Fenland survey : an essay in landscape and persistence

Ebook (PDF) published 2013. Archaeological surveys of the Fenland of eastern England were initiated in the 1930s after it became clear that centuries of drainage and cultivation had seriously reduced the archaeological deposits. These studies were among the first to take a multi-disciplinary approach to archaeological work, and continued with new work in the 1980s when intensive surveys were made of the wetlands of Cambridgeshire, Lincolnshire, Norfolk and Suffolk. During the eight years of the Fenland Survey (1981-88), fieldworkers walked 250,000 hectares and initiated palaeoenvironemental investigations allied to a radiocarbon dating programme. At the end of the survey, in 1989-90, the survey results were evaluated and a programme of field investigations undertaken. This volume is a synopsis of that work. It provides an introduction to the traditional Fenland, as perceived by both ancient and modern geographers, explorers, and historians, and a summary of the complex environmental history of the region. It is presented broadly according to the traditional archaeological periods - Mesolithic to medieval - but it also provides an overview of cultural continuity and of the response to changing conditions over 6000 years of history. It concludes with some reflections on the present condition of the Fenland and the response of the archaeological community to the threats posted by recent agricultural and other practices. The Wessex Linear Ditches project focuses on the region forming the heart of the Wessex chalklands, and attempts to answer the question of the place of linear ditches in this prehistoic landscape. The report comprises three a description of the archaeology and topography of the project, an analysis of the finds and environmental data, and a summary of the linear ditches and their context, with management approaches to their present day preservation. The results of the project to date show that the linear ditches system was developed through different stages, its function changing through time. These developments are seen to have a number of causes, including changes in demography and settlement which affected subsistence productivity, land ownership, and the scale of domestic production. Illustrations vi Preface vii Summary viii Résumé ix Zusammenfassung x 1. The face of places 1 2. A basinful of complexity 13 3. Establishing the wild tradition 25 4. Foraging and farming 38 5. Life and death on the edge 65 6. Settlement against the waters 92 7. Colonisation of new lands 105 8. Continuity and response 122 9. Defence, communication, and reclamation 132 10. Reflections 151 Abbreviations and Bibliography 159 Index 165