. Neil Wilkin is curator of Early Europe (Neolithic and Bronze Age collections) at the British Museum. His research focuses on grave goods, hoards, and the relationships between different strands of archaeological knowledge.

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