Re-thinking ritual traditions : interpreting structured deposition in watery contexts in Late Pre-Roman Iron Age and Roman Britain
This investigation seeks to define the strands of continuity and change in structured deposition across the Late Pre-Roman Iron Age to Early Roman transition in Britain, and interpret their significance in terms of cultural interaction. These interpretations not only examine and re-think structured deposition in relation to ritual traditions, but also explore how the continuity of such traditions was impacted by the transition between these two periods. Metalwork is a central focus but a wide range of other finds are also considered in order to take a holistic perspective on deposition. Watery deposits were an obvious starting point but comparisons with dry context deposits were necessary to provide a more complete understanding of these practices. The data were gathered from a number of individual sites throughout two contrasting case study zones defined by major waterways and labelled as such: the Severn-Thames Axis in the south and the Solway-Forth Axis in the north of Britain. Through the use of site reports as the main source of data, the analysis took a two-tiered approach. Individual episodes of structured deposition were examined and interpreted on a site-by-site basis. This then led to investigations
Crease, Susheela Marie Elizabeth
Re-thinking ritual traditions : interpreting structured deposition in watery contexts in Late Pre-Roman Iron Age and Roman Britain. This investigation seeks to define the strands of continuity and change in structured deposition across the Late Pre-Roman Iron Age to Early Roman transition in Britain, and interpret their significance in terms of cultural interaction. These interpretations not only examine and re-think structured deposition in relation to ritual traditions, but also explore how the continuity of such traditions was impacted by the transition between these two periods. Metalwork is a central focus but a wide range of other finds are also considered in order to take a holistic perspective on deposition. Watery deposits were an obvious starting point but comparisons with dry context deposits were necessary to provide a more complete understanding of these practices. The data were gathered from a number of individual sites throughout two contrasting case study zones defined by major waterways and labelled as such: the Severn-Thames Axis in the south and the Solway-Forth Axis in the north of Britain. Through the use of site reports as the main source of data, the analysis took a two-tiered approach. Individual episodes of structured deposition were examined and interpreted on a site-by-site basis. This then led to investigations
re_thinking ritual tradition interpreting structured_deposition watery context late_pre roman iron_age roman_britain investigation seek_define strand continuity_change structure deposition across late_pre roman iron_age early_roman transition britain interpret significance term cultural_interaction interpretation examine think structured_deposition relation ritual tradition also_explore continuity tradition impact transition period metalwork central_focus wide_range find also_consider order take holistic perspective deposition watery deposit obvious start_point comparison dry context deposit necessary provide_complete practice data_gather number_individual sit throughout two_contrast case_study zone define major label severn thames axis south forth axis north britain use site report main_source data_analysis take tiered approach individual episode structure deposition examine interpreted site site basis lead investigation