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GONE, BUT STILL RESPECTED: SOME EVIDENCE FOR IRON AGE HOUSE PLATFORMS IN LOWLAND ENGLAND
Author(s) -
PRYOR FRANCIS
Publication year - 1983
Publication title -
oxford journal of archaeology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.382
H-Index - 31
eISSN - 1468-0092
pISSN - 0262-5253
DOI - 10.1111/j.1468-0092.1983.tb00105.x
Subject(s) - archaeology , settlement (finance) , alluvium , new england , plough , interpretation (philosophy) , geography , history , geology , law , paleontology , political science , politics , programming language , world wide web , computer science , payment
Summary. This paper considers the apparent absence of house or settlement platforms in Iron Age lowland England. It demands that lowland sites be interpreted using criteria derived from suitable (lowland) contexts. The dangers of using upland‐derived explanatory models are illustrated with selected examples. The Cat's Water subsite, Fengate, Peterborough provides examples of probable house‐platforms, protected from plough‐damage by alluvium; these, in turn, are used to provide criteria to recognise similar features on poorly preserved sites. Comparisons are drawn with recently excavated sites in the Netherlands. The paper concludes with some general observations on the nature of once‐wet sites and the dangers inherent in their interpretation.