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ARCHAEOLOGY: AN
INTRODUCTION
Tis fully updated sixth edition of a classic classroom text is essential reading for core courses in
archaeology.
Archaeology: An Introduction explains how the subject emerged from an amateur pursuit in the
eighteenth century into a serious discipline and explores changing trends in interpretation in recent
decades. Te authors convey the excitement of archaeology while helping readers to evaluate new
discoveries by explaining the methods and theories that lie behind them. In addition to drawing
upon examples and case studies from many regions of the world and periods of the past, the book
incorporates the authors’ own feldwork, research and teaching. It continues to include key reference
and further reading sections to help new readers fnd their way through the ever-expanding range
of archaeological publications and online sources, as well as colour illustrations and boxed topic
sections to increase comprehension.
Serving as an accessible and lucid textbook and engaging students with contemporary issues, this
book is designed to support students studying archaeology at an introductory level.

New to the sixth edition:

• Inclusion of the latest survey and imaging techniques, such as the use of drones and eXtended
reality.
• Updated material on developments in dating, DNA analysis, isotopes and population movement,
including consideration of the ethical considerations of these techniques.
• Coverage of new developments in archaeological theory, such as the material turn/ontological
turn, and work on issues of equality, diversity and inclusion.
• A whole new chapter covering archaeology in the present, including new sections on heritage
and public archaeology, as well as an updated consideration of archaeology’s relationship with the
climate crisis.
• A revised glossary with over 200 new additions or updates.

Hannah Cobb is Professor of Archaeology and Pedagogy at the University of Manchester, UK.
Kevin Greene is Visiting Fellow in Archaeology at Newcastle University, UK.
Tom Moore is Professor of Archaeology at Durham University, UK.
ARCHAEOLOGY
An Introduction

Sixth edition

Hannah Cobb, Kevin Greene and Tom Moore

Photograph by Dave Webb as part of the ArchDiggers project. Tis project aims to
highlight some of the ‘faces’ involved in archaeology. Te diggers in this image are Sara
Simões on the lower part of section, and Megan Cameron-Hefer on the upper part.

First published 1983

Revised edition 1990, 1991
Revised edition 1995
Fourth edition 2002
Fifh edition 2010
Sixth edition published 2023

by Routledge
4 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon, OX14 4RN
and by Routledge
605 Tird Avenue, New York, NY 10158

Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business

© 2002 Kevin Greene

© 2010 Kevin Greene and Tom Moore
© 2024 Kevin Greene, Tom Moore, and Hannah Cobb

Te right of Hannah Cobb, Kevin Greene, and Tom Moore to be identifed as authors
of this work has been asserted in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright,
Designs and Patents Act 1988.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any
form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafer invented,
including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system,
without permission in writing from the publishers.

Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered

trademarks, and are used only for identifcation and explanation without intent to infringe.

British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Cobb, Hannah, author. | Moore, Tom (Tomas Hugh), author. | Greene,
Kevin, author.
Title: Archaeology : an introduction / Hannah Cobb, Kevin Greene, Tom Moore.
Description: 6th edtion. | Abingdon, Oxon ; New York, NY : Routledge, 2023. |
Includes bibliographical references and index.
Identifers: LCCN 2023044594 (print) | LCCN 2023044595 (ebook) | ISBN
9780367485856 (hardback) | ISBN 9780367485825 (paperback) | ISBN
9781003041757 (ebook)
Subjects: LCSH: Archaeology.
Classifcation: LCC CC165 .G694 2023 (print) | LCC CC165 (ebook) | DDC
930.1—dc23/eng/20230921
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2023044594
LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2023044595

ISBN: 978-0-367-48585-6 (hbk)

ISBN: 978-0-367-48582-5 (pbk)
ISBN: 978-1-003-04175-7 (ebk)

DOI: 10.4324/9781003041757

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by Apex CoVantage, LLC
Contents

List of illustrations ix 1.6.3 Te Aegean Bronze Age:

List of tables xiii Schliemann and Troy 40
Preface xiv 1.6.4 Greece and the Aegean: Evans and
Acknowledgements xviii Knossos 43
Referencing xix 1.6.5 India and Asia 43
Glossary and index xx 1.6.6 Civilisations in the Americas 44
1.7 Achievements of early archaeology 46
1 THE IDEA OF THE PAST 1 1.7.1 Excavation: the investigative
1.1 Te intellectual history of archaeology 1 technique of the future 48
1.1.1 Archaeology and antiquarianism, 1.8 Guide to further reading 51
prehistory and history 5 1.8.1 Te intellectual history of
1.1.2 Te problem of origins and time 6 archaeology 51
1.2 Te emergence of archaeological methods 7 1.8.2 Archaeology and antiquarianism,
1.2.1 A prehistoric concern for prehistory 8 prehistory and history 52
1.2.2 Greece and Rome 8 1.8.3 Te emergence of archaeological
1.2.3 Medieval attitudes to antiquity 10 methods 52
1.2.4 From medieval humanism to the
Renaissance 11 1.1 Te past in the present: developing
1.2.5 Archaeology and the Enlightenment 13 analogies with the Americas 13
1.2.6 Antiquarian feldwork 14 1.2 William Camden (1551–1623) 15
1.2.7 Antiquarianism in the Americas 18 1.3 Discovering the archaeology
1.2.8 Touring, collecting and the origin of of North America: the Mounds of
museums 18 Ohio and Illinois 19
1.2.9 Science and Romanticism 22 1.4 Te great societies: archaeology
1.3 Te recognition and study of artefacts 22 comes of age? 29
1.3.1 Scandinavia and the Tree-Age 1.5 Plundering and collecting: Belzoni
System 23 and Lord Elgin 39
1.3.2 Typology 25 1.6 Pioneer of Southwest Asian
1.4 Recognising human origins 27 archaeology: Gertrude Bell 42
1.4.1 Evidence for human antiquity 27 1.7 V. Gordon Childe: twentieth-
1.4.2 Catastrophists, uniformitarians century archaeology begins to
and the impact of Darwin 32 model the past 47
1.5 From hunting to farming 33
1.5.1 World prehistory 35 2 DISCOVERY AND INVESTIGATION 54
1.6 Te discovery of civilisations 35 2.1 Sites or landscapes? 55
1.6.1 Greece and Rome 36 2.2 Field archaeology 58
1.6.2 Egypt and Mesopotamia 37 2.2.1 Field survey 58
VI CONTENTS

2.2.2 Fieldwalking 59 3.2 Te interpretation of stratifcation 112

2.2.3 Recording and topographic/ 3.2.1 Dating stratifcation 112
earthwork surveying 62 3.3 Planning an excavation 113
2.2.4 Historic landscape and monument 3.3.1 Excavation, ethics and theory 113
inventories 66 3.3.2 Selection of a site 116
2.2.5 Underwater survey 68 3.3.3 Developer-funded archaeology
2.3 Remote sensing 69 and the case study of planning
2.3.1 Airborne prospection 69 policy in England 120
2.3.2 Geophysical and geochemical 3.3.4 Background research 125
surveying 80 3.4 Excavation strategy 127
2.4 Geographical information 3.4.1 Forms of sites 128
systems (GIS) 90 3.4.2 Excavation in special conditions 134
2.5 Landscape archaeology 93 3.4.3 Contexts and features 140
2.6 Conclusions 96 3.4.4 Structures and materials 144
2.7 Guide to further reading 96 3.4.5 Standing buildings 150
2.7.1 Historic Environment Records 97 3.4.6 Reconstruction 152
2.7.2 Underwater survey 97 3.5 Records, archives and publication 154
2.7.3 Remote sensing 97 3.5.1 Recording 154
2.7.4 Airborne prospection 98 3.5.2 Digital recording 159
2.7.5 Geophysical and geochemical 3.5.3 Refexive feldwork 161
surveying 98 3.5.4 Publication and archiving
2.7.6 Geographical information the results 163
systems (GIS) 98 3.6 Guide to further reading 166
3.6.1 Online resources 167
2.1 Sampling in landscape survey 61 3.6.2 Archaeological methods 168
2.2 Cropmark formation 70 3.6.3 Development of excavation
2.3 Historic Landscape Characterisation techniques and archaeologists 168
(HLC) 71
2.4 Airborne topographic survey:
lidar 78
2.5 Geophysical survey techniques 81 3.1 Development of excavation
2.6 Geophysical survey responses 82 techniques: Mortimer and Tessa
2.7 GIS and predictive modelling: Wheeler 102
the location of Roman villas near 3.2 Trowelblazers 104
Veii, Italy 92 3.3 Stratigraphic recording 110
3.4 Responsibilities of excavators:
selection of items from the Chartered
3 EXCAVATION 99 Institute for Archaeologists’ code of
3.1 Te development of excavation conduct (October 2021 revisions) 114
techniques 99 3.5 Changing research priorities: the
3.1.1 Te concept of stratifcation 100 example of Roman Britain 117
3.1.2 General Pitt Rivers 101 3.6 Planning and excavation: key
3.1.3 Developments in the twentieth defnitions from the National
century 103 Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) 123
3.1.4 Mortimer and Tessa Wheeler 103 3.7 Positive features: section of Roman
3.1.5 From keyhole trenches to Ermin Street 140
open-area excavation 107 3.8 Negative features: Iron Age storage pits 142
3.1.6 Te future of excavation 110 3.9 Surfaces: foor levels 143
 CONTENTS VII

4 DATING THE PAST 170 5 ARCHAEOLOGICAL SCIENCE 217

4.1 Background 170 5.1 Te nature of science 218
4.2 Typology and cross-dating 171 5.2 Te environment 219
4.2.1 Sequence dating and seriation 175 5.3 Climate 220
4.3 Historical dating 177 5.4 Te geosphere 223
4.3.1 Applying historical dates to sites 181 5.4.1 Geology 223
4.4 Scientifc dating techniques 182 5.4.2 Soils 224
4.4.1 Geological timescales 182 5.5 Te biosphere 226
4.4.2 Climatostratigraphy 183 5.5.1 Plants 226
4.4.3 Varves 185 5.5.2 Animals 234
4.4.4 Palynostratigraphy 186 5.5.3 Fish 242
4.4.5 Dendrochronology 187 5.5.4 Shells: archaeomalacology 243
4.5 Absolute techniques 191 5.5.5 Insects and other invertebrates 245
4.5.1 Radioactive decay 191 5.6 Humans 245
4.5.2 Radiocarbon dating 191 5.6.1 Burials 247
4.5.3 Presenting and interpreting a 5.6.2 Palaeopathology and evidence from
radiocarbon date 196 human remains 249
4.5.4 Te Bayesian radiocarbon revolution 201 5.6.3 Diet 252
4.5.5 Potassium–argon (40K/40Ar) and 5.6.4 Movement and migration 254
argon–argon dating (40Ar/39Ar) 202 5.6.5 Genetics and DNA 256
4.5.6 Uranium-series dating 203 5.7 Artefacts and raw materials 261
4.5.7 Fission-track dating 204 5.7.1 Methods of examination
4.5.8 Tephrochronology 204 and analysis 262
4.5.9 Luminescence dating 206 5.7.2 Stone 266
4.5.10 Electron spin resonance (ESR) 209 5.7.3 Ceramics 269
4.6 Derivative techniques 210 5.7.4 Metals 271
4.6.1 Protein and amino acid 5.8 Conservation 273
diagenesis dating 210 5.8.1 Ancient objects 273
4.6.2 Obsidian hydration dating 211 5.8.2 Historic buildings and
4.6.3 Archaeomagnetic dating 212 archaeological sites 275
4.7 Te authenticity of artefacts 213 5.9 Statistics 276
4.8 Conclusions 214 5.10 Experimental archaeology 277
4.9 Guide to further reading 216 5.10.1 Artefacts 278
5.10.2 Sites and structures 279
5.11 Conclusion 280
5.12 Guide to further reading 281
4.1 Using seriation: Native American
sites in New York State 178
4.2 Which dating technique? 179
4.3 Alchester: dendrochronology in action 190 5.1 Climate and the human past 221
4.4 Te frst radiocarbon revolution: 5.2 Small but vital: plant and animal
Willard Libby 194 remains recovered by means of
4.5 Vikings, fre and ice: the application fotation 227
of tephrochronology 205 5.3 Domestication of maize in the
4.6 Optical stimulated luminescence: Americas 231
Deaf Adder Gorge, Australia 208 5.4 Charting animal domestication 237
4.7 Dating an archaeological 5.5 Ceramics and food remains: gas
excavation 215 chromatography 241
VIII CONTENTS

7 THE PAST IN THE PRESENT

5.6 Human remains and evidence of
AND THE FUTURE 341
warfare: Towton Moor 249
7.1 Where is archaeology at the
5.7 DNA and disease: the archaeology
beginning of the twenty-frst century? 341
of tuberculosis 250
7.1.1 Too much information? 342
5.8 Movement and migration: Bronze
7.2 Archaeology and the public 345
Age Beaker burials 254
7.2.1 Heritage management:
5.9 Isola Sacra: diet and migration
controlling the present by means
in Ancient Rome 255
of the past? 345
5.10 Roman coins 274
7.2.2 Archaeology and the State 348
5.11 Experimental archaeology 277
7.2.3 Public archaeology 351
6 MAKING SENSE OF THE PAST 282 7.2.4 Heritage management and
6.1 What is archaeological theory? 282 heritage practice: the case of
6.1.1 Social evolution 287 Stonehenge 361
6.1.2 Culture history 290 7.3 Archaeology, museums and antiquities 367
6.2 Towards processual archaeology 294 7.3.1 Museums: from art galleries to
6.2.1 Te New Archaeology 295 experience and activism 367
6.2.2 Ethnoarchaeology and 7.3.2 Te antiquities trade 369
Middle Range Teory 300 7.4 Archaeology and the future 374
6.3 Towards postprocessual archaeology 304 7.4.1 Modelling the future and
6.3.1 Postprocessualism 304 defning the Anthropocene 374
6.3.2 Refexive thinking 306 7.4.2 Archaeology and climate crisis 376
6.3.3 Modernity, modernism and 7.4.3 Heritage futures 378
postmodernism 306 7.5 Conclusion: past, present,
6.4 Interpretive archaeology 314 future and you 381
6.4.1 Agency, structuration and habitus 315 7.6 Guide to further reading 383
6.4.2 Archaeologies of identity 316
6.4.3 Artefacts: biographies, materiality, 7.1 Are all visions of the past equal?
fragmentation and personhood 326 Pseudo-archaeology 344
6.5 Archaeological theory in the new 7.2 Heritage management: state
millennium 328 protection 348
6.5.1 Entanglement 329 7.3 Tourism and heritage: Kenilworth
6.5.2 Actor-network theory Castle 350
and symmetrical archaeology 331 7.4 Community co-production of
6.5.3 Assemblages and new materialism 332 heritage: the ‘ACCORD project’ 359
6.5.4 Perspectivism and posthumanism 335 7.5 Lost treasures of Iraq: war and
6.6 Conclusion: pasts, presents and cultural heritage 372
futures of archaeological theory 337 7.6 Archaeology and ethics: the case of
6.7 Guide to further reading 340 human remains 372
7.7 Heritage futures: Te future of
6.1 Archaeological theory and changing nuclear waste 379
perspectives 286 7.8 A passport to the past: archaeological
6.2 Nationalism and archaeology 292 skills passports and continuous
6.3 Reconstructing past societies: professional development 382
hierarchies, heterarchies and social
complexity 296
6.4 Phenomenology: postprocessualism Glossary 385
and landscape archaeology 307 Bibliography 403
Index 495
List of illustrations

0.1 Timeline and major developments BOX 1.1 Drawing of Indigenous

in the human past xxi American community
fshing by John White 13
BOX 1.2 Engraving of William Camden 15
Chapter 1
BOX 1.3 A Cahokia mound, Illinois 19
1.1 Cover of Dinosaurs vs Humans 7 BOX 1.4 Cartoon of the Society
1.2 Viking runes in Maes How of Antiquaries by George
chambered tomb, Orkney 8 Cruikshank, 1812 29
1.3 Behind the arch of Hadrian, Athens 10 BOX 1.5 Te Acropolis Museum, Athens 39
1.4 Emperor Hadrian 10 BOX 1.6 Gertrude Bell in the feld 42
1.5 Stonehenge drawing in fourteenth- BOX 1.7 V. Gordon Childe 47
century manuscript 14
1.6 William Stukeley at Avebury 16
Chapter 2
1.7 Ole Worm’s collection 20
1.8 Lord Fortrose’s apartment 2.1 Fieldwalking on the ‘Mesolithic
in Naples, 1770 21 Deeside’ project 60
1.9 Stone implements from Britain 2.2 Shovel testing at Shapwick 63
and the New World 23 2.3 Test pitting in Ardnamurchan 63
1.10 C.J. Tomsen in the Oldnordisk 2.4 GPS survey, western Scotland,
Museum, Copenhagen 24 and total station survey, France 64
1.11 Te typology of Bronze Age axes 25 2.5 Hachured plan of Chew Green
1.12 Reginald Southey with human earthworks 66
and ape skeletons and skulls 28 2.6 Oxfordshire HER entry page 67
1.13 Memorial to John Frere 30 2.7 Aerial photograph of Roman
1.14 Jacques Boucher de Perthes 30 forts at Chew Green 72
1.15 Section drawing by Boucher 2.8 Aerial photograph of cropmarks at
de Perthes 30 Standlake, Oxfordshire 73
1.16 Prestwich axe 31 2.9 Aerial photograph of snow site at
1.17 Map of domestication and civilisations 34 Yarnbury Castle, Wiltshire 74
1.18 Engraving of the Parthenon, Athens 37 2.10 Diferent types of UAVs/drones
1.19 Schliemann’s excavations at Troy 41 and their capabilities 75
1.20 View of Monjas, Chichén Itzá, Mexico 45 2.11 Plot of geophysics prospecting results 84
1.21 Plan of Chichén Itzá, Mexico 45 2.12 GPR in action in Sweden 87
1.22 Carving from Copán, Honduras 45 2.13 GPR survey results at Gjellestad
1.23 Excavations at Babylon 49 on the Viksletta Plain in
1.24 Section drawing, Babylon 49 south-eastern Norway 88
1.25 Blaenavon ironworks 50 2.14 Cumbrian landscape at Wasdale Head 94
X LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

BOX 2.1 Sampling in landscape survey 61 3.21 Mud bricks in a section at Tepe
BOX 2.2 Cropmark formation 70 Ali Kosh, Iran 150
BOX 2.3 Historic Landscape 3.22 Warehouse excavation, Manchester 152
Characterisation (HLC) 71 3.23 Tree-dimensional images of the temples
BOX 2.4 Airborne topographic of Shahiru and Maran, Hatra, Iraq 153
survey: lidar 78 3.24 Students using VR goggles 154
BOX 2.5 Geophysical survey techniques 81 3.25 Recording on site, Manchester 155
BOX 2.6 Geophysical survey responses 82 3.26 A flled-in context sheet from
BOX 2.7 GIS and predictive Cotswold Archaeology 157
modelling: the location of 3.27 A context sheet from the
Roman villas near Veii, Italy 92 Ardnamurchan Transitions Project 158
3.28 Stages of excavation and publication 164
3.29 Te publications of excavations
Chapter 3
at York, Fishergate 167
3.1 Filming in a trench on Te Great
British Dig 100 BOX 3.1 Box trenches and open
3.2 Section drawings from excavations excavation at the Tofs 102
at Knossos 100 BOX 3.2 Gussie White and the
3.3 Excavation techniques at archaeologists of the ‘Irene
Corbridge, 1909 101 Mound’ project 104
3.4 General Pitt Rivers 103 BOX 3.3 Stratigraphic recording 110
3.5 Pitt Rivers’ excavations at Wor BOX 3.4 Responsibilities of excavators:
Barrow, Dorset 106 selection of items from the
3.6 Drawing of a section at Segontium Chartered Institute for
Roman fort, Caernarvon 107 Archaeologists’ code of conduct
3.7 Test pits being recorded as part (October 2021 revisions) 114
of the ‘100 Minories’ project, London 108 BOX 3.5 Te excavation committee
3.8 Open-area excavation, Virginia 109 at the excavations of
3.9 Excavation of the Temple of South Shields in 1875 117
Mithras, London, in 1954 122 BOX 3.6 Planning and excavation:
3.10 Te London Mithraeum today 122 key defnitions from the
3.11 Finds processing. Sorting Byzantine National Planning Policy
pottery, Turkey 127 Framework (NPPF) 123
3.12 Excavation of a Roman basilica, London 131 BOX 3.7 Positive features: section
3.13 Anglo-Saxon burial excavated of Roman Ermin Street 140
at Westfeld Farm, Ely 133 BOX 3.8 Negative features: Iron
3.14 Organic fnds from Must farm, Age storage pits 142
Cambridgeshire 136 BOX 3.9 Surfaces: foor levels 143
3.15 Iron Age rectangular building
from the Gwent levels, Wales 137
Chapter 4
3.16 Underwater excavation of a
submerged Roman site 139 4.1 Changes in the design of Bronze
3.17 Structures and layers revealed by Age axes 172
excavation at Usk, Wales 141 4.2 A Bronze Age axe mounted on a
3.18 Excavation of a stone structure 145 modern handle 173
3.19 Plan of the Ardnamurchan Viking 4.3 Minoan pottery from Crete and Egypt 174
boat burial 147 4.4 Te spread of infuences from the
3.20 Post holes from Jamestown civilisations of North Africa and
barracks, Virginia 148 Southwest Asia 174
 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS XI

4.5 Typology of Mesolithic harpoon points 176 5.3 Pollen diagram from Jutland,
4.6 A Mesolithic bone harpoon 176 Denmark 229
4.7 Inscription dating the construction 5.4 Cut marks on animal bone 235
of Hadrian’s wall 180 5.5 Graph of animal species at West Stow 238
4.8 Examples of marine core sediments 184 5.6 Seasonality: Abu Hureyra 239
4.9 Te POLARSTERN geological core 5.7 Section through an oyster shell 243
repository for sediment samples 184 5.8 Insect remains 246
4.10 Climatostratigraphy 185 5.9 Oxygen isotope values for north-
4.11 Volcanic eruptions revealed by western European drinking water 253
acidity in ice cores 186 5.10 Map of human dispersal from Africa
4.12 Example of tree rings 188 based on DNA and fossil evidence 258
4.13 Dating by dendrochronology 189 5.11 Diagram of hominin evolution 259
4.14 Te basis of radiocarbon dating 192 5.12 Artefact life cycle and materials
4.15 Tree-ring calibration curve for science 262
radiocarbon dates 196 5.13 Scanning electron microscope
4.16 Statistical margins of error for photomicrograph of a textile 264
radiocarbon dates 196 5.14 Marble source revealed by analysis 265
4.17 Te efect of calibration curve 5.15 John Dee’s Mirror – polished
‘wiggle’ on radiocarbon dating 198 obsidian 266
4.18 An example of the calibration of a 5.16 Obsidian artefacts 268
radiocarbon date using OXCAL v.4.1 199 5.17 Tin section of fabric from
4.19 Graph of light released during Roman pottery 269
thermoluminescence dating 207 5.18 Metal content of Egyptian copper
4.20 Tattershall castle 209 alloy axes 272
4.21 Section through the hydration 5.19 Conservation of artefacts from the
rim of an obsidian artefact 211 Ardnamurchan Viking boat burial 275
4.22 Movement of magnetic north 212 5.20 Replica of the Amsterdam 280

BOX 4.1 Using seriation: Native BOX 5.1 Climate and the human past 221
American sites in New BOX 5.2 Small but vital: plant and
York State 178 animal remains recovered
BOX 4.2 Which dating technique? 179 by means of fotation 227
BOX 4.3 Alchester: BOX 5.3 Domestication of maize in
dendrochronology in action 190 the Americas 231
BOX 4.4 Te frst radiocarbon BOX 5.4 Charting animal domestication 237
revolution: Willard Libby BOX 5.5 Ceramics and food
in the lab 194 remains: gas chromatography 241
BOX 4.5 Vikings, fre and ice: the BOX 5.6 Human remains and
application of tephrochronology 205 evidence of warfare:
BOX 4.6 Optical stimulated Towton Moor 249
luminescence: Deaf Adder BOX 5.7 DNA and disease: the
Gorge, Australia 208 archaeology of tuberculosis 250
BOX 4.7 Dating an archaeological BOX 5.8 Movement and migration:
excavation 215 Bronze Age Beaker burials 254
BOX 5.9 Isola Sacra: diet and
migration in Ancient Rome 255
Chapter 5
BOX 5.10 Roman coins 274
5.1 Geoarchaeology at Brean Down 225 BOX 5.11 Experimental archaeology –
5.2 Pollen grains 228 example of Bronze Age metallurgy 277
XII LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

Chapter 6 7.2 Gabe Moshenska’s seven types

of public archaeology 352
6.1 Te European cultural dialectic 284 7.3 Archaeology and education 354
6.2 Te scientifc method: the process 7.4 Raksha Dave undertakes stained
of conducting scientifc inquiry 285 glass painting at the Stained Glass
6.3 System diagram showing Museum, Ely Cathedral, UK 356
Mesopotamian complexity 299 7.5 Police and revellers at Stonehenge,
6.4 A decorated calabash gourd 301 1999 363
6.5 Gothic eagle brooch 302 7.6 Richardson and Pickering’s
6.6 Prehistoric stone tools 303 comic representation of the many
6.7 Convergence of theoretical traditions interpretations of Stonehenge 365
in archaeology 313 7.7 At street scene at open-air museum
6.8 Alerting the public to the presence Archeon in Te Netherlands 368
of the dead within museums 318 7.8 Social justice activism at Weston
6.9 Anne Frank projected onto Cliford’s Park Museum, Shefeld 370
Tower, York 321 7.9 Te St Breock’s Down monolith
6.10 Model of australopithecines 323 and windfarm 377
6.11 Te structures at Çatalhöyük 330
6.12 Two examples of La Candelaria BOX 7.1 Te pyramids at Giza 344
anthropo-zoomorphic ceramic vessels 336 BOX 7.2 Heritage management:
state protection 348
BOX 6.1 Archaeological theory and BOX 7.3 Tourism and heritage:
changing perspectives 286 Kenilworth Castle 350
BOX 6.2 Nationalism and archaeology 292 BOX 7.4 Te ‘ACCORD’ project’s
BOX 6.3 Reconstructing past work at Dumbarton Rock 359
societies: hierarchies, BOX 7.5 American soldiers
heterarchies and social complexity 296 climbing the ziggurat of Ur 372
BOX 6.4 Phenomenology: BOX 7.6 Archaeology and ethics:
postprocessualism and the case of human remains 372
landscape archaeology 307 BOX 7.7 Te Forsmark nuclear
storage plant, Sweden 379
Chapter 7 BOX 7.8 An archaeological skills
passport 382
7.1 Segedunum Roman fort viewing
tower 347
List of tables

1.1 Archaeology and the history of ideas 2

4.1 Summary of factors involved in radiocarbon dating 195
4.2 Radiocarbon estimation from Galgenberg 195
4.3 Calibrated dates from Galgenberg 195
5.1 Sources of proxy data on climates 222
6.1 Infuences upon and implications of Johnson’s statements about postprocessual archaeology 305
6.2 Archaeological projects and interpretations 338
Preface
WHO IS THIS BOOK AIMED AT?
Although this is essentially a textbook, it is also
aimed at general readers. We have tried to provide
an informative book for just about any interested
reader from mid-teens upwards whose interest
has been stimulated by visiting archaeological sites
or encountering archaeology in popular culture. It
is meant to be readable, rather than exhaustively
comprehensive, and, while we have attempted to
draw upon a wide range of examples from around
the world, the authors have made the most of
their own areas of expertise. Since many other
introductory books about archaeology have been
written by prehistorians, readers may notice a larger
number of examples drawn from historical periods
in this book.
Kevin Greene was always interested in how
archaeology worked as well as in its results. His
knowledge and experience of archaeology began
during childhood and developed through study
for a degree and then a PhD at Cardif University.
Afer teaching archaeology to adult education
students, he developed an introductory
undergraduate course at Newcastle University –
not just for archaeology students but also for
other students taking an archaeology course
as part of a broader degree. Tis continuously
evolving course was the original inspiration
for this book, which was designed to place the
information imparted in lectures into a wider
context and to point students towards resources
for further independent reading and study.
Kevin is delighted that Hannah has undertaken
this revision of Archaeology: An Introduction –
something he would not have been able to do
in retirement. Just as Tom brought new methods
and theories into the book’s 2010 edition,
Hannah has breathed new life into this one,
especially where up-to-date theory is concerned.
Tom Moore was still at primary school when
the frst edition of this book was published in 1983.
Afer working in contract archaeology, he studied
archaeology at Durham University, and then worked
briefy at Newcastle University before returning
to a lecturing post at Durham. His awareness of
current archaeological methods and approaches to
cultural landscape management has been gained
from extensive feldwork and excavation projects
in Britain and France. Tom’s particular interest in
the transition from later prehistory to the Roman
period means that he has always had to think
deeply about the cultural meaning of the sites and
artefacts he has investigated. He is very interested
in concepts such as identity and ethnicity, as well
as ways in which ideas about ‘Celtic’ and ‘Roman’
Britain and Gaul have been used (and abused) in
creating national awareness in England and France
in the recent past and present.
Hannah Cobb joins Kevin and Tom as an
author for the frst time in this edition. Hannah
frst encountered archaeology at the age of seven,
when a rescue excavation took place near her
house. Te archaeologists very kindly took her
seriously when she produced fragments of pottery
she had found in her garden at home, and from
that moment she was hooked! Hannah completed
her undergraduate degree in archaeology at
the University of Edinburgh before working in
commercial archaeology and then completing
her PhD at the University of Manchester. She also
worked for the Higher Education Academy and

Open University before becoming a technician
and later a lecturer at the University of Manchester.
Hannah has directed a number of excavation
projects exploring sites ranging from the
Mesolithic to the Victorian period. Te longest-
running of these, the multiperiod Ardnamurchan
Transitions Project, has enabled Hannah to think
deeply about how to teach archaeological practice
in a refexive and inclusive way, and it shaped her
work as one of the creators of the Archaeological
Skills Passport. Teaching and learning have always
been at the heart of Hannah’s work and, with
long-term collaborator Karina Croucher, one of
Hannah’s major research contributions has been
in the area of archaeological pedagogy. Hannah
is also involved in broader teaching and learning
leadership at the University of Manchester.
Hannah also loves archaeological theory, and
she is a passionate advocate of equality, diversity
and inclusion in archaeology and beyond. She
has worked closely with the Chartered Institute
for Archaeologists, founding and chairing their
Equality and Diversity group from 2015 to 2022.
Kevin has learned a lot from Hannah’s new
material about how theoretical approaches to
archaeology, and its cultural context, have evolved
in new directions since the 2010 edition.
Te diferent experiences we bring to this book
mean that we are keenly aware that archaeology, its
interpretation and the presentation of its fndings
are not simply a matter of neutral academic interest.
Heritage and the management of cultural resources
are important components of the way we live
today and how we relate to our world – whether as
tourists visiting sites like Stonehenge, professional
archaeologists recording sites threatened by
development, military advisors attempting to
minimise the looting of sites and museums during
wars or as individuals facing the threats of a rapidly
warming climate. As university lecturers, Hannah
and Tom undertake research and teaching, but
the wonderful thing is that these do not happen in
isolation from one another. Our teaching informs
our research, and our research informs our teaching;
we hope that this is something that translates into
the pages of this book. We also see our jobs as
lecturers primarily as a way of encouraging students
to learn through placing basic information in a
wider context and providing plenty of signposts for
PREFACE XV
them to follow during independent study. Because
archaeology touches upon so many diferent
disciplines and introduces so many concepts that
make us think about our place in the world, we
believe that it provides outstanding intellectual
rewards for professionals and amateurs alike.
HOW DOES THIS EDITION DIFFER
FROM ITS PREDECESSORS?
Archaeology has undergone many changes since
the frst edition of this book appeared in 1983,
and as a result, the book has changed too. Kevin
was the sole author of the frst four editions, and
he also experimented with web companions to
the book. Te ffh edition (2010) brought Tom
Moore on board and saw the introduction of
colour illustrations for the frst time. Since 2010, an
important development has been in the publishing
of ebooks as standard practice, which means that a
web companion is no longer needed for this volume.
Another development is that archaeological
resources are now ofen ‘born’ digital, but although
many online sources have a ‘DOI’ (digital object
identifer), which means that they have a permanent
web address, some do not. For this reason, we do
not provide web links in the text but do provide
the names of databases and web resources so that
the most up-to-date sources can be found by the
reader through search engines. Online sources
are also cited in the bibliography in the Harvard
style. Tis edition’s glossary is much larger, with
many new terms and revised defnitions; students
could beneft from reading through it to familiarise
themselves with archaeological terminology.
Te addition of Hannah as a new author to take
the lead in updating this edition marks a signifcant
generational change, both in age and outlook. As a
result, there are some notable diferences between
the sixth edition and its predecessors. One
diference is organisational; the last decade has
seen a proliferation in the number of publications
in archaeology, including many digital sources.
Tese can all be searched for easily using online
search engines. Tis means that the ‘further
reading’ sections found at the end of each chapter
play a diferent role in this edition of the book.
Where once it was feasible to point to a few further
XVI PREFACE
examples, today there are too many to narrow
this down. As a result, these sections are shorter,
sometimes pointing to core texts, but mostly
highlighting key journals and web resources
that the reader may want to investigate. Another
diference is the many additions to the content
of the book. Tere have been huge developments
in survey techniques, such as the use of drones
(which were not mentioned at all in the ffh
edition), in scientifc techniques such as the use of
ancient DNA and in archaeological theory with the
development of the ‘ontological turn’. Tese areas
and more are refected in signifcant updates to the
text. Tere have also been important developments
in how archaeology is communicated to the public
and in the relationship between climate crisis and
archaeology. Tese developments have been so
substantial that we have introduced a whole new
chapter to explore them thoroughly. Social justice
activism has also, rightly, impacted archaeology.
Te need to make our discipline and our research
more inclusive and to challenge the legacies of
colonialism in archaeology and heritage are, more
than ever before, recognised as important concerns.
Te changes in the sixth edition that arise from
this recognition are part of an ongoing process; we
have tried to highlight examples that are not only
from the Global North and also to foreground the
work of people whose voices have historically been
silenced, erased or simply not heard in books like
this. We recognise that this process is not perfect,
and it is important that we continue to work hard
on making future editions more inclusive.
WHAT IS OUR VIEW OF ARCHAEOLO-
GY?
Kevin produced three editions of this book
before an acute reader spotted that he had never
actually defned ‘archaeology’. In this edition,
we provide a short defnition in the glossary
to this volume. One helpful defnition of
archaeology was written by Kevin elsewhere, in
the introduction to an entry that he wrote for the
2008 Oxford encyclopedia of the modern world:
Te material remains of the past provide a
common focus for the work of all archaeologists.
While some study specifc artifacts or
monuments, others examine landscapes
formed by human activities over long periods.
Archaeology covers several million years,
ranging from geological periods when species
ancestral to humans are frst found right up to
recent historical times, including the Industrial
Revolution. A distinction is frequently made
between prehistory, for which no documentary
sources are available, and text-aided
archaeology.
A further helpful defnition is by Kristian
Kristiansen, who explains how archaeological
research leads not only to understanding the past
but to conservation in the present:
Archaeology is the study and preservation of the
material remains of past societies and their envi-
ronment, that nowadays also includes modern
material culture. Te objective is likewise two-
fold: to reconstruct past life-worlds in order to
understand and explain the historical conditions
that governed people’s life as it unfolded, both in
their local settings and on a larger historical scale
of prehistoric and historic societies; and to pre-
serve the archaeological record in the landscape
and in museums for future study and use.
(Kristiansen 2009: 4–5)
Defnitions only take the reader so far. Te
essence of archaeology is captured very well
by the moment in 1922 when Howard Carter
frst glimpsed the treasure of Tutankhamun by
candlelight through a small hole in the wall that
sealed the tomb (Winstone 1991):
As my eyes grew accustomed to the light,
details of the room within emerged slowly from
the mist, strange animals, statues, and gold –
everywhere the glint of gold. For the moment –
an eternity it must have seemed to the others
standing by – I was struck dumb with amaze-
ment, and when Lord Carnarvon, unable to
stand the suspense any longer, inquired anx-
iously,‘Can you see anything?’ it was all I could
do to get out the words,‘Yes, wonderful things.’
(quoted in Stiebing 1993: 83–84)

Although Carter’s actual words may have been
less memorable (Bahn 1996b: ix), the idea of a
dark space seen from a very small point of view
– with a fickering light – is a highly appropriate
metaphor for the way in which most archaeologists
work. We recognise frst those things that are
most familiar to us (animals, statues), and our
eyes are attracted by superfcial signs of value
(glinting gold), but we fnd it difcult to explain
them convincingly to onlookers. Te importance
of understanding any individual’s perspective
is underlined by thinking about how and why
Howard Carter came to be standing at that place
at that particular moment (Reeves and Taylor
1992). Foreigners had access to the archaeology of
Egypt because of European political domination,
and this excavation was fnanced by a rich
PREFACE XVII
member of the British aristocracy indulging in a
form of cultural activity that had become socially
respectable and widespread from the eighteenth
century. Te pursuit of the tomb of a pharaoh,
rather than the investigation (for example) of a
peasant village, clearly refected the concerns of
the ruling classes. It also ofered the possibility of
personal fame and the acquisition of prestigious
items for display in a public museum – a kind of
institution that was itself a product of nineteenth-
century ideas about art and education. We use
this example as a metaphor for this volume;
we aim here to express the excitement and
mechanisms of doing archaeology, whilst also
capturing the broader socio-political and ethical
implications that emerge from how we practise
as archaeologists in the past, present and future.
Acknowledgements
Many individuals and organisations in Britain
and abroad have given help in providing
illustrations; we hope that most of them have
been acknowledged in the captions, but all
deserve thanks for devoting time to looking out
particular photographs or drawings for us. A
number of people have also read or advised on
parts of the text. In particular, we would like to
thank the following people: Banji Adewumi, Ian
Bailif, Jo Buckberry, Stefano Campana, Stuart
Campbell, Mike Church, James Cole, Simon
Cox, John Creighton, John Curtis, Raksha Dave,
Peter Davenport, Colin Davison/Segedunum
Roman Fort Museum, Chloe Duckworth,
Chris Gerrard, Becky Gowland, Vicky Green,
Julia Greene, Vincent Guichard, Isobel Harvey,
Elizabeth Healey, Vicki Herring, Neil Holbrook,
Bob Johnston, Lewis Jones, Rosie Kenworthy,
Greger Larson, Sam Lucy, Frances Mawer,
Andrew Moore, Paola Moscati, Claire Nesbitt,
Sheila Newton, Andrew Parkin, Peter Rowley-
Conwy, Eberhard Sauer, Sarah Semple, Ellon
Souter, Hanna Steyne, Steve Trow, Sam Turner,
Christina Unwin, A. Wadsworth, Dave Webb,
Rob Witcher.
Stuart Campbell, Rachel Crellin and Karina
Croucher very kindly provided extensive feedback
on early chapter drafs, along with immensely
supportive comments and encouragement
throughout the writing process. Tank you! For
all their support and encouragement, Hannah
would also like to thank Oliver Harris, Eleanor
Baker and Helen McLeod, as well as students
from the University of Manchester and on the
Ardnamurchan Transitions Project who helped
her think about how best to communicate
what is written here. Hannah is also eternally
grateful to Tim Westaway, without whose
unerring patience, kindness and partnership, her
involvement in the sixth edition would not have
been possible. Hannah also thanks Lyra, Wilf and
Bertie Westaway for being so supportive, and
sharing their ofce with her! Finally, our grateful
thanks go to Kate Fornadel, Matthew Gibbons
and Manas Roy for their patience in seeing the
volume to completion.
Referencing
Tis book aims not only to be an introduction
to archaeology but to enable the reader to
delve deeper into the debates and techniques of
archaeology. Unlike many textbooks, we have
referenced throughout the text and provided
signposts to further reading. If you are about to
become, or are already, a student of archaeology,
you will recognise the need to ‘reference your
information’ – it is one of the tenets of academia
that you acknowledge where ideas and data come
from. Tis also helps you explore the evidence
and theories yourself so that you can construct
your own opinions and arguments.
All categories of reference are listed, in
alphabetical order according to their authors’
names, in a consolidated bibliography at the
end of the book. Tree levels of information
lead the reader from general to more specifc
publications and information sources.
1 Key references indicated beneath each
heading within the text give, in alphabetical
order, the author, short title and year of
publication of the most useful books, chapters
or journal articles on that particular subject.
Tese should be consulted frst.
2 Further reading sections, placed at the end
of each chapter, are designed to lead the
reader to more detailed publications, relevant
journals, online resources and general works
on related topics.
3 References within the text are given using the
Harvard style (author/year/page, e.g. Crellin
2020: 123) and indicate specifc publications
that provide examples, case studies or other
forms of supporting evidence for information
or statements made in the text. Te full sources
of these references can be found in the fnal,
alphabetically ordered bibliography at the end.
Glossary and index
Many important terms are indicated in bold
throughout the text. Some of these terms are
also included in the glossary (p. 385–402). Terms
defned in the glossary are preceded by an asterisk
in the index (for example ‘* anthropology’).
Make good use of the table of contents and
the index to locate topics you are interested
in, and use cross-references within the text to
fnd other pages with related information (for
example ‘above: p. 63’).
Figure 0.1 Timeline and major developments in the human past (drawn by Chris Unwin).
CHAPTER 1

The idea of the past

Our aim in this chapter is to show how some fundamental principles and methods emerged and
combined to form the modern discipline known as archaeology. This has been the subject of
several complete books, but we will attempt to map the development of archaeology in a wider
1
intellectual context and look in more detail at some themes that are particularly important:

● Interest in landscapes and travel promoted the recognition and recording of ancient sites. Visits
to sites, together with the habit of collecting ancient artefacts and works of art, eventually led to
deeper investigations (with the help of excavation) of early civilisations.

● The study of human origins stimulated profound thinking about concepts of time and forged last-
ing links between archaeology and the natural sciences, notably biology and geology. It also un-
derlined the importance of being able to identify and interpret artefacts made by early humans.

● The word ‘prehistory’ was invented in the nineteenth century to describe the long period of hu-
man existence – undocumented in historical sources – revealed by newly developed archaeolog-
ical methods. Later, these methods were applied to the study of other fundamental phenomena
such as the transition from hunting to farming and the origins of urbanism.

These issues are not presented in a strict chronological sequence, and no clear line divides the his-
tory of archaeology from its present concerns. Indeed, we show that archaeology developed within
a very specifc intellectual context, largely driven by the voices and concerns of white, Western,
wealthy and predominantly male perspectives. These perspectives have begun to shift through an
awareness of the specifc context in which archaeology developed. This, like many other topics in-
troduced in Chapter 1, is discussed further in Chapters 6 and 7, which look at more recent trends in
theory and interpretation.

1.1 THE INTELLECTUAL prehistoric objects into three successive Ages

HISTORY OF ARCHAEOLOGY
● key references: Murray, Milestones in
archaeology 2007; Schnapp, The discovery of
the past 1996; Thornton, Archaeologists in
print 2018; Trigger, A history of archaeological
thought 2006.
It is important that the beneft of hindsight does
not make us forget the constraints of the social
and intellectual context in which antiquaries lived
and worked. For example, in the early nineteenth
century, the Danish scholars who frst organised
(Stone, Bronze and Iron) assigned them to a very
short time span. In mid-seventeenth-century
Britain, Bishop Ussher had used the Bible to
calculate that the creation of the Earth took place
in 4004 bc, and other estimates were not much
earlier (Stiebing 1993: 32; Rowley-Conwy 2007:
6–7). Pressure from developments in geology and
biology to adopt a much longer time scale did
not fnally displace the biblical scheme until the
1860s. Te dating of prehistory underwent major
revisions afer the radiocarbon dating technique
was introduced and accepted in the 1950s, while
techniques such as potassium–argon dating

DOI: 10.4324/9781003041757-1
2 THE IDEA OF THE PAST

revealed that some of the earliest sites with tools
made by hominins were much older than had
previously been suspected (Chapter 4).
We may learn a great deal by examining
how early antiquaries and archaeologists (the
diference between the two will emerge later in
this chapter) tackled the formidable problem of
making sense of the human past without the help
of the libraries, museums, travel and technical
facilities available today. At the same time we
should take care not to look only at the origins
of ideas we still consider important and ignore
the wider setting in which they were formulated.
At the most fundamental level it is possible to see
the whole idea of looking for the origins of things
as a peculiarly Western intellectual diversion
(Foucault 1970; Tomas 2004; Trigger 2006: 9–10).
We feel that it is important to place the
development of archaeology within a broad
intellectual, philosophical and historical
framework; however, terms such as Renaissance,
Enlightenment and Romanticism are less well
known than they once were. Table 1.1 places
onto a chronological scale the labels used in
this chapter to indicate the cultural, political,
philosophical or religious context of a particular
approach to archaeology; many of these labels
were only invented in the nineteenth century

Table 1.1 Archaeology and the history of ideas

Intellectual or Date Characteristics Impact upon Key names

cultural phase archaeology (those after
‘/’ relevant to
archaeology)
Classical Ancient Greece Philosophical and scien- Collecting artistic Aristotle, Plato,
and Rome tifc outlook, particularly objects, visiting sites, Lucretius/
in Greece, embracing speculation about Herodotus,
both the human and the early human societies Pausanias, Tacitus
natural/physical world
Late Roman/ Fourth century Christian theology Perpetuation of the St Augustine
Byzantine ADto ffteenth emphasising lack of free idea of the Roman
century AD will, preoccupation with Empire, collecting
truth against heresy Christian relics, pil-
grimage to holy sites
Islam Seventh century Conquest and conversion Translation into Arabic Mohammed, Avi-
ADonwards of much of the Mediter- of Classical Greek lit- cenna, Averroes
ranean Classical world, erature, especially on
along with Persia and the philosophy, medicine
East and science
‘Dark Ages’ AD 600–1000 Replacement of the Interest in Roman Bede, Alcuin,
western Roman Empire art, architecture and Charlemagne
by kingdoms of Ger- literature; relics and
manic origin; continu- pilgrimage
ation of the scholarly
Christian outlook still
regarding Rome as its
centre, particularly in
Britain and France
Medieval scho- Eleventh to Expanding interest in Rediscovery of ancient St Thomas Aqui-
lasticism fourteenth Classical intellectual Greek philosophical nas, Roger Bacon
century AD heritage (especially and scientifc writings
Aristotle), scientifc preserved by Arab
investigation; import- scholars
ant background to the
Renaissance
 THE IDEA OF THE PAST 3

Renaissance Fourteenth to Interest in humanism Recording of Greek Erasmus, Leon-

sixteenth cen- as well as theology, and Roman buildings ardo da Vinci/
tury AD fowering of the arts and inscriptions, study Brunelleschi,
(especially in Italy); of Roman architecture Cyriac of Ancona
broadening of horizons to provide models for
through European new buildings
voyages of discovery
Reformation Sixteenth to Rejection of the authority Growth of national Luther, Calvin,
seventeenth of the Roman Church, awareness in North- Loyola (Count-
century AD greater emphasis on ern Europe leading to er-Reformation)/
the individual; confict studies of local sites Copernicus
between science and
papal authority
Scientifc Revo- Seventeenth Rejection of Aristo- Growing curiosity Descartes,
lution century AD tle, investigation of about ancient sites, Hobbes, Galileo,
the physical world by recording them using Isaac Newton,
direct observation and mathematically sound Francis Bacon/
experiment, particularly surveying methods Aubrey
in astronomy; concept of
scientifc laws
Enlightenment Eighteenth As a result of the Scien- Expansion of scien- Diderot, Hume,
century AD tifc Revolution, increas- tifc recording and Kant/Stukeley,
ing explanation of the classifcation of the Winckelmann
world in rational rather natural world (includ-
than religious terms; ing antiquities)
profound philosophical
interest in the evolu-
tion of human society;
emphasis upon free will
and rights
Romanticism Late eighteenth Reaction against Enlight- Increasing national Rousseau, Schell-
to early nine- enment rationality: identity and interest ing, Hegel
teenth century emotional attraction to in origins of modern
AD dramatic, wild land- nations; preference for
scapes and primitive ‘Noble Savage’ rather
peoples than ‘brutish’ image
of primitive humans;
interest in progress
through ages
Positivism Nineteenth Continuation of Enlight- Intellectual atmo- Comte
to twentieth enment preference for sphere receptive
century AD empiricism, naturalism to developments in
and science rather than geology and biology
speculation; emergence leading to evolutionary
of sociology theory and the study
of human origins
Evolutionism Nineteenth Concept of natural Extensively adopted Lamarck, Darwin,
(Darwinism) to twentieth selection added a new as an analogy for Herbert Spencer/
century AD scientifc dimension to explaining (and justify- Pitt Rivers
long-held ideas about the ing) changes in societ-
evolution of organisms ies (social Darwinism)
(including humans); and for the develop-
transformed by develop- ment of archaeological
ment of genetics in the objects
twentieth century
4 THE IDEA OF THE PAST

Marxism (com- Nineteenth Theory of social evolution Particularly import- Marx, Engels/
munism) to twentieth derived from anthropol- ant in the twenti- Childe
century AD ogy and ancient history eth century, when
that emphasised the archaeologists reacted
economic basis of social positively or negatively
structures, and the notion to developments in
of revolutionary (rather Russia, and highly
than gradual) change infuential in ‘explain-
ing’ prehistory
Nationalism Nineteenth Extension of Refor- Extensive archaeolog- Hegel, Byron/
to twentieth mation and Romantic ical work devoted to Kossinna
century AD concepts into political establishing connec-
action, frequently using tions between modern
evolutionary ideas about peoples or nations and
natural selection to ‘ancestral’ sites and
include notions of racial artefacts
superiority
Modernism Late nineteenth Culmination of the Fundamental to much Hegel, Marx/Bin-
to late twenti- Enlightenment and posi- archaeological work, ford, David Clarke
eth century AD tivist confdence in social especially the ‘New
progress and objective Archaeology’, up to
science the 1980s
Structuralism Early to late Intellectual movement Particularly infuential Saussure,
twentieth cen- that relates superfcial upon anthropology, Barthes, Lévi-
tury AD phenomena such as and therefore upon Strauss/Hodder
language, myths, works archaeology
of art and social institu-
tions to the underlying
structure of language
Postmodern- Late twentieth Breaking down of con- Encourages a highly Nietzsche,
ism century AD fdence in modernism personal archae- Lyotard, Foucault,
and grand narratives of ological outlook Derrida/Meg Con-
social evolution such that suspects that key, Joan Gero,
as Marxism; related to all interpretations Christopher Tilley,
poststructuralism, which based on supposedly Julian Thomas.
denies fxed meanings, objective observation
simple dichotomies and are illusions refect-
the pursuit of truths ing prevailing power
structures
New mate- Late twentieth Questioning a Encourages seeing Barad, Bennett,
rialism/post- century to early human-centred view; humans and things Braidotti, Delanda,
humanism twenty-frst breaking down the sepa- as ontologically equal, Deleuze, Guattari,
and other century AD ration between humans emerging together in Haraway, Harman,
approaches, and non-humans; messy, multi-scalar Latour, Spinoza/
such as examining relationships assemblages and Chantal Conneller,
‘symmetrical between people, and capable of affecting Craig Cipolla,
archaeology’. between people and one another Rachel Crellin,
All of these are things, and ways in Ben Jervis, Andy
characterised which they affect each M Jones, Yannis
as ‘the onto- other Hamilakis, Oliver
logical turn’ Harris, Gavin
Lucas, Bjørnar
Olsen, Þóra
Pétursdóttir, Tim-
othy Webmoor,
Chris Whitmore

and are used for convenience. It is also important
to emphasise that, in charting the development
of archaeological thought, the contributions of
straight, white,Western, able-bodied, cisgendered
male archaeologists to these advances have, until
very recently, been emphasised at the expense of
all others (Diaz-Andreu and Stig-Sørensen 1998;
Kehoe and Emmerich 1999: 117; Battle-Baptiste
2011; TrowelBlazers 2022). It is also true that this
simplifed account of intellectual history places
Europe and America at its centre and carries the
implication that everything on the chart happened
as part of a linear evolution towards the present.
Although most archaeologists today reject this
kind of thinking and have demonstrated how
it can cause all sorts of problems (which are
explored in Chapters 6 and 7), it is nevertheless
an important starting point for contextualising
the discussion in this chapter.
1.1.1 Archaeology and
antiquarianism, prehistory and
history
● key references: Daniel and Renfrew, The idea
of prehistory 1988; Pearce, Visions of antiquity
2007a; Rowley-Conwy, From Genesis to
prehistory 2007; Sweet, Antiquaries 2004.
Te concept of prehistory is perhaps the single
most important contribution made by archaeology
to our knowledge of humanity; furthermore, it is
based almost exclusively on the interpretation of
material evidence. Te emergence of prehistoric
archaeology in the nineteenth century, although
it relied heavily upon natural sciences such as
geology and biology, was a remarkable episode
that changed people’s ideas about themselves
(Tomas 2004). Indeed, research into human
origins in the nineteenth century did as much as
the discovery of civilisations to establish public
awareness about what was distinctive about
archaeology as an intellectual pursuit. Early
progress in the study of ancient Greece and
Rome established the value of recording sites and
artefacts as well as documents and inscriptions;
the term archaeology was already being used
THE IDEA OF THE PAST 5
in Jacob Spon’s publications of his research in
Athens and elsewhere in the seventeenth century
(Etienne and Etienne 1992: 38–41). Nevertheless,
most historical scholars gave the written word
priority over physical evidence, and until quite
recently considered archaeology inferior to the
study of texts or works of art (Trigger 2006: 498).
Archaeologists still tend to be placed in one
of two categories: prehistorians or historical
archaeologists. Tis division is not particularly
helpful, but it does distinguish the latter, who
study people or places within periods for which
written records are available, from the former,
who are concerned with any period that lacks
documents. Historical archaeologists usually
possess a basic framework of dates and a general
idea of the society of a particular period into which
to ft their fndings. In contrast, those who study
prehistory, a concept only frmly established afer
1850 (Clermont and Smith 1990; Rowley-Conwy
2007), have to create some kind of framework
for themselves from artefacts and sites alone,
normally with the help of analogies drawn from
anthropology. Te methods used by both kinds
of archaeologist today are very much the same,
and there is considerable overlap between their
ideas and interests, including those who restrict
the term ‘historical archaeology’ to a period
beginning around ad 1500 (Hicks and Beaudry
2006). Historians who studied ancient Greece,
Rome or the Bible could set out to locate physical
traces on the ground of events and civilisations
described in literature; this possibility was
simply not available to other historians, natural
scientists or collectors who tried to make sense
of artefacts or graves surviving from times before
the earliest existing written records in other areas,
for example pre-Roman Britain.
In 1926 R.G. Collingwood, a British
philosopher who combined academic philosophy
with extensive involvement in archaeology,
disputed the clear distinction generally drawn
between history and prehistory:
Strictly speaking, all history is prehistory, since
all historical sources are mere matter, and
none are ready-made history; all require to be
converted into history by the thought of the
6 THE IDEA OF THE PAST
historian. And on the other hand, no history is
mere prehistory, because no source or group of
sources is so recalcitrant to interpretation as the
sources of prehistory are thought to be.
(quoted in Van der Dussen 1993: 372)
Collingwood was infuenced by his knowledge of
the difculties of linking the general history found
in Classical documents to the physical remains
encountered on Roman sites (and the problems in
dating them). More recently, the division between
history and prehistory, and the primacy ascribed
to text, has seen a diferent kind of critical analysis
which emphasises the problems of universalising
Western thinking that emerge from colonialism.
Carlos Mamani Condori, a Bolivian professor,
researcher and campaigner for the rights of
Indigenous communities in Bolivia, has argued that
prehistory is a Western concept according to
which those societies which have not devel-
oped writing – or an equivalent system of
graphic representation – have no history. Tis
fts perfectly into the framework of evolutionist
thought typical of Western cultures.
(Mamani Condori 1989: 51)
Tis argument has been reiterated in multiple
contexts. Indigenous understandings of heritage
and history that are conceived through intangible
practices such as song, dance and story-telling
have been shown to have equal – and ofen
greater – importance in the creation of Indigenous
knowledge of the past (e.g. papers in Supernant et al.
2020; Verdesio 2013). Tis issue will be revisited in
Chapters 6 and 7; meanwhile, we should recognise
that prehistory as a distinctive phenomenon seen
through Western eyes is not a concept accepted
throughout the world (Kehoe 1991b).
1.1.2 The problem of origins and
time
● key references: Crellin, Change and Archaeology
2020; Lucas, Archaeology of time 2005; Lucas,
Making Time: The Archaeology of Time Revisited,
2021; Murray, Time and archaeology 1999b;
Rossi, The dark abyss of time 1984; Rowley-
Conwy, From Genesis to prehistory 2007.
A quest for origin is only possible in an
intellectual framework that has a linear concept
of time that progresses from a beginning to an
end, rather than going around in an endlessly
repeating circle of life, death and rebirth (Gell
1992; Bintlif 1999). Recognition of the existence
of a signifcant amount of time before historical
records began was also essential before any
attempt was made to understand it. Finally,
people had to conceptualise using ancient objects,
monuments and sites to explore prehistoric time.
Many societies have developed sophisticated
mythologies which, in association with religion,
allow the physical environment to be ftted into
an orderly system where natural features may
be attributed to the work of gods. Artifcial
mounds, abandoned occupation sites and ancient
objects were ofen associated with deities, fairies,
ancestors or other denizens of the world of
mythology, and explanations of this kind abound
in surviving folklore. Many prehistoric sites in
England have traditional names that reveal this
background, for example the large standing
stones in Yorkshire known as Te Devil’s Arrows.
For those early prehistorians who believed in a
biblical Creation dating to 4004 bc, as calculated
by Bishop Ussher, or by relating Roman and
Greek historical documents back to the Old
Testament (Rowley-Conwy 2007: 6–9), there
was at least an upper limit to the age of any of
the items that they studied. If not, an apparently
insoluble range of questions was raised. Which
sites and objects were in use at the same time,
and how many years had elapsed between those
that looked primitive and those that seemed
more advanced? Did technical improvements
represent a gradual series of inventions made
by a single people, or did innovations mark the
arrival of successive waves of conquerors with
superior skills? Te frst step essential to any
progress was a recognition of the amount of time
occupied by human development in prehistory,
and this advance took place in the frst half of the
nineteenth century. In the view of Bruce Trigger,
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clear above all others, and thrilled to his very heart, so strongly did it remind
him of his sister Salvör. Thoughts of the past filled his mind and kept him
awake for hours, but he fell asleep again, and slept on, till he was roused up in
the morning by the girl. She brought with her a suit of fine clothes, and bade
him put them on.
“To-day is Sunday,” she added, “and you must stay here till to-morrow.” She
then left the room.
While Biarni was putting on his clothes, a little boy in a green coat, and very
nicely dressed, came into the room and wished him good morning. “What has
brought you here, so far away from home?” said the little fellow to him.
“I have come to look for some sheep that I have lost.”
“Well, I have not seen them in this valley. But I hope you won’t go to look for
them to-day. Father is going to hear service in the church, and you must be
there too.”
Before Biarni had time to reply, some one called the boy away, saying, “Sveinn,
come here, and don’t plague the stranger with your nonsense.”
At breakfast, Biarni was waited on by the girl who had treated him so well the
evening before.
Towards mid-day, people began to come from far and near, to join in the
public service in the church close by. The boy came for Biarni, and led him by
the hand into the church and showed him to a seat. On looking about, what
was his surprise to see by his side the man in the red clothes whom he had
seen, ten years before, among the mountains! But, his surprise was greater still,
on discovering that the clergyman who conducted the service, was no other
than the man in the black dress who had travelled with the other. The church
was full of people. Most of the men were tall and strongly built, but had
something forbidding about their looks. Some wore brown knitted garments
of undyed wool. Biarni said nothing to his neighbour, but took out the gilt box
and offered him a pinch of snuff. This he took, but without seeming to
recognize Biarni.
By and by, Biarni saw, seated just in front of the pulpit, a comely well dressed
woman who seemed the very picture of his sister. When their eyes met, she
was overcome with emotion and began to smile and weep by turns. Biarni now
felt confident that it was indeed his beloved sister Salvör whom he now saw
before him.
The service decently performed to the end and the blessing pronounced, the
boy again took Biarni by the hand and led him out. In passing the church
door, an old ill looking man, who sat there, tripped Biarni up and made him
fall. On this, the man in the red clothes came forward and chastised the
offender, while Biarni went with the boy into the farm house. The two men
whom Biarni had met among the mountains, shortly after came in and saluted
him.
“Do you know us, Biarni!” said they to him kindly.
“Yes,” replied he. But not another word could he utter for emotion.
A moment after, the woman, he had seen in the church and taken for his
sister, entered the room. She flew into his arms and pressed him to her bosom
saying,
“Before we were born we lay in each other’s arms, I was taken weeping from
thy embrace, and now I return laughing to thy arms, my brother.”
It was a joyful meeting.
When Biarni recovered himself, he told his sister about his parents, and also all
that had happened in Skagafiord since her departure. The man in red clothes
then addressed himself to Biarni, and said,
“Whilst thou wert asleep among the mountains, I took thy sister away from
thee and gave her in marriage to this man in the black dress, who is my son.
He is the clergyman of the valley and I am the sysselman. It was I that took
away the sheep and led thee astray to this place, that brother and sister might
meet again. To-night thou must stay here with thy sister. To-morrow I shall
give thee back thy lost sheep and go with thee part of the way to Skagafiord.”
Biarni spent a happy evening with Salvör. In the morning he took leave of her
with many tears, and departed under the guidance of her husband and of her
father-in-law, who gave him back his sheep, and helped him to drive them. On
reaching the inhabited part of the country, his new friends parted with him and
bade him an affectionate farewell; but not before they had made him promise
to leave Skagafiord and live with them.
“You must come and settle in the valley beside us,” said they to him, “we shall
return next summer and lead you and your friends to your sister’s home.”
On getting to Skagafiord, Biarni told his wife and mother all that had
happened to him, when away, and also the promise he had made to remove to
the mountains; but charged them to say nothing to the neighbours about it.
His parents were rejoiced to learn that Salvör was still alive, and promised to
go with him and his wife.
In June of the next year, three men, from the mountains, rode up one night to
Biarni’s house. The night following, Biarni, and his parents, and all his
household went away with them and in due time reached the valley where
Salvör lived. How it rejoiced Sveinn and his wife to see again their long lost
daughter! They settled in the valley and died there, at a good old age.
Biarni lived there too, for many years, but he could never forget the beautiful
Skagafiord; so when age came upon him, he returned to his old home, and
spent his latter years among the friends of his youth.

UNA THE FAIRY.

Many many years ago, a strapping young fellow, called Geir, was settled in the
farm of Randafell, on the south slope of the Eyafialla mountains, near the sea-
coast. Every thing prospered with him; for he was active and industrious, and
scorned to eat the bread of idleness. His wife was as industrious as himself, but
unfortunately, she took ill and died, shortly after their marriage. At the hay-
making season, which came on soon after, he missed his wife greatly; for the
maid servants were too few to look after the house and make the hay.
One day, when they had a good deal more work before them than they were
able to get through, a strange woman made her appearance in the hay field,
and, without so much as saying, “by your leave,” began at once to handle the
rake; and cleverly she handled it, too, for she got through more work than any
two of them. She was young and handsome, but silent as the grave. Not a
word could Geir, or any one else, get out of her the live long day. At night she
disappeared, no one knew where; but, when morning came, there was she, first
in the field, ready to take her place among the women.
Things went on in this way till the end of the harvest, when Geir went up to
her, and thanked her kindly for the help she had given them.
She took what he said in good part, and no longer refused to talk with him.
They had a long chat together, but Geir was not made a bit the wiser, as to
where she lived, or whose daughter she was. She told him, however, that her
name was Una.
“Una,” said he to her at last, “I am greatly in want of a housekeeper; I don’t
know any body so likely to suit as you; will you take the situation?”
“I have no objection to do so,” she replied, “when do you want me?”
“The sooner the better.”
“Well, I shall come with my luggage to-morrow, and take up my abode with
you.” She then disappeared.
Next morning, she walked into the farm house, and set down a large chest, full
of clothes, which she had brought with her. This she put out of the way in the
closet, and then began to bustle about the house, looking after household
duties.
And now things began to prosper again with the Randafell farmer. Una was a
capital manager, and soon became famous all over the country side for her
good butter, and her well ordered house. Geir was delighted with his
housekeeper; but one thing distressed him—he could not persuade her to go
to church.
When Christmas Eve came round, Geir and all the servants went to church, to
the vesper service. Geir was anxious that Una should go too. But no! she
would not budge, excusing herself by saying, that she was needed at home to
look after the house. It was morning before the church goers got back, for the
church was a good three hours’ ride from Randafell. On returning they found
Una busy preparing the Christmas feast. The ordinary work of the house was
done, so that they had nothing to do but to take a few hours rest, before
sitting down to enjoy themselves.
By the time the third winter came round, Geir began to think of taking a wife,
and who so likely to suit him as Una! And so thought all the neighbours too.
Many a talk they had about her, when gathered together in the churchyard, on
the Sundays, waiting the arrival of the clergyman. After discussing her good
qualities, “Isn’t it strange,” the one would say to the other, “that we can’t find
out who Una is, or where she comes from?”
“Aye! that is true,” another would say, “but isn’t it stranger still, that all the time
she has been at Randafell, she has never once entered the church door?”
Geir was very fond of her, but could not make up his mind to ask her to marry
him, so long as she refused to bend her knee in prayer to God.
On the third Christmas Eve, Geir set out, with all his household, to the
midnight service in the church. Una as usual remained at home. When they
were on the road, Geir’s serving man suddenly complained of severe pain. He
lay down on the spot, and said he would rest there till he got better; so Geir
and the others went on without him.
As soon as they were out of sight, the man got up to his feet, mounted his
horse and rode back again to the farm. His sickness was only feigned, in order
to get the chance of finding out what could tempt Una always to stay at home,
at a time when every true hearted Icelander made a point of joining his
neighbours, in the house of God, to commemorate the anniversary of that
blessed night when Christ was born in Bethlehem.
On reaching the farm, he unsaddled the horse, and slipped quietly in, taking
care to hide in a dark corner where he could see all that was going on, without
being himself seen. Una was busy sweeping and cleaning the house; and so
cleverly did she go about her work that everything was put to rights in a very
short time. After washing herself, she went to the store-closet and put on a
dress which the man had never seen till now, and which was more befitting a
king’s daughter than a poor farmer’s housekeeper. Never before had Una
looked so handsome and beautiful.
She now took out of her chest a piece of red cloth, which she put under her
arm. Shutting her chest and the closet door, she left the house and ran down
the meadow, till she came to a pool of water. Here she spread out the red
cloth, and placed herself upon it. At this instant the man, who had been
breathlessly following her, came up, and unseen by her just succeeded in
getting his foot on a corner of the cloth. And now they sunk down and down
into the earth, with a feeling as if they were going through smoke. By and by
they landed on a green plain, not far from a splendid farm house. Una took up
the cloth, put it under her arm, and went up to the house. The man walked
softly behind, taking care to keep out of her sight. A great many people came
out of doors to welcome Una, who seemed rejoiced to see them, and saluted
them kindly.
Great preparations were going on inside for a feast. The guest chamber was
swept and garnished, and the table laid. As soon as the people took their
places several dishes were brought, and abundance of good wine. The serving
man, who had slipped in with the others unknown to Una, took his place
among the guests. Among other things he was presented with a fine rib of
smoked mutton, which he took and preserved, for he had never seen so fat a
rib before. After supper the people amused themselves with games of different
kinds, and were all very happy.
Just as day began to break, Una told her friends, she would have to go away, as
her master, the peasant, would soon be back from church. So she took a kind
leave of every one, and walked to the spot where she had alighted, on coming
down.
The man followed her, and again succeeded in getting his foot on the cloth,
without being seen. So they ascended together through the dark earth, till they
came to the pool of water again. Una took up the cloth, and went straight to
the store-room to change her dress. After that she went into the house, to
await the return of the peasant, and make ready the Christmas feast.
The serving man had, meantime, taken up his place at the spot where he had
been left behind the night before. When the farmer came up he asked him
how he was.
“I am almost well again,” said the man, “and quite able to go home with you.”
So they all rode together to Randafell.
Una received them with a smiling face, and told them that the feast was quite
ready. So they were not long in taking their places. As is usual on such
occasions, the principal dish was smoked mutton. As this happened to be very
fine, the farmer took up a large rib, and holding it up said,
“Have any of you ever seen such a rib as this?”
“I think I have; what think you of that,” said the serving man, as he held up
before them the rib he had got the night before.
As soon as Una saw this, she changed colour, went out without saying a single
word, and was never afterwards seen.

GILITRUTT.

Once on a time, a smart active young peasant occupied a farm under the
Eyafialla mountains. As his pasture land was good, he kept many sheep. These
yielded him no small store of wool, and yet, it was no easy matter for him to
keep a coat on his back; for the wife whom he had lately married, though
young and healthy, was lazy to a degree, and gave herself little concern about
the affairs of the house. Her husband was greatly dissatisfied, but could not
induce her to mend her ways.
At the close of summer he gave her a large bundle of wool, and told her to be
sure to spin it and work it up into coarse wadmal during the winter months.
“Very well,” she said, “I’ll see about it bye and bye;” but at the same time
looked as if she would far rather have nothing to do with it. She let it lie in a
corner untouched, spite of the hints she got every now and then, from her
husband. It was mid-winter before she fully made up her mind to set to work;
and then she began to perplex herself, as to how she could get so much wool
worked up, before the close of winter.
Just then, an ugly old woman came to the door, begging for alms.
“Can you do any work for me in return,” asked the peasant’s wife.
“Perhaps I can,” replied the old woman.
“But what kind of work would you have me to do?”
“I want you to make some coarse cloth for me, out of this wool.”
“Very well, let me have the wool then.”
And so, the peasant’s wife handed the large bag of wool to the old woman,
who, without more ado, tossed it up on her back, at the same time saying,
“You may depend on my coming back with the cloth, the first day of
summer.”
“But what payment will you ask for your work when you bring the cloth,” said
the peasant’s wife.
“I won’t take any payment; but you must tell me what my name is, in three
guesses.”
The peasant’s wife, too lazy to spin and weave for herself, agreed to this
strange condition, and so the old woman departed.
As the winter months passed on, the peasant often asked what had become of
the wool.
“Give yourself no concern about it,” said the wife, “you’ll have it back, all spun
and woven, by the first day of summer.”
As he never could get any other answer, he at last ceased to talk about the
wool. All this time his wife was trying to find out the old woman’s name, but
all her efforts were unavailing. By the time the last month of winter came
round she became so anxious and uneasy that she could neither eat nor sleep.
Her husband was greatly distressed at the change which had come over her,
and begged her to let him know what ailed her. Unable longer to keep the
matter secret, she told him the whole.
He was very much startled at what he heard, and told her how very imprudent
she had been, as the old woman was, most certainly, a witch, and would take
her away if she failed in her bargain.
A day or two after this conversation, he had occasion to go up the adjoining
mountain. He was so bowed down with grief, at the thought of losing his wife,
that he scarcely knew what he was about; and so wandered from the road, till
he came to the bottom of a lofty cliff. While he was considering how he could
get into the right road again, he thought he heard a sound as of a voice inside
the hill. Following the sound he discovered a hole in the face of the cliff. On
peeping through this hole, he saw a tall old woman sitting weaving with the
loom between her knees; and, as she beat the treadles, every now and then
breaking into a snatch of song,
“Ha! Ha! and Ho! Ho!
The good wife does not know
That Gilitrutt is my name.”

“Aha!” muttered the peasant to himself, “if she does not know now, she will
know bye and bye;” for he felt quite sure that was the same old hag who had
so imposed on his poor foolish wife.
All the way home, he kept repeating the word Gilitrutt, and, as soon as he got
in doors, he wrote it down on a piece of paper, that he might not forget it. But
he did not, at that time, give his wife the least inkling of what had befallen him.
The poor woman grew more and more sorrowful, as the days passed on; and,
when the closing day of winter came, she was so woe-begone that she had not
the heart even to put on her clothes. In the course of the day, her husband
enquired if she had found out her visitor’s name yet.
“Alas, no! Would to God I could find it out! for I am like to die of grief.”
“There is no occasion for that,” he replied cheerfully, “I’ve found out the
name for you; so you need not be afraid to meet the old hag.” With that, he
handed her the piece of paper, and at the same time told about his adventure
on the mountain. She took the paper, with a trembling hand, for at first she
feared that the news was too good to be true; and, though her husband’s story
comforted her not a little, she could not get rid of a suspicion that the name
might not be the true one.
She wanted her husband to stay indoors the next day, so as to be present when
the old woman called.
“No! no!” said he, “you kept your own counsel when you gave her the wool,
so, you must do without me when you take in the cloth, and pay her the wages
agreed on.”
He then left the house.
And now came the first day of summer. The peasant’s wife was in the house
alone, and lay a-bed, listening with a beating heart for the first sound of the
old hag’s footsteps. She had not long to wait; for, before the morning passed, a
trampling noise was heard, and in stalked the old woman with a bundle on her
back, and a scowl on her face. As soon as she got within the room, she threw
down the big bundle of cloth, and, in an angry tone, called out,
“What is my name now? What’s my name?”
The peasant’s wife, who was almost dead with fear, said “Signy!”
“That my name! That my name! guess again, good wife.”
“Asa,” said she.
“That my name! That my name! No indeed. You must guess again; but
remember this is your last chance.”
“Are you not called Gilitrutt?” said the woman timorously.
This answer came like a thunderbolt on the old hag, who fell down with a
great noise on the floor, and lay there for sometime. She then got up, and,
without speaking a word, went her way out of the house, and was never more
seen in the country-side.
As for the peasant’s wife, she was full of joy at her deliverance, and, ever after,
was a changed woman. She became a pattern of industry and good
management, and henceforth always worked her own wool herself.

HILDUR THE FAIRY QUEEN.

Once on a time a farmer settled in a mountainous part of the country, but the
particular spot is not mentioned, nor has his name come to us; but we do
know that he was a bachelor, and had a housekeeper named Hildur.
Who Hildur was, neither the farmer nor any of the neighbouring gossips could
find out: but as she took good care of the household and discharged her duties
faithfully, she was allowed to keep her own secret. All the servants liked her,
and the farmer thought himself very fortunate in having fallen in with such a
housekeeper. She was of a quiet disposition, but always kind and obliging.
The farmer’s affairs were in a flourishing state: his sheep throve and
multiplied, and he had nothing to annoy him except this, that he had great
difficulty in getting shepherds to enter his service. The cause of this was not
that the farmer treated his shepherds badly, but that, one after another, they
were found dead in bed, on Christmas morning.
In olden times, it was the custom for the Icelanders, on Christmas Eve, to
meet together at midnight for public worship; and any one who absented
himself from church, on that occasion, was considered as much to blame as if
he were keeping away on Christmas day itself. Those living up among the
mountains, and who had long weary roads to go, had often great difficulty in
getting to church in time; especially those who were not able to leave home
before the Pleiades could be seen in the south-eastern heavens.
In this farm, the shepherds did not usually get home from work before that
time, so that they generally missed the opportunity of attending the Christmas
Eve service. Hildur never went on those occasions, as she preferred staying at
home to watch the house—as is customary for some one to do on Christmas
Eve—and attend to the preparations for the Christmas feast. She was always
busily occupied in this way till the night was far advanced, so that the church-
goers were back from the services and asleep in bed, before she retired for the
night.
As often as Christmas morn came round, the farmer’s shepherd, whoever he
might be, was found dead in bed. This strange fatality was well known over all
the country side. No wonder, then, that shepherds were afraid of entering the
farmer’s service, even though offered better wages than they could get
elsewhere. No mark of violence was ever seen on the body of the unfortunate
shepherd, so that no blame could be attached either to the farmer, or to any
one in the house. At last the farmer declared that he could not find it in his
heart to engage shepherds, with the prospect of certain death before them,
and that he would, for the future, leave his sheep to take care of themselves.
When things had reached this pass, there came to him, one day, an active hardy
man, who offered his services as shepherd.
“I am not so much in want of your services as to be willing to take you.”
“Have you engaged a shepherd for next winter?” asked the stranger.
“No, I have not,” replied the farmer, “but surely you have heard how sad has
been the end of all that have been before you.”
“Oh yes, I’ve heard all about it; but their fate will not hinder me from taking
care of your sheep, if you are only willing to engage me.”
At last, the farmer complied with his entreaties, and engaged him as shepherd.
He soon shewed that he was in every respect fitted for the place. He was kind
and obliging; and both able and willing to lend a hand at any farm work, so
that he soon became a favourite with everybody.
Till Christmas-tide, nothing extraordinary happened. On Christmas Eve, the
farmer went to church as usual with his domestics. The housekeeper alone
stayed at home, and the shepherd was left in charge of the sheep. Towards
evening the shepherd came in from his work, and after partaking of dinner, lay
down to rest in bed. He took care, however, not to drop asleep; for, though
free from fear, he thought it only prudent to keep awake. When the night was
advanced he heard the church-goers come in, and take some refreshment
before going to bed. Up till this time, he had not remarked anything unusual;
but when the others had fallen asleep, he felt languid and weary. He was afraid
lest he should be overpowered with sleep, and did his best to keep awake. A
little while after, some one, whom he believed to be the housekeeper Hildur,
stealthily approached the bed-side. Thinking he was asleep, she began to try to
put something in his mouth. He felt certain that it must be a magic-bridle, and
so, pretending to be quite unconscious of what was going on, he let himself be
quietly bridled.
As soon as the bridle was on, she led him out very easily; mounting on his
back, she rode away at a smart pace till they reached a yawning chasm in the
earth. Then she dismounted beside a stone, and letting go her hold of the
bridle, disappeared into the chasm. The shepherd did not want to lose sight of
her, and so tried to follow; but he soon found that that was out of his power,
so long as he had on the bridle. By dint however of rubbing his head against
the stone, he got rid of the bridle, and leaving it behind, he threw himself into
the chasm into which Hildur had sprung.
As far as he could judge, he had not gone very deep down till he saw Hildur
again. She was then landed on a fine level meadow, along which she was
walking quickly. From what he saw he came to think that all was not right with
Hildur, and that she was not the woman she had seemed to be in the farmer’s
house. In order to keep her from seeing him as he followed her over the plain,
he took out of his pocket a stone which had the wonderful property of making
him invisible so long as he held it in his hand. With this stone of darkness in
his left-palm, he made after her as fast as he could, and kept close behind her
the rest of the way.
After walking some distance over the plain, there appeared in sight a splendid
palace of great size, towards which Hildur directed her steps. A great crowd of
people came out to meet her. Foremost among them was a man dressed in
purple and gold, who bade her welcome, at the same time calling her his
beloved wife, and embracing her very affectionately. Those who attended him
saluted her as their queen, and received her with every mark of respect. By the
king’s side were two children, of eight or ten years of age, who ran joyfully into
Hildur’s arms, and called her mother.
On entering the palace, Hildur was very honourably received. She was dressed
in a royal robe, and had rings of gold put upon her hand. The shepherd
followed the crowd into the palace, and took up his place where he could see
all that was going on without running the risk of being found out. The
furniture was rich and gorgeous beyond conception, so that he was completely
dazzled with the sight.
In the principal saloon a table was set out and a feast prepared, the splendour
of which cannot be described.
Hildur then made her appearance, magnificently attired, and sat down on the
throne beside the king, while the other guests took their places on each side.
At the close of the feast, the table was removed, and soon the guests began to
pass the time in dancing, or other amusements. The king and queen paid no
heed to what was going on, but sat alone, engaged in a close conversation
which seemed to the shepherd to be at once kind and sorrowful.
While the king and queen were thus occupied, three children, younger than
those before mentioned, came forward, and their mother Hildur, who received
them kindly, took the youngest on her knee and fondled it. But, as the child
was restless and uneasy, she set it down again. She then drew a ring from her
finger, and gave it to the child as a plaything. The child amused itself for some
time with it, and then dropped it on the floor. The shepherd, who was
standing close by, at the time, hastily snatched it up and put it into his pocket,
without being observed by any one. As soon as the ring was missed, a careful
search was made for it, but, to the great astonishment of everybody but the
shepherd, it was nowhere to be found.
As the night was now far advanced, the queen—Hildur—began to prepare for
her departure. Those present were sorry to see this, and begged her to stay
longer with them. The king also added his entreaties, but all without effect.
Before this time, the shepherd had noticed an ill-looking woman, who sat all
alone in a corner of the room. She was the only one that had failed to give
Hildur a joyful welcome to the palace, or ask her to prolong her stay. As soon
as the king saw that Hildur was bent on going, he stepped up to this old
woman, and said, “Take back your words, mother! at my humble entreaty, so
that my queen may no longer be bound to absent herself from home, and
from those nearest and dearest to her.”
The old woman replied angrily, “All my words shall stand, I will by no means
retract them.”
With a sorrowful heart, he went back to the queen, and, folding his arms
around her, begged her in words of kindness not to leave him again.
“Alas,” said she, “I cannot stay here, in consequence of the spell by which your
mother has bound me, and who knows if I shall ever see you more.”
She then told him she had killed so many men it could no longer be concealed,
and that she would certainly be punished, even though what she had done was
sore against her will.
While she was lamenting her unhappy lot, the shepherd, seeing how matters
stood, made the best of his way out of the palace, and went straightway to the
bottom of the chasm. He reached the top, with the greatest ease. After that, he
put the stone of darkness in his pocket, and putting the bridle in his mouth
again, waited patiently on Hildur. It was not long before Hildur made her
appearance, looking very sorrowful. Taking a hold of the bridle, she mounted
on his back and rode quickly back to the farm.
On her arrival she laid the shepherd quietly in bed, and unbridled him, and
then slipped away to her own bed, where she lay down to sleep. Although the
shepherd had been all this time wide awake, he feigned sleep so well that
Hildur was quite deceived. After she had gone to bed, he was no longer on his
guard, but fell asleep, and as might be expected slept till it was broad day. The
farmer was astir early in the morning, for he was anxious to know if this
Christmas, like so many that was gone, was to be a season of mourning in
place of a season of rejoicing. The most of the servants got up early too, but,
while they were dressing, he went quietly to the shepherd’s bed, and touching
him with his hand, found that he was alive and apparently well. This rejoiced
the heart of the farmer, who falling down on his knees, praised God loudly for
his great goodness. The shepherd, shortly after, got up in the best of health.
As soon as he was dressed, the people of the house gathered about him, to ask
if anything unusual had befallen him during the night.
“Nothing,” said he, “except that I had a very wonderful dream.”
“What kind of a dream?”
The shepherd began with the tale, as it is here told; how Hildur came to his
bed and bridled him; and every thing exactly, as far as he could recollect. When
he had done, all were silent except Hildur, who said,
“If you tell the truth, show us some token to prove what you say.”
The shepherd, noways daunted by this demand, shewed them the ring, which
he had picked up from the floor of the fairy palace during the night, and said,
“Though I am not bound to bring forward proofs, I can easily do so, for there
is token sufficient that I have been with the fairies. Is not that your ring,
Queen Hildur?”
“To be sure it is,” replied Hildur “and may good fortune ever attend you, for
you have delivered me from the spell by which my cruel mother-in-law bound
me, and through which I have been compelled to do so many bad deeds which
my soul abhorred.”
Then queen Hildur told her story as follows. “I was a fairy maid of low degree,
but the present fairy king fell in love with me. The marriage was so displeasing
to his mother, that she became furious with rage and told him that he would
have to part with me soon, and that, after that, we could enjoy each other’s
society only at rare intervals and for a short time together. But me she bound
with such a spell, that I was forced to become a servant in the world of woe,
and, every Christmas Eve, to kill a man. I was to bridle him when asleep, and
ride on his back along the same road that I took with the shepherd last night
in going to meet the king. This I was to do till I was convicted of murder and
put to death, unless, before that, I should fall in with a man so courageous as
to dare to go with me to the world of Fairies, and then be able to show plain
proofs that he had been there and seen what was done. Now, it is clear that all
the other shepherds of this farmer have suffered death for my sake, but, as it
was not in my power to prevent it, I hope their deaths will not be laid to my
charge. This stout-hearted man is the first who dared to venture into the dark
road that leads to Fairyland. I shall yet reward him for delivering me from the
spell of my cruel mother-in-law. I thank you all for your kindness to me, during
the years I have been among you. But I must stay here no longer, for I long for
my proper home.”
After these words Queen Hildur disappeared, and since then, she has never
once been seen in the world of mankind.
Of the shepherd, it is told, that he married and settled down on a farm, in the
following spring. He was generously treated by the farmer, who, when they
parted, stocked his farm free of all cost to him. Ere long he became noted as
one of the best farmers of the neighbourhood, and was often called upon for
his advice and assistance in matters of difficulty. He was beloved by all, and
successful beyond all his expectations in whatever he undertook. None of his
neighbours could boast of such thriving flocks and herds as his. But his
wonderful good fortune did not make him proud, for, as he often said, he
owed all his success to Hildur the Fairy Queen.

A CLERGYMAN’S DAUGHTER MARRIED TO A FAIRY MAN.

In a certain district of Iceland, there lived a clergyman who had a daughter in

the early bloom of womanhood. One day, when the conversation turned on
the subject of elves or fairies, the young woman happened to say,
“I should like to be married to a fairy man, if he were only a brave one.”
Her father was very angry at her words, and gave her a good scolding and a
box on the ear besides. Shortly afterwards, a child about the parsonage saw a
man ride up to the door of the house, and then dismount. Watching his
opportunity, the man stepped indoors, and soon reappeared, leading the
clergyman’s daughter by the hand. Before he could be prevented, he mounted
on horseback and rode off with her. Her sorrowful parents searched for her
throughout all the neighbouring country, but nowhere could she be found.
It is told, that three winters after this time, a shepherd who had been long in
the clergyman’s service, and had loved his daughter dearly, one day lost his way
and all the sheep. After wandering about for hours, he found himself at the
door of a farm house he had never before seen. The farmer, a fine manly
looking fellow, came out, and after listening to his story offered him a bed for
the night. He accepted the offer gladly, but at the same time lamented over the
loss of the sheep.
“Don’t bother yourself about them to-night,” said the farmer, “be sure they
will turn up again;” and with that he led him to a room up stairs. There he saw
an old man and woman, and two children who were playing on the floor. But,
besides these, he saw the clergyman’s lost daughter who was now the wife of
the man who had asked him in.
The shepherd was entertained with the best that was in the house; and when
bed-time came, was shown to a private sleeping room. The clergyman’s
daughter then went to him, and handing him a leather bag, asked him faithfully
to deliver to her mother some valuables she had put in it. She also bade him
tell her mother that though her husband was a fairy man, he did not hinder her
from saying her prayers every night. On the shepherd asking her if ever she
went to church, she said she was there just as often as himself, and that she
always sat under the pulpit, with her husband, beside the altar.
“How does it come that nobody ever sees you in church?”
“Oh, the reason is,” she replied, “that we always leave the church before the
blessing. But don’t tell anybody what I have now mentioned. Only deliver the
leather bag to my mother; for if you blab what I’ve told you, be sure you will
be an unfortunate man.”
He gave her a promise of secrecy; on that, she left the room. On getting up in
the morning, he was glad to learn that his lost sheep had turned up. The
farmer, who had fed them on hay during the night, delivered them up to him,
and put him on the right road. He got home with the sheep in safety, and after
a very short journey; but he never could tell which way he came. As for the
promise of secrecy, he paid no attention to it; but on the contrary gave a full
and exact account of everything he had seen and heard.
Now, the clergyman, who was anxious to find his daughter, bethought himself
of a plan, and that was, to pronounce the blessing before she could have time
to get out of church. So he went round among his parishioners, and told them
not to be shocked if they should hear him the next Sunday pronounce the
blessing at an earlier stage of the service than usual. When next Sunday came,
his daughter occupied her customary seat, though not visible to any one in the
church. In the middle of the service the clergyman stopped and pronounced
the blessing. His daughter, thus caught unawares, was obliged to discover
herself. He did what he could to induce her to stay, but all in vain.
“If you try to force me,” said she, “the consequences will be very serious; and
besides, it would not be right in me to leave a husband who has always treated
me so kindly.”
Of the shepherd, it is told, that he was from that day unfortunate in all that he
had to do with. But one cannot be sorry for him, as he brought his troubles on
his own head through his want of truthfulness.

THE CLERGYMAN’S DAUGHTER IN PRESTSBAKKI.

In Prestsbakki, in the Skaptáfells district, there once lived a clergyman, named

Einar. He was well to do in the world, and had a numerous family. No one
cared less about fairy tales than he did. In fact, he used to speak of fairies as if
there were no such beings. In his idle moments he would tauntingly dare them
to shew themselves to him; and then, as they did not choose to obey his
orders, he would boast that there were no fairies to come.
Well, on one night while asleep, he dreamed that a man came to his bedside
and said to him,
“You have provoked the fairies long, but now they will have their revenge.
From this time forward you shall not dare to deny their existence. I will take
away your eldest daughter, and you shall never see her more.”
And sure enough, in the morning, when the clergyman awoke, he found that
his eldest daughter, who was twelve years of age, had disappeared. Search was
made for her in all directions, but nowhere could she be found. As time passed
on, she often made her appearance among her brothers and sisters, while they
were playing in the meadows. Again and again, they tried to prevail on her to
go home with them; but, just as she seemed willing to do so, she always
became invisible. When asked as to her welfare, she always said that she was in
good health, and kindly treated by her new friends. Her father frequently saw
her in his dreams, and to him she told the same story, only adding that she was
to be married, bye and bye, to the fairy clergyman’s son. Some time after she
appeared to her father again in a dream, and invited him to come to her
marriage, which was to take place on the following day. This was the last time
he ever dreamed about her, and never after did she show herself among her
brothers and sisters.

THE CHANGELING.

It was a common belief, in olden times, that the fairies often took away infant
children who happened to be left alone, and changed them for decrepit old
men or women who were made to appear as children. These changelings,
however, neither grew nor spoke after the manner of children, and were very
apt to become idiots. It once happened that all the people of a certain farm
were working in the meadows, except the mistress of the house who was at
home looking after the house and her little son, a boy three or four years old.
Up to that time the boy had thriven amazingly. He could talk well, and was a
clever promising child. As there was no one to assist the mother with the
household work, one day, she was obliged to leave the boy by himself for a
short time, while she went to wash the milk pails in a brook close by. On
returning soon after, she was surprised to find the boy, at the door, weeping
and howling in a strange uncouth way, very different from his wonted manner.
Usually he was very quiet, gentle and obedient, but now she could not get a
word out of him. Time passed on, but the child remained silent, restless, and
thoroughly untractable. His body ceased to grow, and his behaviour was like
that of an idiot. His mother could not account for the strange change that had
come over him. In the midst of her grief, she at last bethought herself of going
to take the advice of a neighbour woman who was famous for her prudence
and skill. The neighbour listened attentively to all she had to say about the boy,
and then said to her,
“Don’t you think, good wife, that the boy is a changeling? for, it seems to me,
that the fairies must have taken away your own boy the day you left him alone,
and have put another in his place.”
“How could I find out, if what you say is true?” said the surprised mother.
“Oh, very easily, just go home, and take the first opportunity of leaving the
boy alone beside something that is likely to call forth his surprise. When his
eye catches what you have put purposely in his way, if nobody is within sight,
he is sure to make some remark about it to himself. You must listen to what he
says, and if you find anything strange or suspicious about it, go in at once and
flog him without mercy, till something comes out of it.”
The boy’s mother thanked her neighbour humbly for her advice, and went
away home to put it into practice. The first thing she did on returning was to
place the little porridge pot in the middle of the kitchen floor. She then bound
a great many sticks together, so as to make a long rod, and fastened the spurtle
to one of the ends. The rod was so big, that when the spurtle rested in the pot,
the upper end was away up the chimney. Leaving it in this position, she went
away and fetched the boy to the kitchen, and then left him all alone. On going
out, she drew the door behind her; but not so closely as to prevent her from
peeping in to see what was going on.
As soon as the boy thought he was alone, he began to trip round the pot,
wondering greatly what could be the meaning of the long spurtle. At last he
said, “Well, old as I am, and I am no chicken now, as my grey beard and my
eighteen children in Fairyland can testify, I never, in all my born days, did see
such a long spurtle for such a little porridge pot.”
This was enough for the mother, who was not long of making her appearance
in the kitchen with a good sized stick in her hand. Seizing hold of the
changeling, she flogged him unmercifully for a long while, spite of his heart-
rending cries.
Bye and bye a strange old woman walked in, holding on her arms a little boy
whom she fondled kindly. Addressing the farmer’s wife, she said, “Why should
you treat my husband so cruelly. Your conduct is a sorry recompense for the
care I have bestowed on this little boy of yours.” So saying, she laid the little
boy at his mother’s feet, and took her husband away with her.
The fairy man and woman were never more seen again. The now recovered
boy remained with his parents, and grew up a fine manly youth, the joy of his
mother’s heart.[47]
 II.

SPECIMENS OF ICELANDIC POEMS.

FROM THE “VÖLUSPÁ”

In the “Völuspá,”[48] from the older Edda, we have a sublime description of
chaos; of creation; an account of a period of strife, crime, and suffering; dire
conflicts between the powers of good and evil; of the destruction of the world
of Odin and the dissolution and conflagration of the universe; of the Regnarök
or twilight of the Gods; of the renovated world, the descent of Baldur the
Good, the punishment of the wicked, and the happiness of the good in Gimlé
or Heaven. From this poem—the most remarkable in the whole range of
Scandinavian mytho-cosmogony—the following verses are extracted:
“It was time’s morning
When Ymer lived.
There was no sand, no sea;
No cooling billows;
Earth there was none,
No lofty heaven;
Only the Gulph of Ginunga,
But no grass.

· · · ·

The sun knew not

Where was his dwelling;
The stars knew not
That they had a firmament;
The moon knew not
What powers she possessed.

· · · ·

The tree Yggdrasil

Bears a sorer burden
Than men know of.
Above the stags bite it;
On its sides age rots it;
Nighögg gnaws below.