Hostname: page-component-745bb68f8f-cphqk Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2025-01-26T18:20:53.616Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Romano-British Reuse of Prehistoric Ritual Sites*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  18 April 2011

Ronald Hutton
Ronald Hutton
Affiliation:
University of Bristolr.hutton@bristol.ac.uk
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Much interest has been taken recently in the reuse of prehistoric ceremonial sites during later prehistory and early history, but only limited attention has been paid to this phenomenon during the Romano-British period. This article seeks to build on existing work by making a detailed study of such activity in three specific cases: the limestone caves of the Bristol Channel region, the Neolithic chambered tombs of the Cotswold-Severn area and the Peak District, and the three most spectacular prehistoric monuments of the Wessex chalklands: Stonehenge, the Avebury complex and the Uffington White Horse.

Type
Articles
Information
Britannia , Volume 42 , November 2011 , pp. 1 - 22
Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s) 2011. Published by The Society for the Promotion of Roman Studies

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Aitchison, N.B. 1988: ‘Roman wealth, native ritual: coin hoards within and beyond Roman Britain’, World Archaeology 20, 270–83CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Aldhouse-Green, S. 2000: Paviland Cave and the ‘Red Lady’, NewportGoogle Scholar
Allen, E.E., and Rutter, J.G. 1946: A Survey of the Gower Caves with an Account of Recent Excavations, SwanseaGoogle Scholar
Ashbee, P. 1996: ‘Julliberrie's Grave, Chilham’, Archaeologia Cantiana 116, 1–34Google Scholar
Atkinson, R.J.C. 1965: ‘Wayland's Smithy’, Antiquity 39, 126–64CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bahn, P. 1998: The Cambridge Illustrated History of Palaeolithic Art, CambridgeGoogle Scholar
Balch, H.E. 1913: Further Excavations at the Late-Celtic and Romano-British Cave-Dwelling at Wookey Hole, OxfordCrossRefGoogle Scholar
Balch, H.E. 1935: Mendip: Cheddar, Its Gorge and Caves, WellsGoogle Scholar
Balch, H.E. 1947: The Great Cave of Wookey Hole, BristolGoogle Scholar
Balch, H.E., and Troup, R.D. 1911: A Late-Celtic and Romano-British Cave-Dwelling at Wookey-Hole, OxfordGoogle Scholar
Barrett, J.C. 1999: ‘The mythical landscapes of the British Iron Age’, in Ashmore, W. and Knapp, A.B. (eds), Archaeologies of Landscape, Oxford, 253–65Google Scholar
Barrett, J.H., and Boon, G.C. 1972: ‘A Roman counterfeiter's den’, Proceedings of the University of Bristol Spelaeological Society 13.1, 61–9Google Scholar
Bateman, T. 1861: Ten Years' Digging in Celtic and Saxon Grave Hills in the Counties of Derby, Stafford, and York, from 1848 to 1858, with some notices of some former discoveries hitherto unpublished and remarks on the crania and pottery from the mounds, LondonGoogle Scholar
Bayliss, A., and Whittle, A. (eds) 2007: Histories of the Dead: Building Chronologies for Five Southern British Long Barrows, Cambridge Archaeological Journal SupplementGoogle Scholar
Berry, J. 1929: ‘Belas Knap Long Barrow, Gloucestershire: report of the excavations of 1929’, Transactions of the Bristol and Gloucestershire Archaeological Society 51, 273–303Google Scholar
Berry, J. 1930: ‘Belas Knap Long Barrow, Gloucestershire: second report’, Transactions of the Bristol and Gloucestershire Archaeological Society 52, 123–50Google Scholar
Bradley, R. 1987: ‘Time regained: the creation of continuity’, Journal of the British Archaeological Association 140, 1–17CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bradley, R. 1990: The Passage of Arms, CambridgeGoogle Scholar
Bradley, R. 2002: The Past in Prehistoric Societies, LondonGoogle Scholar
Branigan, K., and Dearne, M.J. 1991: ‘Romano-British usage of the caves of Cheddar Gorge’, Proceedings of the University of Bristol Spelaeological Society 19.1, 19–31Google Scholar
Branigan, K., and Dearne, M.J. 1992: Romano-British Cavemen, Oxbow Monograph 19, OxfordGoogle Scholar
Branigan, K., Dearne, M.J., and Rutter, J.G. 1993: ‘Romano-British occupation of Minchin Hole Cave, Gower’, Archaeologia Cambrensis 142, 40–73Google Scholar
Brooke, J.W. 1910: ‘The excavation of a Roman well near Silbury Hill’, Wiltshire Archaeological and Natural History Magazine 36, 373–5Google Scholar
Brooke, J.W., and Cunnington, B.H. 1896: ‘Excavation of a Roman well near Silbury Hill’, Wiltshire Archaeological and Natural History Magazine 29, 166–71Google Scholar
Burl, A., and Mortimer, N. 2005: Stukeley's Stonehenge, New HavenGoogle Scholar
Clarke, S. 1997: ‘Abandonment, rubbish disposal and “special” deposits’, in Meadows, K., Lemke, C. and Heron, J. (eds), TRAC 96. Proceedings of the Sixth Annual Theoretical Roman Archaeology Conference, Oxford, 73–81Google Scholar
Clarke, S. 1999: ‘In search of a different Roman period: the finds assemblage at the Newstead military complex’, in Fincham, G., Harrison, G., Holland, R. and Revell, L. (eds), TRAC 99. Proceedings of the Ninth Annual Theoretical Roman Archaeology Conference, Oxford, 22–9Google Scholar
Clifford, E. 1996: ‘Hetty Pegler's Tump’, Antiquity 40, 129–32CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Clottes, J., and Lewis-Williams, D. 1998: The Shamans of Prehistory, New YorkGoogle Scholar
Cool, H. 2000: ‘The significance of snake jewellery hoards’, Britannia 31, 29–40CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Corcoran, J.X.W.P. 1970: ‘The Giant's Caves, Luckington’, Wiltshire Archaeological and Natural History Magazine 65, 39–63Google Scholar
Corney, M. 2001: ‘The Romano-British nucleated settlements of Wiltshire’, in Ellis 2001, 5–38Google Scholar
Crawford, O.G.S. 1925: The Long Barrows of the Cotswolds, GloucesterGoogle Scholar
Creighton, J. 2000: Coins and Power in Late Iron Age Britain, CambridgeCrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cunliffe, B.W. 1988: The Temple of Sulis Minerva at Bath. Vol. 2: Finds from the Sacred Spring, Oxford University Committee for Archaeology Monograph 16, OxfordGoogle Scholar
Dark, K.R. 1993: ‘Roman-period activity at prehistoric ritual monuments in Britain and the Armorican peninsula’, in Scott 1993, 133–46CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Darvill, T. 2004: Long Barrows of the Cotswolds and Surrounding Areas, StroudGoogle Scholar
Darvill, T. 2006: Stonehenge: The Biography of a Landscape, StroudGoogle Scholar
Darvill, T., and Grinsell, L.V. 1989: ‘Gloucestershire barrows: supplement 1961–1988’, Transactions of the Bristol and Gloucestershire Archaeological Society 107, 39–105Google Scholar
David, H.E. 1923–4: ‘Culver Hole’, Report of the Royal Institution of South Wales, n.n., 25–8Google Scholar
Davies, J.L. 1980: Aspects of Native Settlement in Roman Wales and the Marches, unpub. PhD thesis, University of WalesGoogle Scholar
Davies, M. 1975: ‘Ogof Morfran’, Archaeology in Wales 15, 38Google Scholar
Davies, M. 1989: ‘Recent advances in cave archaeology in Southwest Wales’, in Ford, T.D. (ed.), Limestones and Caves of Wales, Cambridge, 79–91Google Scholar
Davies, M., and Kennedy, R.A. 1969: ‘Ogof Morfran’, Archaeology in Wales 9, 14Google Scholar
Davis, O., Sharples, N., and Waddington, K. (eds) 2008: Changing Perspectives on the First Millennium BC, OxfordGoogle Scholar
Donovan, H.E. 1938: ‘Adlestrop Hill Barrow, Gloucestershire’, Transactions of the Bristol and Gloucestershire Archaeological Society 60, 152–64Google Scholar
Ellis, P. (ed.) 2001: Roman Wiltshire and After, DevizesGoogle Scholar
Esmonde Cleary, A.S. 2000: ‘Putting the dead in their place: burial location in Roman Britain’, in Pearce, J., Millett, M. and Struck, M. (eds), Burial, Society and Context in the Roman World, Oxford, 127–42Google Scholar
Evans, C., and Hodder, I. 2006: Marshland Communities and Cultural Landscapes, CambridgeGoogle Scholar
Everton, A., and Everton, R. 1972: ‘Hay Wood cave burials, Mendip Hills, Somerset’, Proceedings of the University of Bristol Spelaeological Society 13.1, 5–29Google Scholar
Field, D. 2003: ‘Silbury Hill’, British Archaeology 70, 15–17Google Scholar
Field, D. 2006: Earthen Long Barrows, StroudGoogle Scholar
Fulford, M. 2001: ‘Links with the past: pervasive “ritual” behaviour in Roman Britain’, Britannia 32, 199–218CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gabb, G. 2006: Swansea and its History, Vol. 1, SwanseaGoogle Scholar
Gillings, M., and Pollard, J. 2004: Avebury, LondonGoogle Scholar
Gosden, C., and Lock, G. 1998: ‘Prehistoric histories’, World Archaeology 30, 2–12CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Grinsell, L.V. 1967: ‘Barrow treasure in fact, tradition and legislation’, Folklore 78, 20–5CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Harrison, R.A. 1977: ‘The Uphill Quarry Caves, Weston-super-Mare: a reappraisal’, Proceedings of the University of Bristol Spelaeological Society 14.3, 233–54Google Scholar
Hartridge, R. 1978: ‘Excavations at the prehistoric and Romano-British site on Slonk Hill, Shoreham’, Sussex Archaeological Collections 116, 69–141Google Scholar
Hawkes, C.J., Rogers, J.M., and Tratman, E.K. 1979: ‘Romano-British cemetery in the fourth chamber of Wookey Hole Cave’, Proceedings of the University of Bristol Spelaeological Society 15.1, 23–52Google Scholar
Hill, J.D. 1995: Ritual and Rubbish in the Iron Age of Wessex, BAR British Series 242, OxfordGoogle Scholar
Hingley, R. 1996: ‘Ancestors and identity in the later prehistory of Atlantic Scotland’, World Archaeology 28, 231–43CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hingley, R. 2009: ‘Esoteric knowledge? ancient bronze artefacts from Iron Age contexts’, Proceedings of the Prehistoric Society 75, 143–65CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hirsch, E., and Stewart, C. 2005: ‘Introduction: ethnographies of history’, History and Anthropology 16, 261–74CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hussey, M.S. 1964–6: ‘Final excavations at the Lesser Garth Cave, Pentyrch’, Transactions of the Cardiff Naturalists' Society 93, 18–39Google Scholar
Hutton, R.E. 1991: The Pagan Religions of the Ancient British Isles, OxfordGoogle Scholar
Kinnes, I.A., and Longworth, I.H. 1985: Catalogue of the Excavated Prehistoric and Romano-British Material in the Greenwell Collection, LondonGoogle Scholar
Lally, M. 2008: ‘Bodies of difference in Iron Age Southern England’, in Davis et al. 2008, 119–38Google Scholar
Levitan, B.M., Audsley, A., Hawkes, C., Moody, A., Moody, P., Smart, P.M., and Thomas, J. 1988: ‘Charterhouse Warren Farm Swallet, Mendip, Somerset’, Proceedings of the University of Bristol Spelaeological Society 18.2, 171–239Google Scholar
Madgwick, R. 2008: ‘Patterns in the modification of animal and human bones in Iron Age Wessex’, in Davis et al. 2008, 99–118Google Scholar
Marsden, B.M. 1982a: ‘Excavations at the Minning Low chambered cairn’, Derbyshire Archaeological Journal 102, 5–22Google Scholar
Marsden, B.M. 1982b: ‘The exacavation of the Roystone Grange round cairn’, Derbyshire Archaeological Journal 102, 23–32Google Scholar
Mason, E.J. 1968: ‘Ogof-yr-Esgyrn, Dan-yr-Ogof Caves, Brecknock’, Archaeologia Cambrensis 117, 18–71Google Scholar
Merewether, J. 1851: Diary of a Dean, LondonGoogle Scholar
Merrifield, R. 1987: The Archaeology of Ritual and Magic, LondonGoogle Scholar
Miles, D., Palmer, S., Lock, G., Gosden, C., and Cromarty, A. 2003: Uffington White Horse and its Landscape, Oxford Archaeology Thames Valley Landscapes Monograph 18, OxfordGoogle Scholar
Millett, M. 1995: ‘Treasure: interpreting Roman hoards’, in Cottam, S., Dungworth, D., Scott, E. and Taylor, J. (eds), TRAC 94: Proceedings of the Fourth Annual Theoretical Archaeology Conference, Oxford, 99–106Google Scholar
Moorhead, T.S.N. 2001: ‘Roman coin finds from Wiltshire’, in Ellis 2001, 85–107Google Scholar
Morgan, W.E., and Marshall, G. 1921: ‘Excavation of a long barrow at Llanigon, County Brecon’, Archaeologia Cambrensis 76, 296–7Google Scholar
Nash-Williams, V.E. 1929: ‘Topographical list of Roman remains found in South Wales’, Bulletin of the Board of Celtic Studies 4.3, 246–71Google Scholar
O'Neill, H. 1966: ‘Sale's Lot Long Barrow, Withington, Gloucestershire, 1962–1965’, Transactions of the Bristol and Gloucestershire Archaeological Society 85, 5–35Google Scholar
O'Neill, H., and Grinsell, L.V. 1960: ‘Gloucestershire barrows’, Transactions of the Bristol and Gloucestershire Archaeological Society 79, 3–149Google Scholar
Palmer, L.S. 1920: ‘The Keltic Cavern’, Proceedings of the University of Bristol Spelaeological Society 1.1 (1919–20), 9–20Google Scholar
Palmer, L.S. 1921: ‘Second report on the Keltic Cavern’, Proceedings of the University of Bristol Spelaeological Society 1.2 (1920–21), 87–91Google Scholar
Penniman, T.K. 1931: ‘Culver Hole Cave, Llangennith, Gower’, Bulletin of the Board of Celtic Studies 6.1, 90–2Google Scholar
Penniman, T.K. 1932: ‘Culver Hole Cave and vicinity, Llangennith and Llanmadoc, Gower’, Bulletin of the Board of Celtic Studies 6.2, 196–200Google Scholar
Penniman, T.K. 1935: ‘Culver Hole Cave, Llangennith, and vicinity’, Bulletin of the Board of Celtic Studies 7.4, 417–18Google Scholar
Pettitt, P., Bahn, P., Munoz, F.J., and Ripoli, S. 2007: Palaeolithic Cave Art at Creswell Crags in European Context, OxfordCrossRefGoogle Scholar
Philips, C.W. 1931: ‘Final report on the excavations of Merlin's Cave, Symonds Yat’, Proceedings of the University of Bristol Spelaeological Society 4.1, 11–33Google Scholar
Piggott, S. 1962: The West Kennet Long Barrow Excavations 1955–56, Ministry of Works Archaeological Reports 4, LondonGoogle Scholar
Pitts, M. 2000: Hengeworld, LondonGoogle Scholar
Pollard, J., and Reynolds, A. 2002: Avebury: The Biography of a Landscape, StroudGoogle Scholar
Pollock, K.J. 2006: The Evolution and Role of Burial Practice in Roman Wales, BAR British Series 426, OxfordCrossRefGoogle Scholar
Poulton, R., and Scott, E. 1993: ‘The hoarding, deposition and use of pewter in Roman Britain’, in Scott 1993, 115–32CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Robertson, A. 1970: ‘Roman coin hoards from non-Roman sites’, Wiltshire Archaeological and Natural History Magazine 65, 199–200Google Scholar
Robinson, P. 1995: ‘Miniature socketed bronze axes from Wiltshire’, Wiltshire Archaeological and Natural History Society Magazine 88, 60–8Google Scholar
Robinson, P. 2001: ‘Religion in Roman Wiltshire’, in Ellis 2001, 147–64Google Scholar
Rumsey, A. 1994: ‘The dreaming, human agency and inscriptive practice’, Oceania 65, 116–30CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Scott, E. (ed.) 1993: Theoretical Roman Archaeology First Conference Proceedings, AldershotGoogle Scholar
Selkirk, A., and Dixon, P. 1993: ‘Crickley Hill’, Current Archaeology 11, 502–3Google Scholar
Smith, G.H. 1989: ‘Evaluation work at the Druid Stoke megalithic monument, Stoke Bishop, Bristol, 1983’, Transactions of the Bristol and Gloucestershire Archaeological Society 107, 27–37Google Scholar
Smith, C.A., and Lynch, F.M. 1987: Trefignath and Din Dryfol, Cambrian Archaeological Association Monograph 3, CardiffGoogle Scholar
Smith, M., and Brickley, M. 2006: ‘The date and sequence of use of Neolithic funerary monuments’, Oxford Journal of Archaeology 25, 335–55CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Taylor, A., and Woodward, P.J. 1985: ‘A Bronze Age barrow cemetery, and associated settlement at Roxton, Bedfordshire’, Archaeological Journal 142, 73–149CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Taylor, H. 1921: ‘Rowberrow Cavern’, Proceedings of the University of Bristol Spelaeological Society 1.2 (1920–21), 83–6Google Scholar
Taylor, H. 1922: ‘Second report on Rowberrow Cavern’, Proceedings of the University of Bristol Spelaeological Society 1.3 (1921–22), 130–4Google Scholar
Taylor, H. 1923: ‘Third report on Rowberrow Cavern’, Proceedings of the University of Bristol Spelaeological Society 2.1 (1922–23), 40–50Google Scholar
Taylor, H. 1924: ‘Fourth report on Rowberrow Cavern’, Proceedings of the University of Bristol Spelaeological Society 2.2, 122–4Google Scholar
Taylor, H. 1925: ‘Percy Sladen Memorial Fund at Rowberrow Cavern, 1925. Being the fifth report on the cave’, Proceedings of the University of Bristol Spelaeological Society 2.3, 190–210Google Scholar
Taylor, H. 1927: ‘King Arthur's Cave, near Whitchurch, Ross-on-Wye’, Proceedings of the University of Bristol Spelaeological Society 3.2, 59–83Google Scholar
Tratman, E.K. 1938: ‘The excavation of Backwell Cave, Somerset’, Proceedings of the University of Bristol Spelaeological Society 5.1, 57–74Google Scholar
Tratman, E.K. 1975: ‘The cave archaeology and palaeontology of Mendip’, in Smith, D.I. and Drew, D.P. (eds), Limestones and Caves of the Mendip Hills, Newton AbbotGoogle Scholar
Tratman, E.K., and Henderson, G.T.D. 1927: ‘First report on the excavation of Sun Hole, Cheddar’, Proceedings of the University of Bristol Spelaeological Society 3.2, 84–97Google Scholar
Williams, A. 1939: ‘Prehistoric and Roman pottery in the Museum of the Royal Institution of South Wales, Swansea’, Archaeologia Cambrensis 94, 21–9Google Scholar
Williams, H. 1998a: ‘Monuments and the past in early Anglo-Saxon England’, World Archaeology 30, 90–108CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Williams, H. 1998b: ‘The ancient monument in Romano-British ritual practices’, in Forcey, C., Hawthorne, J. and Wither, R. (eds), TRAC 97: Proceedings of the Sixth Annual Theoretical Roman Archaeology Group, Oxford, 71–86Google Scholar
Woodward, A. 1992: English Heritage Book of Shrines and Sacrifice, LondonGoogle Scholar
Woodward, A., and Leach, P. 1993: The Uley Shrines, LondonGoogle Scholar