The Bronze Age in East Anglia
Histon & Impington Archaeology Group – the FebruaryTalk
The Bronze Age in East Anglia: Changing the landscape and settlement with Nick Gilmour, Senior Project Manager, Oxford Archaeology East on Monday 17th February 2020, 7.30 pm at Histon Baptist Church
On Monday 17th February 2020, Nick Gilmour (Oxford Archaeology East and of Histon!) speaks on Bronze Age Settlement in East Anglia, 730pm at the Histon Baptist Church. Recent archaeological evidence has shown that Bronze Age people were the first to start massive changes of the landscape, with new field systems and droves and established trading networks across a wide area.
People with metal technology (which originated around the eastern Mediterranean) arrived from the continent about 2500 BC. Herodotus, the so called ‘father of history’, referred in the 5th century BC to these islands as the Cassiterides, the tin islands – so maybe that is why they braved the weather! These people were great builders or modifiers e.g. Stonehenge.
Nick has archaeological interests in British prehistory, particularly the Neolithic and Bronze Age. Most of his field experience is around East Anglia, and he has extensive experience in fenland archaeology.
Aerial photographs of crop marks show many previously unsuspected settlements in Norfolk with complex field systems – Nick has been involved with excavations that confirm that such cropmarks (and there are many in our region) can indicate settlements – for example dating back to 1,500 BC at Ormsby St Michael in the Norfolk Broads – which revealed evidence of weaving and indirectly, metal working.