Prehistoric Gloucestershire. Forests and Vales and High Blue Hills by Timothy Darvill
Amberley Publishing, Stroud. 2011. 288pp, 27 col plates, 132 B/W illus, 2 tables. ISBN 978-1-848668-420-1. 2nd edition pb, £16.99
In an era of University Research Excellence Frameworks and an emphasis on the internationalisation of research in British academia, regionally focused accounts of British prehistory are sometimes left to the margins. Those volumes which exist are instead often the province of local enthusiasts and amateur archaeologists which, while often worthy contributions, often lack an awareness of wider theoretical contexts or broader implications of regional finds. This volume is a welcome bucking of that trend marking the first revision, 1987, of the author’s original account of the prehistory of Gloucestershire. The author is well-placed to write such a volume, bringing both a local familiarity, having worked in Gloucestershire for some 40 years, alongside his breadth of knowledge of British Prehistory from Stonehenge to the Isle of Man. This volume complements the author’s recent new edition of his ‘Prehistoric Britain’, another well-thumbed text book which will be sitting on the shelves of many.
Darvill’s account marks part of a wider recent reassessment of the archaeology of the county which has taken place in recent years, with the publication of a review of the last twenty-five years of Gloucestershire Archaeology (Jurica and Holbrook 2005) and a recent complementary volume on Roman Gloucestershire (Copeland 2011). To say a lot has happened to the region’s archaeology in the last twenty-five years is something of an understatement. All these new studies draw heavily on the wealth of evidence which has emerged since the 1990s as a result of developer-funded archaeology, the dramatic extent of which can be seen in Darvill’s (2005) own recent analysis of the region. The author continues this theme, emphasising the significant impact of many of these discoveries alongside recent finds recorded through the Portable Antiquities Scheme, such as the nationally important hoard of Bronze Age gold metalwork at Poulton. Having worked closely with a number of contract archaeology organisations, the author is particularly well informed to be able to integrate the most significant results of commercial archaeology into his reassessment of the region’s prehistory.
The emphasis on how new developments are reshaping our image of prehistory certainly does not detract from the value of earlier work in the region. The regularity of names such as Elsie Clifford and Helen O’Neill which crop up in the book’s references to specific sites, which date from the Palaeolithic to the Late Iron Age, reminds us of the huge impact of these earlier pioneers and their systematic approaches to conducting excavation and research. More recently the value of long term research projects, such as that at Frocester in the Severn valley (Price 2000) and Darvill’s own new landscape project at Wiggold on the Cotswolds, also emphasises the benefits of focusing on examining relatively small areas of landscape throughout prehistory and beyond. The legacy of these local pioneers is duly acknowledged. Perhaps unsurprisingly, earlier prehistory takes precedence in this account so that there is relatively little discussion, for example, of the impact of the Hillfort Studies Research Groups’ focus in the 1970s and 80s, whose excavations at Crickley Hill, Salmonsbury and Leckhampton have dominated perspectives on the Iron Age in the region. I’d like to have seen more on the author’s views on how these sites continue to (overly?) dominate how we perceive Gloucestershire’s Iron Age societies.
For its period discussions, the volume presents a clear, chronologically-driven account, with subsections examining types of settlement, burial rites and material culture. Whilst the merits of focusing on a county as a regional focus can be debated, this clearly works as an accessible and easily understood frame of reference, particularly for the local archaeologist and student. The author also provides examples which set these regional discoveries within a wider national context, ensuring that the reader does not feel too constrained by this artificial boundary. Conventional chronological breaks are largely used to divide up the chapters and areas for discussion. However, in a number of instances why these are seen as appropriate is not always apparent. Why, for example, is 700BC seen as a key transition period when the evidence may point to different major transformation episodes (e.g. Needham 2007) or question whether this was such a dramatic cut-off point at all. On a minor note, the omission from this revised edition of a chronological chart, as presented in the 1st edition, seems strange as this would have been useful for the general reader .
The author continues with the same chapter titles, such as ‘ War and Peace’ for the Bronze Age, and only the Neolithic is transformed from ‘First farmers’ to ‘Hunter-gardeners’ drawing upon more recent theoretical ideas on the mixed subsistence basis of these groups. The account is thorough and presents many new finds and recent contributions, alongside the impact of scientific Bayesian modelling upon the chronology of Gloucestershire’s Neolithic tombs. This is perhaps the most noticeable and significant advance in this new edition , So too, are the recently discovered ‘enclosures’ at Wiggold and Moreton-in-Marsh, alongside the unenclosed settlements at Shorncote in the Upper Thames Valley and Hucclecote in the Severn Valley. These enable a far clearer picture of the character and potential diversity of Bronze Age settlement to emerge than was possible in the 1980s. These new sites are placed within a comprehensive effort to engage with new perspectives, encompassing regional and national insights for each prehistoric period, and therefore illustrates the author’s breadth of knowledge and awareness of where the new evidence from prehistoric Gloucestershire fits in to the bigger national picture.
If there is a criticism of the author’s approach it is that in some areas, one would like to see a little more discussion of how these societies worked. The author certainly provides accessible accounts of different conceptions of these societies (e.g. Hingley 1984 on the Iron Age), which are frequently informed by more recent national analyses, but this reader wanted the author to go further in his own perspectives on these wider discussions. Regarding the Iron Age settlement evidence as reflecting social hierarchy, for example, by largely applying earlier models developed for elsewhere in Wessex, or the region as part of a core-periphery model, is somewhat surprising considering the reconsiderations of these models within and outside the immediate region (e.g. Haselgrove and Moore 2007; Sharples 2010). There is also a relatively limited discussion of key research themes which have emerged in Bronze and Iron Age studies (since 1987), such as cosmology and structured deposition. This leaves one to assume that the author’s does not see such issues as especially significant in terms of how we should understand these communities or their perceptions of the world. Perhaps in an effort to maintain objectivity, it isn’t always clear where the author sits on such debates and I would have liked to see more of the personal perspective to shine through; the author has surely earned that right!
These though are minor criticisms and do not greatly detract from the informative and enjoyable nature of the volume; its accessibility, and above all its comprehensiveness, are to be highly commended. Such a combination, integrating the wealth of new data whilst retaining a coherent narrative is not any easy task and the author certainly achieves his aim. The volume is of very high quality, beautifully produced with clear and informative illustrations with the inclusion of a number of colour plates, many from the author’s own collection, are a welcome new addition which makes it a pleasure to browse through. There are many new illustrations of new sites and discoveries and thoroughly updated distribution maps, emphasising the increase and diversity of new data now available.
Overall, this is handsome volume which is an easy read, accessible to both local enthusiasts and students, but sufficiently comprehensive to warrant a place on the period specialist’s shelves. It should be of value not just to archaeologists of the region but more broadly to anyone interested in the prehistory of the British Isles. The inclusion of a ‘places to visit’ section also continues the earlier edition’s attractiveness to those who wish to use this volume as a field guide as well as a source of reference. Overall, the quality of the volume, and Darvill’s new subtitle (taken from a poem by F.W. Harvey in ‘A Gloucestershire lad at home and abroad’) ably reflect his own love and knowledge of the landscape and archaeology of the region. This is certainly an excellent introduction to Gloucestershire’s prehistory.
References
Copeland, T. 2011. Roman Gloucestershire. The History Press, Stroud
Darvill, T. 2005. Early Prehistory, in Jurica, J. and Holbrook, N. (eds.) Twenty-five years of archaeology in Gloucestershire. A review of new discoveries and new thinking in Gloucestershire, South Gloucestershire and Bristol 1979-2004. Stroud. Bristol and Gloucestershire Archaeological Report 3:5-60
Needham, S. 2007. 800BC, The great divide, in Haselgrove, C. and Pope, R. (eds.) The earlier Iron Age in Britain and the near continent. Oxbow, Oxford: 39-63
Haselgrove, C. and Moore, T. 2007.The Later Iron Age in Britain and Beyond. Oxbow, Oxford
Hingley, R. 1984. Towards a social analysis in archaeology: Celtic society in the Iron Age of the upper Thames valley, in Cunliffe, B. and Miles, D. (eds.) Aspects of the Iron Age in Central Southern Britain. OUCA Monograph 2, Oxford: 72-88
Jurica, J. and Holbrook, N. 2005. Twenty five years of Archaeology in Gloucestershire. A review of new discoveries and new thinking in Gloucestershire, South Gloucestershire and Avon (1979-2004). Bristol and Gloucestershire Archaeological Report 3. Cotswold Archaeology, Kemble
Price, E. 2000.Frocester, A Romano-British settlement, its antecedents and successors. Volume 1: The Sites. Gloucester and District Archaeological Group. Stonehouse
Sharples, N. 2010.Social relations in Later Prehistory. Wessex in the First Millennium BC. Oxford University Press, Oxford
Tom Moore
Dept of Archaeology
University of Durham
April 2012
“The views expressedin this review are not necessarily those of the Society or the Reviews Editor”