CHARIOTS AND CONTEXT: NEW RADIOCARBON DATES FROM WETWANG AND THE CHRONOLOGY OF IRON AGE BURIALS AND BROOCHES IN EAST YORKSHIRE |
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| Authors: | MANDY JAY COLIN HASELGROVE DEREK HAMILTON J.D. HILL JOHN DENT |
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| Affiliation: | 1. Division of Archaeological, Geographical and Environmental Sciences, University of Bradford, Bradford, West Yorkshire BD7 1DP;2. Department of Archaeology and Prehistory, University of Sheffield, Sheffield S10 2TN;3. Department of Human Evolution, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Deutscher Platz 6, 04103 Leipzig, Germany, E‐mail: mandy.jay@sheffield.ac.uk;4. School of Archaeology and Ancient History, University of Leicester, University Road, Leicester LE1 7RH;5. Scottish Universities Environmental Research Centre, Rankine Avenue, Scottish Enterprise Technology Park, East Kilbride, Glasgow G75 0QF;6. The Directorate, British Museum, London WC1B 3DG;7. Eastville, Lilliesleaf, Melrose, Roxburghshire TD6 9HX |
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| Abstract: | This paper presents 21 new radiocarbon dates for Iron Age burials excavated at Wetwang Slack, East Yorkshire, including three chariot burials. The dates are analysed using a Bayesian approach, along with previous dates from the cemetery and from other chariot burials in the region. The model suggests that regular burial at Wetwang spanned the third and earlier second centuries cal BC, a shorter period than once thought, whilst the chariot burials all belong to a short‐lived horizon centred on 200 cal BC. The dating of brooch types present in the burials is also reassessed. Our results imply that brooches of La Tène D form appeared in Britain in the later second century cal BC, in line with Continental evidence, but reinforcing the void in the later Iron Age sequence revealed in a recent study of decorated metalwork. Both this apparent gap and the end of the classic East Yorkshire mortuary tradition may well be manifestations of the more general changes that swept across Europe at this period, ushering in the new forms of political organization and social practices that define the Late Iron Age. |
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