The Avebury Landscape: aspects of the field archaeology of the Marlborough Downs edited by Graham Brown, David Field and David McOmish
Oxbow Books, 2005, 224pp, many B + W Figs and plates, ISBN 184217 152 6 (£30).
This book is an endorsement of the old adage that one can never have too much
of a good thing. It takes the Marlborough Downs – which has the great
prehistoric site of Avebury at its core – and through a series of essays shows
how the landscape has developed over millennia. It is part of a growing custom
of publishing conference proceedings – sometimes with less discrimination than
one would wish as they can be dysfunctional and superficial – but this volume
makes the grade and satisfies in its balance, content, formatting and the high
quality of Deborah Cunliffe’s illustrations. It is introduced by that doyen of
Marlborough Downs studies – Peter Fowler and is poignantly offered to his late
colleague Desmond Bonney. The acknowledgements make it clear that the
publication has benefited greatly from the merger of the Royal Commission on
the Historical Monuments of England with English Heritage. The latter provided
the financial support which made the volume possible – if only the money could
have included the provision of an index!
The organisation of the volume follows traditional lines – survey, geology,
environmental change succeeded by the familiar chest-of-drawers of cultural
change – Mesolithic (S. Allen), Neolithic (Pollard), Bronze Age (Cleal,
McOmish, Barber), Iron Age (Bowden), Roman and later (Andrews). The essays
therefore have a thematic unity even if their ordering has an over-familiar
appearance. It makes it reassuringly simple, for example, for a reviewer to
identify the volume’s strengths and weaknesses. The bulk of the essays deal
with prehistoric matter and only four with Romans and later. The title of Mike
Allen’s contribution on environmental change refers pointedly to its
prehistoric context. This is probably a reflection of the research interests of
past workers but there must surely be much more to be said on Roman and later
settlement patterns and it is a value of this volume that it makes this clear –
albeit inadvertently. Similarly, such conferences – from which this book sprang
– should pay greater heed to the interests and views of those who live and work
in the areas under review. Jon Cannon’s views on the Swallowcliffe Spring are
no substitute for the sense of place that such contributions would convey.
The book opens with a magnanimous gesture by Peter Fowler who, although not
invited to the 2002 seminar, nevertheless got to write the foreword to the
book. This he has triumphantly done in a witty penetrating style and those who
wish to understand the volume would do well to read it. Building on its
contents he supplements the papers with five outstanding issues which require
attention at the next research stage. We must hope that resources will be made
available to address them. The volume editors provide a stimulating
introductory overview illustrated by sumptuous plans of Rybury and Knap Hill –
the high quality of which are sustained throughout the volume, particularly in
respect of the Avebury monument itself and Silbury Hill in the following paper
on fieldwork in the Avebury area. The volume is worth perusing for these alone
which have lasting value and are a sheer delight. We are then brought up to
date on aerial survey (Simon Crutchley) and geophysics (Andrew David), the
highlights of which are area plots of the Avebury region and magnetometer
surveys of Liddington Castle and Oldbury hill-forts. The welcome paper on
geological history – to this reviewer’s great satisfaction – draws attention to
the total lack of evidence for glaciation on the Marlborough Downs and the
absence of any dolerite stones. A stimulating paper by Mike Allen reviews the
abundant palaeo-environmental information from the region and questions some
assumptions and perceptions – John Evans would have loved it! The remaining
papers deal with the cultural sequence as presently understood on the
Marlborough Downs and provide an important platform from which to move forward
with new questions in mind. They are important works of consolidation and
synthesis and form the core of the volume. Overall, the volume marks a
significant stage in our understanding of Avebury and its context. Many people
have contributed to our current perceptions. This volume is an appropriate
tribute to them and is an essential basis on which to build for the future.
Geoff Wainwright
Bluestone
Review Submitted: August 2005
The views expressed in
this review are not necessarily those of the Society or the Reviews
Editor.
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