Fantastic hillforts and where to find them: a region-based landscape analysis of the Iron Age in Britain and the methods we use to assess the past

Abstract

This thesis is concerned with the persistence of Iron Age landscapes today, and the methods we use to assess these landscapes. I look at both the computational and phenomenological methods that we use to quantify and understand the past – investigating concepts of regionality – and assess the suitability of these approaches in two regions, Cornwall and East Anglia. These two methods are rooted in different theoretical approaches in archaeology – processualism and post-processualism respectively, and as such are often posed in opposition to each other. In this sense this thesis is divided into two thematic parts, but in a conscious attempt to remove the perceived dichotomy that is often proliferated between these two approaches, both the history and reviews of these research schools, and more importantly my own analysis, have been combined and presented in synthesis, to emphasise the connectivity between these two methods, much like the regional connectivity being investigated. I performed visibility analysis on the two regions– one of the most popular computational methods within archaeology. I then both walked and ran between focus sites in each region, drawing on my own expertise as an ultra-marathon runner, and compared these times to those generated through computational GIS-based analysis. My results show that the relationships between the sites in these two geographically disparate and contrasting regions are remarkably similar, reinforcing themes of connectivity in the Iron Age, but showing diversity in the use of the landscape that also reinforces regionality as a key theme for the Iron Age. The reflexive reintroduction of the phenomenological into the GIS used in this thesis offers a unique approach to landscape analysis in the Iron Age. I conclude that, for the Cornwall region, where the landscape remains remarkably unchanged since prehistory, and where the terrain is extremely variable even over short distances, that phenomenological methods are recommended to assess mobility. But for East Anglia, where the character of the landscape has been altered through both human activity and geological change, particularly regarding the fenlands, that the computationally based methods are more suited for analysis of this region. However, this thesis concludes that the two methods complement each other in reciprocal ways, and that a combination and comparison of the two should always be used when assessing landscapes.