Lives in Land – Mucking Excavations: Volume 1. Prehistory, Context and Summary (CAU Landscape Archive Series: Historiography &

The excavations led by Margaret and Tom Jones on the Thames gravel terraces at Mucking, Essex, undertaken between 1965 and 1978 are legendary. The largest area excavation ever undertaken in the British Isles, involving around 5000 participants, recorded around 44,000 archaeological features dating from the Beaker to Anglo-Saxon periods and recovered something in the region of 1.7 million finds of Mesolithic to post-medieval date. While various publications have emerged over the intervening years, the death of both directors, insufficient funding, many organizational complications and the sheer volume of material evidence have severely delayed full publication of this extraordinary palimpsest landscape. Lives in Land is the first of two major volumes which bring together all the evidence from Mucking, presenting both the detail of many important structures and assemblages and a comprehensive synthesis of landscape development through the ages: settlement histories, changing land-use, death and burial, industry and craft activities. The long time-gap since completion of the excavations has allowed the authors the unprecedented opportunity to stand back from the density of site data and place the vast sum of Mucking evidence in the wider context of the archaeology of southern England throughout the major periods of occupation and activity. Lives in Land begins with a thorough evaluation of the methods, philosophy and archival status of the Mucking project against the organizational and funding background of its time, and discusses its fascinating and complex history through a period of fundamental change in archaeological practice, legislation, finance, research priorities and theoretical paradigms in British Archaeology. Subsequent chapters deal with the prehistoric landscape, each focusing on the major themes that emerge by major period from analysis and synthesis of the data. The authors draw on archival material including site notebooks and personal accounts from key participants to provide a detailed but lively account of this iconic landscape investigation. Table of Contents Chapter One: Introduction - Landscape and Archival Palimpsests Total Archaeology Framing Context Notebook Archaeology Inset: Project Framing (I) - Thinking Graphically (Mucking’s ‘Phase-wall’) Archive as Palimpsest Chapter Two: Scattered Usage and First Allotment - Mesolithic to Middle Bronze Age Mucking and the Palaeogeography of the Thames Estuary, by Peter Murphy Tracings - Mesolithic to Early Bronze Age Activity, with a contribution by Elizabeth Healey Mesolithic/Earlier Neolithic, with contributions by Ian Kinnes and Mark Birley Grooved Ware, with contributions by Mark Birley, Mark Knight and Elizabeth Healey Beaker, with contributions by Alex Gibson and Elizabeth Healey Earlier/Middle Bronze Age with a contribution by Nigel Brown Inset: Recollections (I) - Fieldwork Discussion Chapter Three: The Rings - Late Bronze Age Late Bronze Age Pottery Groups, by Matt Brudenell The North Field Settlement The South Rings, with John Etté Material Culture, with contributions by Elizabeth Healey, Matt Brudenell, Ben Roberts, Margaret Jones, Hilary Howard, Paul Barford David Buckley and Hilary Major Economic and other data, with contributions by Geraldene Done, Paul Barford and Ailsa Mainman Inset: Appreciation: Margaret Jones - A Legacy of Formidable Field Women, by Anwen Cooper and Julia Roberts Discussion Chapter Four: Compounding Spaces and Connected Communities - Iron Age (I) Early Iron Age, with a contribution by Matthew Brudenell The Structures Roundhouses Rectangular Post-hole Structures Rectangular Post-Hole Settings, by Margaret Jones, with a contribution by Paul Barford ‘Posters’ and Others Enclosures The ABC Enclosures RBI and Adjacent Settlement The North Enclosure and Northern Boundary System The 1100 Enclosure (Prehistoric Cemetery II and other Western-margin Interments) The Belgic Banjo Complex (and Prehistoric Cemetery III) Inset: Recollections (II) - Post-Excavation and Aftermath The Plaza, Other Parts and Landscape Development The Plaza (and Prehistoric Cemetery IV) Other Components Cemetery V The Conquest Period and Early Roman Landscape Chapter Five: Specialist Studies and Summation of Parts - Iron Age (II) Material Culture Middle Iron Age Pottery, by Matt Brudenell Late Iron Age Pottery - An Overview, by Isobel Thompson Iron Age Coins, by Colin Haselgrove Brooches, by Colin Haselgrove Other M etalwork, by Grahame Appleby and Quita Mould Metalworking Evidence, by David Dungworth, Justine Bayley and Hilary Howard Quernstones, Loomweights and Spindlewhorls with a contribution by Paul Barford Other Fired Clay with a contribution by Paul Barford Economic and Environmental Data Fauna Remains Vida Rajkovača Pollen James Greig Inset: Project Framing (II) - Charting Influence (and Difference) ‘Style in Landscape’ - Distributional Case-studies Discussion - Connected Communities Chapter Six: Patterned Ground/Interim Knowledges - Sequence Revisited and Retrospect The Recommendation of Land Sequence Revisited and Settlement ‘Scaling’ Mucking and the Prehistory of the Lower Thames Timothy Champion Romano-British Anglo-Saxon Medieval and Post-Medieval/Modern The South Essex Marshes in the Medieval and post-Medieval Periods (Stephen Rippon) Gauging Settlement - Comparative Context Different Lives - Continuities, Territories and Power Inset: Project Framing (III) - Thinking Archives Hindsights - Marking Time