Cups are the least studied of all Bronze Age funerary ceramics and their interpretations are still based on antiquarian speculation. This book presents the first study of these often highly decorated items including a fully referenced and illustrated national corpus that will form the basis for future studies.

Funerary and related cups of the British Bronze Age presents the first national corpus and study of these often highly decorated items. Cups are the least studied of all Bronze Age funerary ceramics and their interpretations are still based on antiquarian speculation. They are clearly 'Urnes of no small Variety' and previous attempts at classification have largely failed due to this variation. Their potential uses, technologies and associations are examined and many myths, such as their association with children and their role in accompanying other ceramics such as Collared Urns and Food Vessels are examined and questioned. Cups appear to have been grave goods in their own right and the term 'accessory vessel' is rejected. The book contains a fully referenced and illustrated national corpus that will form the basis for future studies.

New, fully illustrated, comprehensive examination of the development, chronology, manufacture, context and use of British Neolithic and Bronze pottery by the country's leading expert.

The Chalcolithic, the phase in prehistory when the important technical development of adding tin to copper to produce bronze had not yet taken place, is not a term generally used by British prehistorians and whether there is even a definable phase is debated. Is There a British Chalcolithic? brings together many leading authorities in 20 papers that address this question. Papers are grouped under several headings. 'Definitions, Issues, and Debate' considers whether appropriate criteria apply that define a distinctive period (c. 2450 - 2150 cal BC) in cultural, social, and temporal terms with particular emphasis on the role and status of metal artifacts and Beaker pottery. 'Continental Perspectives' addresses various aspects of comparative regions of Europe where a Chalcolithic has been defined. 'Around Britain and Ireland' presents a series of large-scale regional case studies where authors argue for and against the adoption of the term. The final section, 'Economy, Landscapes, and Monuments', looks at aspects of economy, land-use and burial tradition and provides a detailed consideration of the Stonehenge and Avebury landscapes during the period in question. The volume contains much detailed information on sites and artifacts, and comprehensive radiocarbon datasets that will be invaluable to scholars and students studying this enigmatic but pivotal episode of British Prehistory. Additional information originally found on included CD ROM can be downloaded here: https://books.casematepublishers.com/Is_There_a_British_Chalcolithic.pdf

Excavation of a Scheduled burial mound on Whitehorse Hill, Dartmoor revealed an unexpected, intact burial deposit of Early Bronze Age date associated with an unparalleled range of artefacts. The cremated remains of a young person had been placed within a bearskin pelt and provided with a basketry container, from which a braided band with tin studs had spilled out. Within the container were beads of shale, amber, clay and tin; two pairs of turned wooden studs and a worked flint flake. A unique item, possibly a sash or band, made from textile and animal skin was found beneath the container. Beneath this, the basal stone of the cist had been covered by a layer purple moor grass which had been collected in summer. Analysis of environmental material from the site has revealed important insights into the pyre material used to burn the body, as well as providing important information about the environment in which the cist was constructed. The unparalleled assemblage of organic objects has yielded insights into a range of materials which have not survived from the earlier Bronze Age elsewhere in southern Britain.

38 papers on Aegean Bronze Age pottery in honour of Jeremy Rutter. They range from specific site reports, to technical reports, and issues of chronology, to analysis of the social and religious functions of particular vessel types, and studies of trade and cultural contacts.

In 2003, the British Museum acquired the Ringlemere gold cup, a rare example from the Early Bronze Age. This volume talks about the Ringlemere cup and its immediate site context. It also presents an assessment of the dating and social significance through a reappraisal of the fifteen comparable cups from Britain, Brittany, Germany and Switzerland.