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Accepted Paper:

The anthropological imagination and British Iron Age society  
Paul Sillitoe (Durham University)

Paper short abstract:

What can anthropological experience bring to the understanding of British Iron Age society?

Paper long abstract:

What can anthropological experience bring to the understanding of British Iron Age society? Until recently, archaeologists have portrayed the British Iron Age as a time of precursor medieval fiefdoms comprising small-scale kingdoms of warrior monarchs and knight-like aristocrats ruling regions from their hillfort castles, and warring with neighbouring rivals. But lately their interpretations have inclined towards more stateless tribal arrangements. What can anthropology, with its knowledge of such orders, contribute to this tribal reformulation? Turning the anthropological gaze on archaeological evidence is fraught with problems, as highlighted in discussions about ethnographic analogy. But by drawing on general principles established about tribal socio-political life, in addition to ethnographic specifics, anthropology can suggest possibilities that fit with settlement and land use patterns, subsistence evidence, artefact remains, burials etc. While no recently extant tribal arrangements are likely to parallel closely those of the British Iron Age - in view of the variety evident in contemporary times - it is possible to suggest features that sit more comfortably with what we know about tribal life.

Panel P25
What can archaeological data tell us about anthropological realities?
  Session 1