Biographies of enclosure: an introduction

Summary

The papers in this session explore the extended biographies of prehistoric enclosures, bringing together researchers from several geographical areas and periods. Although archaeologists have been drawn by the often monumental qualities of prehistoric enclosures, the act of enclosure was frequently just one episode in long-lived and/or recurrent patterns of human activity at significant places in the landscape. The European focus on the concept of the ‘hillfort’, for example, has tended to abstract many later prehistoric enclosures from their longer-term histories as special places whose meanings altered markedly through time. This presentation introduces these issues, drawing on evidence from the SE Scottish hillfort of Traprain Law. From the Late Neolithic onwards, Traprain Law was a place of primarily religious, funerary and cosmological significance. Archaeological evidence includes the creation of rock art panels in the Late Neolithic and Early Bronze Age, the presence of Early Bronze Age burials, and the deposition of fine metalwork in the Later Bronze Age. During two brief episodes, however, in the 9th century BC and 1st-4th centuries AD, the hill became a focus of dense, high-status occupation. This paper examines how far each episode of human engagement with the hill drew upon earlier accretions of meaning.

SAA 2015 abstracts made available in tDAR courtesy of the Society for American Archaeology and Center for Digital Antiquity Collaborative Program to improve digital data in archaeology. If you are the author of this presentation you may upload your paper, poster, presentation, or associated data (up to 3 files/30MB) for free. Please visit http://www.tdar.org/SAA2015 for instructions and more information.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 80th Annual Meeting, San Francisco, CA (2015)   •
• Biographies of Enclosure in Global Context

Keywords

Spatial Coverage