The Bronze Age remains on the East Moors of the Peak District are amongst
the most extensive in the country. This paper discusses their interpretation
and examines the pattern of man's exploitation of the region at this period.
The distribution of the remains is far from random and concentrates on areas
which are the most suitable for agriculture. Prolonged mixed farming in the
most favourable areas is argued for. Similar topographic characteristics
throughout the area enable estimates to be made of the original levels of
exploitation in the region as a whole and the degree to which field evidence
has been destroyed. The pattern of settlement suggests the Bronze Age
farmers lived in small groups, each exploiting its own relatively
self-contained area of upland and each having a handful of ceremonial
monuments. There is no evidence for a complex social hierarchy reflected by
monuments or settlement patterns. Comparisons are made between the East Moor
sites and those in other regions. These suggest varying levels of social
organization and types of exploitation in the Bronze Age and illustrate the
value of regional studies to highlight the diversity of Bronze Age lifestyle
throughout Britain.
The recent growth of landscape perspectives has stimulated fresh approaches to the ways in which prehistoric communities attached significance to what we classify as topography or geology. Using evidence from North Wales and the Derbyshire Peak District, we argue here that the use of caves during the Neolithic and Bronze Age reflects a significant blurring of the distinction that archaeologists often draw between monuments and natural features.
Six seasons of excavation, survey and test pitting in the Peak District National Park, England, were conducted by the Park Authority and the Department of Archaeology & Prehistory, University of Sheffield, on a moorland rich in features surviving from Prehistoric use and occupation of the area. Investigated features include a Neolithic rubble-built enclosure bank, Bronze to Iron Age cairnfields and settlements and cup-and-ring rock art. From this work a long-term landscape narrative of the area is being produced.
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