Conference sessions by Edward Caswell
What constitutes an appropriate and positive political engagement in archaeology?
Papers by Edward Caswell
The Middle Bronze Age (c. 1600–1150 cal BC) in Britain is traditionally understood to represent a... more The Middle Bronze Age (c. 1600–1150 cal BC) in Britain is traditionally understood to represent a major funerary transition. This is a transformation from a heterogeneous funerary rite, largely encompassing inhumations and cremations in burial mounds and often accompanied by grave goods, to a homogeneous and unadorned cremation-based practice. Despite a huge expansion in the number of well excavated, radiocarbon dated, and osteologically analysed sites in the last three decades, current interpretations of Middle Bronze Age cremation burials still rely upon a seminal paper by Ellison (1980), which proposed that they comprise and represent an entire community. This paper analyses 378 cremation sites containing at least 3133 burials which represent all those that can be confidently dated to the Middle Bronze Age in Britain. The new analysis demonstrates that relatively few sites can be characterised as community cemeteries and that there are substantially more contemporary settlement sites, though few contemporary settlements are in close proximity to the cemeteries. The identifiable characteristics of cremation-based funerary practices are consistent across Britain with little evidence for social differentiation at the point of burial. It is also evident that only a minority of the population received a cremation burial. There is a substantial decrease in archaeologically visible funerary activity from the preceding Early Bronze Age (c. 2200–1600 cal BC) and a further decrease in the proceeding Late Bronze Age (c. 1150–800 cal BC) in Britain. This is comparable in form, and partially in sequence, to Bronze Age funerary practices in Ireland and several regions in Northwest Europe.
In 2014 English Heritage’s Assessment Team (West) undertook an analytical survey of earthworks to... more In 2014 English Heritage’s Assessment Team (West) undertook an analytical survey of earthworks to the east of Lower Paxcroft Farm, near Hilperton in Wiltshire. The earthworks had been identified from aerial photographs as part of the West Wiltshire National Archaeological Identification Survey (NAIS) Project. The earthwork survey, combined with desk-based research, defined the remains of an irregular row settlement aligned along the edge of a hollow-way which has marked the boundary of Steeple Ashton Parish for centuries. The earthworks and documentary sources indicate that the settlement saw at least one phase of growth before suffering a staged decline which extended into the 19th century. It was placed along the hollow-way to provide ready access both to Steeple Ashton’s common and the enclosed arable fields north of the site.
Few studies have calculated the relative difficulty of walking across different types of terrain ... more Few studies have calculated the relative difficulty of walking across different types of terrain (e.g. grass, asphalt, loose sand, and so on). Nonetheless, these relative values, called terrain coefficients, are integral, alongside slope, for generating computer models of human movement, whether for emergency planning, development, archaeology, the impact of ecological change on migratory patterns or any other purposes. Additionally, the few studies conducted evaluate this relative difficulty through metabolic rate measured through oxygen consumption. We demonstrate that these values are only appropriate for energy-based models (e.g. easiest routes), because it is unlikely that the relationship between metabolic rate and velocity is linear even when terrain is held constant. Rather, our work (returning to four terrains from these earlier studies and adding three additional terrains) investigates the relative effect different terrains have on a person's walking speed, finding the effects to be smaller, with statistical significance occurring on an entirely different scale from previous studies. Therefore, these terrain coefficients should only be used for time-based models (e.g. fastest routes).
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Conference sessions by Edward Caswell
Papers by Edward Caswell