Recent research on the Arras Culture in its landscape setting

Halkon, Peter

Abstract

Between 1815 and 1817 the Reverend William Stillingfleet, Barnard Clarkson and Dr Thomas Hull, with the aid of an unspecified number of workmen, undertook the excavation of a series of burial mounds at Arras Farm, near the East Yorkshire town of Market Weighton (Stillingfleet 1847; Stead 1979). Their discoveries included several chariot burials and other graves containing prestigious items. The distinctive style of the burials and the objects within them, paralleled on the near continent of Europe, eventually led to the coining of the term “Arras culture”. Although such constructs have been questioned and modified (e.g. Harding 2015, 4), there are definite differences between the material culture of this region and elsewhere in Iron Age Britain (Cunliffe 2005). The bicentenary of the end of the first Arras excavations, and new discoveries in 2017, provide an opportunity to reflect on the landscape context of these Iron Age people. The primary focus here will be on presenting the settlements and landscape changes, gained through developer funded archaeological excavation and other research projects, particularly those conducted by the author.

Citation

Halkon, P. (2019). Recent research on the Arras Culture in its landscape setting. In D. C. Cowley, M. Fernández-Götz, T. Romankiewicz, & H. Wendling (Eds.), Rural Settlement : relating buildings, landscape, and people in the European Iron Age (57-68). Sidestone Press

• Publication Date: Nov 27, 2019
• Deposit Date: Dec 12, 2019
• Publisher: Sidestone Press
• Pages: 57-68
• Book Title: Rural Settlement : relating buildings, landscape, and people in the European Iron Age
• Chapter Number: 5
• ISBN: 9789088908194 9789088908187
• Public URL: https://hull-repository.worktribe.com/output/1987546
• Publisher URL: https://www.sidestone.com/books/rural-settlement : book freely available online here