Paper short abstract:

This paper examines the impact of creating and using extensive datasets for investigating cross-Channel interactions during Later Prehistory.

Paper long abstract:

The insularity of Britain is both a gift and a curse: a gift as it makes it a perfect laboratory for exploring any kind of interaction, a curse as it often acts as a justification for complacent archaeologists to ignore the other side of the Channel. Although acquiring some familiarity with continental archaeology is an arduous task, this process is now eased by the existence of well-informed syntheses, site gazetteers, and various archives. The first half of this paper will detail the preliminary results of such extensive data gathering, leading to the collection of information on, so far, a couple of thousand archaeological sites.

This dataset provides a snapshot of continental later prehistory and enables the exploration of cross-Channel interactions. Extraordinary discoveries have indeed triggered a renewal of interest, at least in Bronze Age studies, for long-distance contacts and their social implications. Yet, it will be argued that these studies have often focused on the top of the iceberg and failed to grasp the complexity and multi-layering of the available archaeological evidence. In this sense, by contrasting together different types of data for various regions of both continental Europe and Britain, it is possible to identify the movement of permanent waves of interaction between both sides of the Channel. The impact of these permanent waves on the creation and transformation of social landscapes will be outlined through selected case-studies.