In contrast to earlier periods, the scarcity of dedicated ritual and funerary monuments in much of Iron Age Britain challenges archaeologists to look elsewhere for insights into later prehistoric cosmologies. Indeed, symbolic behaviour does persist, in the form of structured deposits on the settlements that dominate the archaeological record at this time; a phenomenon described by Richard Bradley as ‘ritualization of the domestic sphere’ (Reference Bradley2003). Votive deposits also continue in the broader landscape, and, though recent studies have begun to shed light on these practices, a synthesis of Iron Age depositional practice outside of settlement contexts remains lacking. The doctoral research that forms the core of the present volume goes some way to filling this lacuna. With 569 objects from 102 Iron Age sites across Scotland and Wales, this “big data” study (p.129) seeks to better understand the role of wetland landscapes in depositional practice. It does this by considering sub- and inter-regional trends in the objects deposited, the specific wetland landscapes chosen for deposition, and the timing and tempo of deposition across the Iron Age.
A major challenge of the study, duly acknowledged by the author, is that many of the objects were recovered by non-archaeologists (e.g. peat-cutters, drain diggers and metal-detectorists), which has implications for standards of recovery, reporting, conservation and associated contextual information. The data also straddle several types of curatorial platform (e.g. museum collection databases, Historic Environment Records, Portable Antiquity Scheme and Treasure Trove) and, since the research was conducted during a global pandemic, few opportunities were available to interrogate the objects first-hand.
After outlining the temporal and geographical scope of the study (Chapter 1), the volume begins by exploring the importance of wetlands for prehistoric societies (Chapter 2). Chapter 3 examines previous studies on prehistoric ritual and considers the complexities of ritualised behaviour in the past, while Chapter 4 defines various ‘wetland depositional traditions’ (multi-period and single-period hoards, single objects, paired deposits and multi-period single-object deposits) that form the interpretative framework for the remainder of the study. There could be some debate around the utility of the ‘paired deposits’ category. Although some objects, such as armlets in north-east Scotland, do appear to occur in pairs, the use of the term to refer to swords deposited with their scabbards (p.34) perhaps overstretches the term, since these were presumably perceived as a single composite unit by the individual(s) who deposited them.
Chapters 5–8 detail all the known Iron Age wetland deposits from Scotland and Wales by sub-region and deposit ‘tradition’. Perhaps unsurprisingly, peatlands seem to be a focus for deposition, particularly in the Highlands and Islands of Scotland and the western sub-regions of Wales, as are river floodplains, the latter particularly for the deposition of single objects such as coins, terrets, brooches and fasteners. Many of the brooches and fasteners are broken or incomplete, however, so a more parsimonious explanation might be that they are the result of accidental losses. Similarly, the concentration of single coin ‘deposits’ in south-west Wales perhaps tells us more about their distribution in daily life, rather than any specific ritualised behaviour. The recurrence of equestrian gear in hoards, however, does appear to reflect a genuine preoccupation with horse/chariot accoutrements for deposition in wetland contexts.
Chapters 9–11 explore broader regional and chronological patterns. For Wales, wetland deposition appears to increase dramatically in the first centuries BC/AD, coinciding latterly with Roman campaigns. In Scotland too, a distinct horizon in wetland deposition from the first to the early third century AD coincides with Rome's northern forays. There are, however, as the author notes, important considerations here. Although wetland environments preserve a larger range of materials than their dry-land counterparts, the context of recovery has continued to bias the record towards more easily identifiable metalwork. As such, most objects are dated on typological grounds, or through AMS dating of organic components, which tell us about their manufacture rather than the time of their deposition. Given increasing evidence for artefact curation during the Iron Age, many objects may have been deposited a considerable time after their manufacture and without dates for both object and depositional context, we may be missing a large piece of the puzzle. In this regard, I was surprised not to see more consideration of object biographies, which might at least hint at these processes.
Although the volume would have benefitted from a thorough copy-edit to iron out typographical errors, reduce repetition and sharpen the text in its transformation from doctoral thesis to publication, it nonetheless synthesises previously disparate data and is a useful contribution to the study of prehistoric wetlands.
