Weapons, warriors and warfare of Northern Britain, c.1250 BC-850 AD
This thesis focuses upon the material culture associated with warfare, conflict and inter-personal violence in northern Britain during the Late Bronze Age, Iron Age and Early Historic Period. Its aims are to understand the evolving role of warfare in society, who were the individuals engaging in conflict, what weapons were being used, and how were they being used. Although previous studies have touched on some of these topics, the material of northern Britain is frequently overlooked in favour of southern British data, and none consider the development of the topic over several time periods. Contextual data was collected on all the extant swords, spears and shields within the parameters, while a significant proportion were fully examined to enable more complex analysis. Evident opportunities and weaknesses within the resulting database were addressed and exploited, applying experimental archaeology to the bronze spearheads to investigate use patterns, and typological theory to the iron spearheads to enable meaningful inclusion. A range of additional sources of information, including iconographic, textual and osteological, were synthesised to facilitate a discussion of the life-cycles of the extant weapons
Anderson, Catherine
weapons ; warfare ; conflict ; experimental archaeology ; typology
Weapons, warriors and warfare of Northern Britain, c.1250 BC-850 AD. This thesis focuses upon the material culture associated with warfare, conflict and inter-personal violence in northern Britain during the Late Bronze Age, Iron Age and Early Historic Period. Its aims are to understand the evolving role of warfare in society, who were the individuals engaging in conflict, what weapons were being used, and how were they being used. Although previous studies have touched on some of these topics, the material of northern Britain is frequently overlooked in favour of southern British data, and none consider the development of the topic over several time periods. Contextual data was collected on all the extant swords, spears and shields within the parameters, while a significant proportion were fully examined to enable more complex analysis. Evident opportunities and weaknesses within the resulting database were addressed and exploited, applying experimental archaeology to the bronze spearheads to investigate use patterns, and typological theory to the iron spearheads to enable meaningful inclusion. A range of additional sources of information, including iconographic, textual and osteological, were synthesised to facilitate a discussion of the life-cycles of the extant weapons
weapons warrior warfare northern_britain focus_upon material_culture associate warfare conflict inter personal violence northern_britain late_bronze_age iron age early historic_period aim evolve role warfare society individual_engage conflict weapon use use although previous_study touch topic material northern_britain frequently overlook favour southern british data none consider development topic several time_period contextual data_collect extant sword spear shield within parameter significant_proportion fully examine enable complex analysis evident opportunity weakness within result database address exploit apply experimental_archaeology bronze spearhead investigate use pattern typological theory iron spearhead enable meaningful inclusion range additional source_information include iconographic textual osteological facilitate discussion life extant weapon