Prehistoric Britain from the air: a study of space, time and society

Pages: 283

Abstract:

Britain had been occupied by prehistoric communities for over half a million years before the coming of the Romans in AD 43. During that time many changes were wrought in the landscape, some of them so indelibly scored that they are still visible today. The unique bird's-eye perspective offered by the aerial camera brings to life many of the familiar sites and monuments that prehistoric communities built: monuments such as Stonehenge and Avebury in Wilsthire, the great hillforts of Maiden Castle and Hod Hill in Dorset, and the stone rings at Rollright in Oxfordshire and Brodgar in Orkney. Aerial photographs also expose to view many thousands of sites that simply cannot be seen at ground level because their earthworks and standing components have become buried or levelled by centuries of ploughing and cultivation. After an introduction to the ways in which aerial photographs reveal traces of the prehistoric past, an extensive selection of sites and monuments are illustrated and described under a series of ten main themes: hunting, gathering and fishing; camps and gathering places; farmsteads and fields; villages and towns; forts and strongholds; frontiers, boundaries and trackways; tombs, burial grounds and cemeteries; ritual and ceremonial monuments; industrial sites; and mounds, rings and hill-figures. The final chapter deals with the question of prehistoric landscapes and the glimpses we have of such places through aerial photography. Running through the examination of these sites are the three themes of space, time and the way that people as individuals and communities related to each other and organized their world.

Source: Scopus

Prehistoric Britain from the Air: A study of space, time and society

Authors: Darvill, T.

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Place of Publication: Cambridge

ISBN: 9780521551328

Abstract:

A survey of the monumental achievements of Britain's earliest inhabitants, highly illustrated with a wonderful selection of aerial photographs.

Source: Manual

Preferred by: Timothy Darvill