Archaeological evidence suggests that Neolithic sites had many different, frequently contradictory functions, and there may have been other uses for which no evidence survives. How can archaeologists present an effective interpetation, with the consciousness that both their own subjectivity, and the variety of conflicting views will determine their approach. Because these sites have become a focus for so much controversy, the problem of presenting them to the public assumes a critical importance. The authors do not seek to provide a comprehensive review of the archaeology of all these causewayed sites in Britain; rather they use them as case studies in the development of an archaeological interpetation.

Ancestral Geographies of the Neolithic: Landscapes, Monuments and Memory

History

Edmonds, Mark

Ancient Civilizations

Routledge

Ancestral Geographies of the Neolithic

As well as contributing to current debate about the interpretation of material culture, Dr Edmonds uses the evidence of stone tools to reconsider some of the major horizons of change in later British prehistory.

Stone Tools & Society: Working Stone in Neolithic and Bronze Age Britain

Interpreting the Axe Trade documents the changing character and context of stone axe production and exchange in the British Neolithic. Drawing on a variety of studies, the authors explore some of the problems and potentials that attend archaeological discussions of exchange at both a theoretical and a methodological level. Out of this critique arises an argument for an integrated approach to the production, circulation and consumption of past material - an approach which acknowledges the subtle and complex roles that 'things' may play in the reproduction of social life. These arguments provide the basis for a case study which explores the links between the social contexts within which Neolithic stone axes circulated in Britain, and the social and material conditions under which those objects were originally produced. Field survey, excavation and detailed technological studies at the largest stone axe source in Britain are set alongside analyses of the changing character and social context of axe circulation and deposition across the country as a whole. These different analytical threads are then woven together in the final section of the book, where the authors suggest that the patterns explored in the course of their work reflect major changes in the nature of social life during the Neolithic.

Interpreting the Axe Trade: Production and Exchange in Neolithic Britain (New Studies in Archaeology)

Bradley, Richard

Europe

Cambridge University Press

The aim of this work is to explore the changing character and social roles of stone tools of the Neolithic and Bronze Ages in Britain. As well as contributing to current theoretical debate about the interpretation of material culture, this study provides a context in which to consider some of the major horizons of change in British pre-history. From stone axe quarries to the final ceremonial burial or breakage of tools at ritual monuments, Edmonds examines the evidence both regionally and chronologically. He looks at modifications in the form of tools and the methods used to produce them, taking into consideration the changing material and social conditions under which tools were produced, acquired, used and deposited. The result is the delineation of a prehistoric sequence in Britain, from the end of the Mesolithic era and the transition to Neolithic.

Stone Tools and Society: Working Stone in Neolithic and Bronze Age Britain

Illustrated with stunning black and white photos, this book traces the history of the Peak District, focusing on both its natural evolution and the human impact.

A Howling Wilderness: Prehistory in the Peak District

Seabourne, Tim

Tempus

Longrider: A Tale of Just Passin' Through

Take a BMW motorcycle, one million miles, and Mark Edmonds. Combine and distill them for over forty years and you'll get an insightful, compassionate (and passionate!) view of America and what it means to all of us who are, after all, "only passing through." From a slum in Detroit to a backwoods church in Alabama, you'll breathe the air of what it means to be American -- the lovely and the not so lovely. Edmonds' assessment of America and the changes it's undergone is as unswerving as his assessment of himself. He is, after all, tiding his own pilgrimage -- just passin' through.

Comics & Graphic Novels

Graphic Novels

Livingston Pr

Take a BMW motorcycle, one million miles, and Mark Edmonds. Combine and distill them for over forty years and you'll get an insightful, compassionate (and passionate!) view of America and what it means to all of us who are, after all, "only passing through." From a slum in Detroit to a backwoods church in Alabama, you'll breathe the air of what it means to be American -- the lovely and the not so lovely. Edmonds' assessment of America and the changes it's undergone is as unswerving as his assessment of himself. He is, after all, tiding his own pilgrimage -- just passin' through.

Construction of a water supply pipeline in Cambridgeshire provided an opportunity to sample the prehistoric landscape along a transect that crossed several major geological boundaries. This narrow window ran from the Lower Chalk of the ancient peninsula of Isleham, across the heavy low-lying clays of Soham and down into the peat fen of Stuntney and south-east Ely. Within the constraints set by the development, field investigation and subsequent analysis were conducted at several scales. In the initial stage, attention focused on predicted occupation areas (principally at the fen margins), while the intervening landscape between these areas and known sites was sampled. Along with palaeoenvironmental data, samples of flint, burnt flint and other materials provided a context within which to explore specific models for interpreting the character of later prehistoric landscape occupation across a diverse set of conditions. As a consequence of landscape sampling, six significant site areas were designated for archaeological investigation. These were located at the neck of the sand and chalk peninsula of Isleham, extending down its gradually sloping western edge towards the braided palaeochannels of the River Snail. This occupation-rich zone on the chalk contrasted sharply with areas of the fen that showed little evidence of early occupation where crossed by the pipeline. Two of these sites saw more extensive fieldwork funded by English Heritage, and these form the main body of the report. These different scales and intensities of work in the field are reflected in the structure of the report. The extensive survey and evaluation is dealt with in Chapter 2 and provides a full record of work conducted along the length of the pipeline corridor. Chapter 3 documents the more limited investigations conducted at four of the site areas identified in stage 1. The core of the volume lies in Chapters 4 and 5, which deal with the more substantive records arising from work at Prickwillow Road and around the palaeochannels of the River Snail. Dominated by Early Bronze Age and Earlier Neolithic material respectively, these sites add a significant body of information to our understanding of the later prehistoric sequence in the area, data which are set in broader context in Chapter 6.

A Line Across Land: Fieldwork on the Isleham-Ely Pipeline

Politics & Social Sciences

Gdaniec, Kasia

Wiltshire, Patricia E. J.

Archaeology

East Anglian Archaeology

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Edmonds, Mark. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Books by Edmonds, Mark

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Edmonds, Mark. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Ancestral Geographies of the Neolithic: Landscapes, Monuments and Memory

Ancestral Geographies of the Neolithic

Stone Tools & Society: Working Stone in Neolithic and Bronze Age Britain

Interpreting the Axe Trade: Production and Exchange in Neolithic Britain (New Studies in Archaeology)

Interpreting the Axe Trade: Production and Exchange in Neolithic Britain (New Studies in Archaeology)

Stone Tools and Society: Working Stone in Neolithic and Bronze Age Britain

A Howling Wilderness: Prehistory in the Peak District

Longrider: A Tale of Just Passin' Through

Longrider: A Tale of Just Passin' Through

A Line Across Land: Fieldwork on the Isleham-Ely Pipeline