Archaeological Research Agenda for the Avebury World Heritage SiteAvebury is one of the few places in southern Britain to have acted as a focus for ceremonial and ritual activity during the Neolithic and early Bronze Age. The rich collection of archaeological sites, some visible and some buried, exerted physical and cultural influence on the landscape and environment for millennia. This volume forms the first formal research agenda for a World Heritage Site and is the result of several years' work by leading specialists. An introductory discussion of the specific research requirements of such an extraordinary site is followed by a Resource Assessment, a Research Agenda and a study of Research Strategies. These sections are arranged chronologically and cover the Palaeolithic through to the Saxon and medieval periods. The final section examines the methods and techniques used to gather data. These include geophysical survey, fieldwalking, aerial survey, evaluation and excavation, GIS survey and metal detecting. Contributors include Andrew J Lawson, Rosemary M J Cleal, Bryn Walters, Andrew Reynolds, Chris Gingell, Mark Corney, Gill Swanton, Peter Fowler, Michael J Allen, Mark Bowden and Nick Burton. |
Common terms and phrases
activity Agenda Allen analysis Anglo-Saxon appears archaeological artefacts assessment associated Avebury area Avenue Bronze Age building burial buried century ceremonial circle collection communities complex continued deposits detailed detectable ditch earlier early east enclosures English Heritage environment environmental established et al Evans evidence examination example excavation existing field finds Fowler further geophysical survey ground henge Hill identified important indicate Iron Age Kennet known land landscape Late later long barrow Lower major mapped material medieval methods Middle monuments Museum nature Neolithic Overton Palaeolithic particular pattern perhaps period Pleistocene possible potential pottery present priority probably Project questions recent recorded region remains represented resistivity ritual Roman settlement Silbury Smith soil stone structure suggested surface survey techniques understanding undertaken valley West West Kennet Whittle Wiltshire