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Book Review
| The Peopling of Britain: The Shaping of a Human Landscape. Edited by Paul Stack and Ryk Ward. New York: Oxford University Press, 2002. xi + 295 pp. Illustrations, maps, notes, index. Cloth $74.00.
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| Late in 2003, two crucial archeological discoveries were made as bulldozers stripped away topsoil to begin the construction of two separate roadways. In West Yorkshire, archeologists found a 2,500 year-old complete chariot and the skeleton of what must have been a tribal leader. Further west than expected, this discovery will lead to some significant revisions of theories on population dispersal in Iron Age Britain. Near Salisbury, the ancient remains of a 250,000 year old campfire were uncovered along with flint axes and horse bones. This may be the earliest evidence of man-made fire in Europe, indicating that early hominids used fire before the emergence of Homo sapiens. These almost simultaneous discoveries are holding up the construction of two modern roadways. Both of these examples highlight our incomplete understanding of Britain's very complex and remote past, and how far-reaching and intensive our modern societies and economies are. The Peopling of Britain, edited by Paul Slack and Ryk Ward, touches on both of these subjects. |
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This text explores how the evolving human presence in Britain shaped the British landscape. From the perspective of environmental history, this text takes the important additional step of examining how the British landscape has molded the development of British communities. The chapters that include a comment section were especially relevant as they open up these topics further and add another layer of complexity. Together these lectures and the commentaries trace the various phases of settlement, showing how much of what we know has only recently been unearthed, and how much remains to be discovered. |
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Clive Gamble, in "Early Beginnings 500,000—35,000 Years Ago" has one of the more difficult tasks. This, and Paul Mellars' chapter "The Homo Sapiens Peopling of Europe" are the two most interdisciplinary and comprehensive chapters. Gamble sketchs what he calls a "landscape of habit" which includes subsistence and social behaviors. Paul Mellars picks up this theme and enters the lively debate on the origins of Homo sapiens. He examines the most current archeological and biological evidence to uncover the evolution of behavioral and cultural patterns associated with anatomically modern populations. With the end of these first two chapters, as Andrew Sherratt points out in his comment on Mellars's work, the biological part of the story is largely over. |
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Alasdair Whittle, in his chapter "The Coming of Agriculture," not only provides an excellent summary of the current state of knowledge on this topic, but he also makes a strong case for approaching these understandings cautiously and from multiple perspectives. Colin Renfrew's comment, "Significant Transitions," qualifies some of Whittle's assertions and adds even more caution and a multiplicity of perspectives to the analysis of this subject. Though a short comment, this exchange between Whittle and Renfrew is a great example of the importance of scholarly debate, interdisciplinary work, and revisiting past understandings. As Barry Cunliffe points out in his chapter, "Tribes and Empires c. 1500 BC-AD 500," "In any study which involves the creative interaction of disciplines it is necessary for us all to be aware of current thought and debate in the relevant subject areas" (p. 116). |
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While the themes of complexity, interdisciplinary work, and scholarly debate are apparent in almost the whole series, the chapter by E.A. Wrigley, "Country and Town," cuts against the grain. Like all of Wrigley's work, this is an example of fine scholarship and it is instructive, but contrary to the rest of this series, Wrigley is reducing what is a complex subject to a very general schema. By using this schema, Wrigley provides an instructive but general account of economic intensification, industrialization, and urbanization. In his comment on this lecture, "Prometheus Prostrated?" John Langton somewhat rectifies this and returns us to the overarching themes of this series. He cautions that throwing "economic categories across time and space in order to measure historical changes and geographical differences assumes that constant or congruent economic systems existed to contain them" (p. 243). |
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Despite the incongruity of the Wrigley piece, which is still an informative and important scholarly contribution, this is a significant introduction to the subject of the peopling of Britain. This book will be useful to British historians interested in this subject, to historians of the European environment, and to anyone looking for an introduction to the study of the settling of Britain. The great strength of this collection is its multi-disciplinary perspective and its complexity. Slack and Ward stress that "it is essential that experts in different fields communicate and that they should be aware of the latest findings of their different disciplines" (p. 9). In this, Linacre College, the lecture series they host, and Oxford University Press are making a valuable contribution. |
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Matthew Osborn is an assistant professor at Green Mountain College, Poultney, Vermont. |
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