Hostname: page-component-848d4c4894-nr4z6 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-05-11T10:03:16.424Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

What have Reconstructed Roundhouses Ever Done for Us..?

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 December 2014

Stephen Townend
Stephen Townend*
Affiliation:
Entec UK Ltd, Canon Court, Abbey Lawn, Abbey Foregate, Shrewsbury SY2 5DE
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Extract

The reconstructed roundhouse is everywhere: on the television, in the literature, in the landscape. It has powerful currency in both the public and academic understandings of the vernacular architecture of later British prehistory, in particular for the Iron Age. However, because the focus of these reconstructions is normally on technologies and engineering principles on the one hand, or on the experience of their occupation on the other, the roundhouse reconstruction — even after more than 30 years research around them — in fact currently tells us remarkably little about the past and a great deal about who we understand ourselves to be. This paper will explore what insight roundhouse reconstructions currently do and do not give into later British prehistory and what they may be able to indicate if the act of building is taken as a theme over the technologies of their construction or the experience of their space.

Type
Research Article
Information
Proceedings of the Prehistoric Society , Volume 73 , 2007 , pp. 97 - 111
Copyright
Copyright © The Prehistoric Society 2004

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Barrett, J., Freeman, P. & Woodward, A. 2000. Cadbury Castle, Somerset: the later prehistoric and early historic archaeology. London: English HeritageGoogle Scholar
Bersu, G. 1940. Excavations at Little Woodbury, Wiltshire. Proceedings of the Prehistoric Society 6, 30–111Google Scholar
Blockley, M. 1999. Archaeological reconstructions and the community in the UK. In Stone, & Planel, (eds) 1999, 15–34Google Scholar
Bulleid, A. an&d Gray, H. St George 1911. The Glastonbury Lake Village. Vol. 1. Taunton: Taunton MuseumGoogle Scholar
Bulleid, A. & Gray, H. St George 1917. The Glastonbury Lake Village. Vol. 2. Taunton: Taunton Museum.Google Scholar
Champion, T.C. & Collis, J.R. (eds), 1996. The Iron Age in Britain and Ireland: recent trends. Sheffield: Department of Archaeology and PrehistoryGoogle Scholar
Childe, V.G. & Thorneycroft, W. 1938. The vitrified fort at Rahoy, Morvern, Argyll. Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland 72, 23–43Google Scholar
Cunliffe, B. & Poole, C. 1991. Danebury: an Iron Age Hillfort in Hampshire. Vol.4 the Excavations 1979–1988: the site. London: Council for British Archaeology Research Report 52Google Scholar
Earwood, C. 1993. Domestic Wooden Artefacts in Britain and Ireland from Neolithic to Viking Times. Exeter: University PressGoogle Scholar
Evans, C. 1989. Archaeology and modern times: Bersu's Woodbury 1938–1939. Antiquity 63, 436–50Google Scholar
Evans, C. & Serjeantson, D. 1988. The backwater economy of a fen-edge community in the Iron Age: the Upper Delphs, Haddenham. Antiquity 62, 360–70Google Scholar
Fitzpatrick, A.P. 1991. ‘Celtic (Iron Age) religion’ — traditional and timeless? Scottish Archaeological Review 8, 123–9Google Scholar
Fitzpatrick, A.P. 1994. Outside in: the structure of an Early Iron Age House at Dunston Park, Thatcham, Berkshire. In Fitzpatrick, & Morris, (eds) 1994, 68–72Google Scholar
Fitzpatrick, A.P. 1997. Everyday life in Iron Age Wessex. In Gwilt, A. & Haselgrove, C. (eds), Reconstructing Iron Age Societies, 73–86. Oxford: Oxbow Monograph 71Google Scholar
Fitzpatrick, A.P. & Morris, E. L. (eds). 1994. The Iron Age in Wessex: recent Work. Salisbury: Trust for Wessex ArchaeologyGoogle Scholar
Giles, M. & Parker Pearson, M. 1999. Learning to live in the Iron Age: dwelling and praxis. In Bevan, B. (ed.), Northern Exposure: interpretative devolution and the Iron Ages in Britain, 217–31. Leicester: Leicester University Archaeological Monograph 4Google Scholar
Guilbert, G. 1982. Post-ring symmetry at Moel Y Gaer and some other sites in prehistoric Britain. In Drury, P.J. (ed.), Structural Reconstruction: approaches to the interpretation of the excavated remains of buildings, 67–86. Oxford: British Archaeological Report 110Google Scholar
Harding, D.W., Blake, I.M. & Reynolds, P.J. 1993. An Iron. Age Settlement in Dorset: excavation and reconstruction. Edinburgh: University of Edinburgh, Department of ArchaeologyGoogle Scholar
Hawkes, J. 1946. The beginning of history: a film. Antiquity 20, 78–82Google Scholar
Hill, J.D. 1988. Celtic Castles in the Air. Unpublished PhD Thesis University of CambridgeGoogle Scholar
Hill, J.D. 1993. Can we Recognise a different European past? A contrastive rrchaeology of later prehistoric settlements in southern England. Journal of European Archaeology 1, 57–75Google Scholar
Hill, J.D. 1994. Why we should not take the data from Iron Age settlements for granted. Recent studies of intrasite patterning. In Fitzpatrick, & Morris, (eds) 1994, 4–8Google Scholar
Hill, J.D. 1996. Hill-forts and the Iron Age of Wessex. In Champion, & Collis, (eds) 1996, 56–116Google Scholar
Hingley, R. 1990. Domestic organisation and gender relations in Iron Age and Romano-British households. In Samson, R. (ed.), The Social Archaeology of Houses, 125–48. Edinburgh: University PressGoogle Scholar
Langley, J.K. 1972a. Iron Age compound, Avoncroft Museum. Worcester Archaeological Newsletter 10, 1–2Google Scholar
Langley, J.K. 1972b. Iron Age compound, Avoncroft Museum of Buildings. Worcester Archaeological Newsletter 11, 1–2Google Scholar
Luzmoore, J. 1986. History through drama — the Iron Age Hut Project. Times Educational Supplement 8, 8Google Scholar
Moore, M. 1982. An Iron Age prefab. In Croft, R. (ed.), Archaeology and Science. London: Council for British ArchaeologyGoogle Scholar
Moore, M. 1986. Groby Iron Age Farmstead Reconstruction. Rescue News 39, 1–8Google Scholar
Mytum, H. 1986a. Excavation and experiment at Castell Henllys. Popular Archaeology 7(5), 8–14Google Scholar
Mytum, H. 1986b. The reconstruction of an Iron Age roundhouse at Castell Henllys, Dyfed. Bulletin of the Board of Celtic Studies 33, 283–90Google Scholar
Mytum, H. 2004. Reconstruction policy and purpose at Castell Henllys Iron Age Fort. In Jameson, J. H. (ed.), The Reconstructed Past, 91–102. Walnut Creek: Alta MiraGoogle Scholar
Oswald, A. 1991. A Doorway on the Past: roundhouse entrance orientation and its significance in Iron Age Britain. Unpublished MA Dissertation, University of CambridgeGoogle Scholar
Oswald, A. 1997. A doorway on the past: practical and mystical concerns in the orientation of roundhouse doorways. In Gwilt, A. & Haselgrove, C. (eds), Reconstructing Iron Age Societies: new approaches to the British Iron Age, 87–95. Oxford: Oxbow Monograph 71Google Scholar
Parker Pearson, M. 1996. Food, fertility and front doors in the first millennium BC. In Champion, & Collis, (eds) 1996, 117–132Google Scholar
Parker Pearson, M. & Richards, C. 1994. Architecture and order: spatial representation and archaeology. In Parker Pearson, M. & Richards, C. (eds), Architecture and Order: approaches to social space, 38–72. London: RoutledgeGoogle Scholar
Percival, J. 1980. Living in the Past. London: BBCGoogle Scholar
Percival-Westell, W. & Harvey, K. 1939. Look and Find Book 8: unwritten history and how to read it. London: MacmillanGoogle Scholar
Piccini, A. 1999. Wargames and Wendy Houses: open air reconstructions of prehistoric life. In Merriman, N. (ed.), Making Early History in Museums, 151–72. London & New York: Leicester University PressGoogle Scholar
Renfrew, C. & Bahn, P. 1992. Archaeology: theories methods and practice. 1st Edn. London: Thames & HudsonGoogle Scholar
Renfrew, C. & Bahn, P. 1996. Archaeology: theories methods and practice. 2nd Edn. London: Thames & HudsonGoogle Scholar
Renfrew, C. & Bahn, P. 2000. Archaeology: theories methods and practice. 3rd Edn. London: Thames & HudsonGoogle Scholar
Reynolds, P.J. 1971. Iron Age compound, Avoncroft Museum of Buildings. Worcester Archaeological Newsletter 8, 2–3Google Scholar
Reynolds, P.J. (ed.). 1972. Special Edition: Experimental Archaeology. Worcester Archaeological Newsletter 9. WorcesterGoogle Scholar
Reynolds, P.J. 1975. The Butser Ancient Farm Project. Bulletin of the Birmingham Archaeological Society 13, 36–8Google Scholar
Reynolds, P.J. 1976. Experimental archaeology and the Butser Ancient Farm Project. Rescue News 11, 7–8Google Scholar
Reynolds, P.J. 1977. Experimental archaeology and the Butser Ancient Farm Research Project. In Collis, J. (ed.), The Iron Age in Britain — a Review, 32–40. Sheffield: University of SheffieldGoogle Scholar
Reynolds, P.J. 1978. Archaeology by experiment: a research tool for tomorrow. In Darvill, T. C., Parker Pearson, M., Smith, R.W. & Thomas, R. M. (eds), New Approaches to Our Past. An Archaeological Forum, 139–55. Southampton: University of SouthamptonGoogle Scholar
Reynolds, P.J. 1979. Iron Age Farm. The Butser Experiment. London: British MuseumGoogle Scholar
Reynolds, P.J. 1980. Butser Ancient Farm: impressions. Petersfield: Archaeological ResearchGoogle Scholar
Reynolds, P.J. 1982. Substructure to superstructure. In Drury, P.J. (ed), Structural Reconstruction: approachesto the interpretation of the excavated remains of buildings, 173–98. Oxford: British Archaeological Report 110Google Scholar
Reynolds, P.J. 1988. The Butser Ancient Farm. British Archaeology (March/April), 4–5Google Scholar
Reynolds, P.J. 1989. Reconstruction or construct: the Pimperne House. British Archaeology (March/April), 34–6Google Scholar
Reynolds, P.J. 1993. Experimental reconstruction, in Harding et al. (eds) 1993Google Scholar
Reynolds, P.J. 1994. Butser Ancient Farm. In Fitzpatrick, & Morris, (eds) 1994, 11–14Google Scholar
Reynolds, P.J. 1999. Butser Ancient Farm, Hampshire. In Stone, & Planel, (eds) 1999, 124–35Google Scholar
Sorrell, A. 1981. Reconstructing the Past. London: Book Club AssociatesGoogle Scholar
Stokes, M.A. 1972. Experimental archaeology of the Iron Age. Bulletin of the University of Birmingham Archaeological Society 11, 1–3Google Scholar
Stone, P.G. & Planel, P.G. (eds). 1999. The Constructed Past: experimental archaeology, education and the public. London: RoutledgeGoogle Scholar
Thomas, M. 1970. Avoncroft Museum of Buildings Limited, Stoke Prior, Nr, Bromsgrove, Worcs. Interim Report on Building Activities. Worcestershire Archaeology Newsletter 5, 14–16Google Scholar
Townend, S.D. 2003. Review of Muhr T. 1997. Atlas.Ti 5: the knowledge workbench. London: Papers from the Institute of Archaeology 14, 161–8Google Scholar
Townend, S.D. 2005. The Development and Application of a Heideggerian Phenomenological Methodology for the Analysis of Human Engagement in Field-Based Experimental Archaeology: A Case Study from the Reconstruction of an Iron Age Roundhouse in Wales. Unpublished PhD Thesis, Institute of Archaeology, University College LondonGoogle Scholar
Wise, P.J. 1989. ‘Go and build an Iron Age house they said’ — the Grimsby Project. Archaeological Review from Cambridge 8(2), 239–45Google Scholar