Travelling lines:

Crossing Crawford's conceptual divide: monumental linear earthworks in later prehistoric and early medieval Britain

“…Lethbridge 1958). Another proposed function is the prevention of cattle rustling, slowing down stolen herds and enabling raiding parties to be intercepted (Fioccoprile 2016: 325).…”

“…Berkshire Grim's Ditch, for example, had been considered to be a ‘British’ defensive structure against the Anglo-Saxons (O'Neil 1944) but, when re-dated to the Late Bronze Age, was reinterpreted as defining farming territories (Ford 1982). Indeed, assessment of the topographical location of some earthworks suggests that many were poorly placed for defence, as is clear from examples in East Yorkshire (Fioccoprile 2016).…”

“…Despite some nuance of interpretation (e.g. Malim 2010: 250; Fioccoprile 2016), however, the dominant trend continues to see prehistoric linears as marking tenure and rarely serving any martial role (McOmish et al 2002: 64; Fenton-Thomas 2003). In contrast, within early medieval studies, martial interpretations remain prevalent (Grigg 2015, 2018), despite some emerging attempts to incorporate social and symbolic roles (Squatriti 2002; Williams 2021).…”

“…coinage or texts), such as the possibly Iron Age Scots Dike in the region of the Brigantes , or Chichester dykes in the area of the Atrebates . We might draw inferences here from Late Bronze Age linears, for example in East Yorkshire, and many Iron Age examples too, which appear to have been created not to define ‘them and us’, but instead to regulate movement, especially of livestock, between landscapes (Fenton-Thomas 2003; Chadwick 2016a, b; Fioccoprile 2016). This emphasises that scale need not equate with function; Crawford (1953: 183) recognised that medieval park boundaries could be substantial not just for functionality but as symbols of power, defining landscapes through social constraints (Mileson 2009).…”

“…Their practical effectiveness may have been less fundamental than their expression of labour and power over large areas, at a time when the social reach between elites and others was growing. This may help to explain the immense scale and over-elaboration of many earthworks, such as the multiple banks and ditches at Huggate in East Yorkshire (Fioccoprile 2016), and the elaborate entrance structures found on East Wansdyke (Reynolds & Langlands 2006), both representing a “multiplication of monumentality” (Giles 2012: 42).…”