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Iron Age 'Predatory Landscapes': a bioarchaeological and funerary exploration of captivity and enslavement in Britain

Lookup NU author(s): Dr Rebecca RedfernORCiD

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Abstract

This paper proposes a multi-disciplinary approach which can be used to identify captivesand the enslaved of Iron Age Britain (seventh century BC to AD first century). It uses a'poetics of violence' perspective which recognizes that violence and warfare are createdand enacted through social relations, and encompasses violence for which there is oftenno archaeological trace. Roman primary sources, bog-bodies and other archaeologicalevidence from Iron Age Britain and Europe suggest that people in these states of 'socialdeath' were used to acquire material goods, employed in the agricultural economy, andtheir deaths played an important role in episodes of ritual violence. Drawing onresearch from North America, a series of funerary, isotope, archaeothantology andosteological variables have been identified for this period, and when integrated into anosteobiography, allows for the re-interpretation of many burials and structured depositsencountered in Iron Age settlements and hillforts.

Publication metadata

Author(s): Redfern R

Publication type: Article

Publication status: Published

Journal: Cambridge Archaeological Journal

Year: 2020

Volume: 30

Issue: 4

Pages: 531-554

Print publication date: 01/11/2020

Online publication date: 14/05/2020

Acceptance date: 29/02/2020

ISSN (print): 0959-7743

ISSN (electronic): 1474-0540

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

URL: https://doi.org/10.1017/S0959774320000062

DOI: 10.1017/S0959774320000062

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