The topographic setting of Bronze Age metalwork deposits in north east England
This thesis considers the relationship between Bronze Age metalwork deposits and topography in north-east England. Through a critical examination of the metalwork record for the region, the first time all Bronze Age metalwork finds from north-east England have been catalogued and analysed together, depositional patterns are demonstrated to be highly contingent on topography. Structured by means of a multi-scale approach that adopts the river catchment as the basic unit of study, a number of novel methodological approaches are applied to the dataset, such as the use of metal detecting records from the Portable Antiquities Scheme database to assess potential biases in the metalwork record (chapter 4), and a GIS based Monte Carlo simulation to characterise the distribution of find-spots of different types of metalwork deposit within a generic river catchment area (chapter 5). A number of associations identified between certain types of metalwork deposits and topographic features are consistent with overarching conventions that operated across Bronze Age Britain, such as the prevalence of Late Bronze Age swords from rivers and river valleys. However, the presence of discrete and more nuanced patterns within distinct
Poyer, Andrew
The topographic setting of Bronze Age metalwork deposits in north east England. This thesis considers the relationship between Bronze Age metalwork deposits and topography in north-east England. Through a critical examination of the metalwork record for the region, the first time all Bronze Age metalwork finds from north-east England have been catalogued and analysed together, depositional patterns are demonstrated to be highly contingent on topography. Structured by means of a multi-scale approach that adopts the river catchment as the basic unit of study, a number of novel methodological approaches are applied to the dataset, such as the use of metal detecting records from the Portable Antiquities Scheme database to assess potential biases in the metalwork record (chapter 4), and a GIS based Monte Carlo simulation to characterise the distribution of find-spots of different types of metalwork deposit within a generic river catchment area (chapter 5). A number of associations identified between certain types of metalwork deposits and topographic features are consistent with overarching conventions that operated across Bronze Age Britain, such as the prevalence of Late Bronze Age swords from rivers and river valleys. However, the presence of discrete and more nuanced patterns within distinct
topographic set bronze_age_metalwork deposit north_east_england considers_relationship bronze_age_metalwork deposit topography north_east_england critical_examination metalwork record region first_time bronze_age_metalwork find north_east_england catalogue analyse together depositional pattern demonstrate highly contingent topography structured mean multi scale adopts river catchment basic unit study number novel methodological_approach apply dataset use_metal detecting record_portable_antiquities_scheme database ass potential bias metalwork record gis base simulation characterise distribution_find different_type metalwork deposit_within generic river catchment_area number association identify certain_type metalwork deposit topographic feature consistent overarch convention operate across bronze_age britain prevalence late_bronze_age sword river river_valley however presence discrete nuanced pattern within distinct