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Sited at the furthest limits of the Neolithic revolution and standing at the confluence of the two great sea routes of prehistory, Britain and Ireland are distinct from continental Europe for much of the prehistoric sequence. In this landmark study - the first significant survey of the archaeology of Britain and Ireland for twenty years - Richard Bradley offers a new interpretation of the unique archaeological record of these islands based on a wealth of current and largely unpublished data. Bradley surveys the entire archaeological sequence over a 4,000 year period, from the adoption of agriculture in the Neolithic period to the discovery of Britain and Ireland by travellers from the Mediterranean during the later pre-Roman Iron Age. Significantly, this is the first modern account to treat Britain and Ireland on equal terms, offering a detailed interpretation of the prehistory of both islands.
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P1: JZZ 0521848113pre CUFX059/Bradlay Printer: cupusbw 0 521 84811 3 March 10, 2007 This page intentionally left blank ii 0:33 P1: JZZ 0521848113pre CUFX059/Bradlay Printer: cupusbw 0 521 84811 3 March 10, 2007 0:33 THE PREHISTORY OF BR ITAIN AND IRELAND This book presents a new interpretation of the prehistory of Britain and Ireland and is the first in many years to consider both regions together. Richard Bradley begins the account when Britain became separated from the Continent and ends with the integration of the two islands into a wider European network shortly before the Roman Conquest. Using both textual and material documentation, he also distils the results of recent fieldwork, much of it funded by commercial developers, which has greatly expanded the quantity and variety of excavated evidence. Bradley also compares the archaeology of both islands and discusses the varied ways in which their inhabitants lived their lives. Intended as an interpretation rather than a manual, this book is primarily concerned with settlements, landscapes, monuments, and the evidence for regional variation. All of these topics are discussed in relation to contemporary approaches to prehistory. Treating Britain and Ireland on equal terms, Bradley also aims to avoid emphasizing a few well-researched areas, an approach that characterized previous accounts of this subject. Richard Bradley is a professor of archaeology at the University of Reading. A Fellow of the British Academy and recipient of an honorary doctorate from the University of Lund, he is the author of Ritual and Domestic Life in Prehistoric Europe, The Past in Prehistoric Societies: An Archaeology of Natural Places, The Significance of Monuments, and Rock Art and the Prehistory of Atlantic Europe. i P1: JZZ 0521848113pre CUFX059/Bradlay Printer: cupusbw 0 521 84811 3 ii March 10, 2007 0:33 P1: JZZ 0521848113pre CUFX059/Bradlay Printer: cupusbw 0 521 84811 3 March 10, 2007 0:33 CAMBR IDGE WORLD ARCHAEOLOGY series editor NOR MAN YOFFEE , University of Michigan editorial board SUSAN ALCOCK , University of Michigan TOM DILLEHAY , University of Kentucky STEPHEN SHENNAN , University College London CARLA SINOPOLI , University of Michigan The Cambridge World Archaeology series is addressed to students and professional archaeologists and to academics in related disciplines. Each volume presents a survey of the archaeology of a region of the world, providing an up-to-date account of research and integration of recent findings with new concerns of interpretation. Although the focus is on a specific region, broader cultural trends are discussed and the implications of regional findings for cross-cultural int