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Thinking outside the cist: interpreting a unique artefact assemblage from an Early Bronze Age burial on the Isle of Man

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  19 October 2020

Rachel J. Crellin ,
Chris Fowler  and
Michelle Gamble
Rachel J. Crellin
Affiliation:
School of Archaeology and Ancient History, University of Leicester, UK
Chris Fowler*
Affiliation:
School of History, Classics & Archaeology, Newcastle University, UK
Michelle Gamble
Affiliation:
Heritage and Archaeological Research Practice, Edinburgh, UK
*
*Author for correspondence: ✉ chris.fowler@ncl.ac.uk
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Abstract

Recent analysis of Early Bronze Age human remains from Staarvey Farm on the Isle of Man has revealed a rare bone knife pommel and 20 other bone objects, offering insight into the importance of bone ornaments and artefact fittings at this time. This article adopts a relational typological approach to analyse the Staarvey burial and comparable assemblages, identifying patterns in the deposition of knife pommels in central and southern Britain. In exploring regional interaction in Early Bronze Age Britain and Ireland, the authors refine and move beyond traditional typologies to trace types of both objects and practice. This approach allows them to consider multiple, overlapping spheres of funerary practice and their relation to identities at different regional scales.

Keywords

BritainIrelandBronze Agebone artefactsmortuary practices
Type
Research Article
Information
Antiquity , Volume 94 , Issue 378 , December 2020 , pp. 1444 - 1463
Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s), 2020. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of Antiquity Publications Ltd

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