Time Signatures: Bayes and the British Neolithic
Channel: Recording Archaeology
Date: 2019-05-08

During the last ten years the application of Bayesian analysis has provided a more precise chronology for the British Neolithic than was available before. This work has focused on the dating of long barrows, causewayed enclosures and cursus monuments. Two of these types – the enclosures and mounds – were shared with Continental Europe, while cursuses were an entirely insular development. The results of the new research present some problems, as the structures it considered seem to have been associated with different conceptions of time. The long mounds shared similar structural histories. Despite their resemblance to one another, they were built at completely different dates. Causewayed enclosures are another widespread tradition in Europe, but the British examples seem to have been constructed almost simultaneously; some remained in use whilst others were abandoned. Few of the Continental examples with which they share features in common were contemporary with them. Finally, the construction of cursuses extended over a longer period. It started in the north and these monuments changed their character over time. This paper asks how we can interpret such distinctive sequences and how they were related to one another. 

Richard Bradley (University of Reading)