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Accepted Paper:

Fields and farming: integrating landscape structure and environmental data in the South West of Britain  
Clare Randall (Bournemouth University)

Paper short abstract:

The remains of domestic animals cannot be considered in isolation from the landscapes in which they were reared. This in turn prompts reconsideration of our approach to understanding later prehistoric bounded landscapes. In understanding the ways in which they were utilised and inhabited, we are better able to approach the drivers behind their creation.

Paper long abstract:

The animal remains from British later prehistory have frequently been treated as economic data alone, occasionally elucidating symbolic behaviour. On the other hand, the use and division of landscape has been largely discussed in terms of social organisation. There has been a failure to appreciate that there is a reflexive relationship between pastoral farming and the utilisation and inhabiting of landscapes. In addition, we have frequently failed to explore the relationships between the various classes of evidence for crop cultivation, broader environmental information and pastoral landscapes in order to obtain a rounded view of the ways in which landscapes were inhabited.

Examination the form of Bronze Age and Iron Age landscape division and organisation in the environs of Cadbury Castle, Somerset, indicates that it was intimately bound up with the practicalities of livestock management. It has shown the benefits of integrating archaeological, faunal and landscape data, together with a strong understanding of the practicalities of animal husbandry. What is also clear however, is that that whilst it may unusual to have a number of classes of data available for one locale, these data are present in abundance across the south west of Britain and beyond. It is also apparent that by seeking to understand how individual bounded landscapes functioned at a given place and time, we are able to better understand the experience of inhabiting a particular place and achieved a more nuanced understanding of what elements of landscapes inform us most clearly about social choice.

Panel S02
Palaeoeconomy and palaeoecology of south west Britain
  Session 1