N Sharples
Biographic Data
| ID | 47244 |
|---|---|
| NAME | N Sharples |
| GIVEN NAMES | N |
| FAMILY NAME | Sharples |
| SIGNATURE | SHARPLES N |
| AFFILIATIONS | Cardiff University |
| ORCID | 0000-0001-8736-2554 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 28 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 63 |
| WORKS AS AUTHOR | 28 |
| WORKS AS EDITOR | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 1985 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2020 |
| H-INDEX | 5 |
Tempo of a Mega-henge
Radiocarbon dating and Bayesian chronological modelling have provided precise new dating for the henge monument of Mount Pleasant in Dorset, excavated in 1970–1. A total of 59 radiocarbon dates are now available for the site and modelling of these has provided a revised sequence for the henge enclosure and its various constituent parts: the timber palisaded enclosure, the Conquer Barrow, and the ditch surrounding Site IV, a concentric timber and …
Monumentalising the domestic
This chapter considers the concept of “house societies” suggested by Lévi- Strauss, and its applicability to the Iron Age societies of Atlantic Scotland. In particular it explores the significance of brochs, the unique stone towers that dominate the archaeology of the region. It argues that they are domestic houses occupied by families that have a pre-eminent role in these societies. These families control key resources, such as timber, stone and…
Histories of deposition
The Late Bronze Age–Early Iron Age midden sites of Southern Britain are amongst the richest archaeological sites in the country. The organic accumulations contain substantial quantities of animal bone, decorated ceramics, metalwork and other objects; the often deep stratigraphy allows for changes in material culture and depositional practices, food production and consumption, and shifts in social identities, to be traced through time. The well-st…
Early Neolithic Enclosures in Wales
Causewayed enclosures have recently been at the forefront of debate within British and European Neolithic studies. In the British Isles as a whole, the vast majority of these monuments are located in southern England, but a few sites are now beginning to be discovered beyond this core region. The search in Wales had seen limited success, but in the 1990s a number of cropmark discoveries suggested the presence of such enclosures west of the River …
The Later Prehistory of North-Western Europe
The Later Prehistory of North-Western Europe: The Evidence of Development-Led Fieldwork, By Richard Bradley, Colin Haselgrove, Marc Vander Linden, and Leo Webley." Archaeological Journal, 174(2), pp. 509–510
The Life and Death of Querns
The Life and Death of Querns: The Deposition and Use-Contexts of Querns in South-Western Britain from the Neolithic to the Iron Age, by Susan R. Watts." Archaeological Journal, 173(2), pp. 395–396
Contrasting Patterns of Resource Exploitation on the Outer Hebrides and Northern Isles of Scotland during the Late Iron Age and Norse Period Revealed through Organic Residues in Pottery
This paper presents the findings from an investigation of organic residues extracted from pottery sherds from Late Iron Age and Norse phases from Bornais, South Uist, and the Late Norse period from Jarlshof on Shetland. These data confirm intensive and/or specialized processing of marine products in pottery on Shetland, either for consumption or other uses, such as rendering of oil from fish livers. In contrast, at Bornais, little increase in the…
A Short History of Archaeology in the Uists, Outer Hebrides
The Scottish islands have played a role in the development of Scottish archaeology that seems disproportionate to the size of the islands. The archaeology of the islands is often considered to exemplify Scottish archaeology much to the annoyance of archaeologists working on the mainland where the archaeology is very different. This is particularly the case with Orkney where the archaeological record is exceptional in many ways and where the histo…
The Idea of Order
The Beaker-period and Early Bronze Age settlement at Sligeanach, Cill Donnain
Defining the Individual
During the 1985 excavation at Maiden Castle (Sharples 1991a), a large grain storage pit cut into the back of the rampart of the Early Iron Age hillfort was excavated. About half way down the fill of that pit the left femur of a mature adult was exposed. This bone was lying in a relatively sterile soil layer and it was not marked by any special finds or careful constructions; in many respects it could easily be dismissed as a discovery with little…
Social Relations In Later Prehistory Wessex In The First Millennium Bc
Christopher Evans 2009. Fengate Revisited
Christopher Evans 2009. Fengate Revisited: Further Fen-edge Excavations, Bronze Age Fieldsystems & Settlement and the Wyman Abbot/Leeds Archives. Cambridge Landscape Archives: Historiography and Fieldwork (No. 1). Cambridge: Cambridge Archaeological Unit
Iron Age Households
(2009). Iron Age Households: Structure and Practice in Western Denmark, 500 BC—AD 200. By Leo Webley. Archaeological Journal: Vol. 166, No. 1, pp. 245-246
Prehistoric Europe
(2009). Prehistoric Europe: Theory and Practice. Edited by Andy Jones. Archaeological Journal: Vol. 166, No. 1, pp. 238-240
Isotopic Analysis of Faunal Material from South Uist, Western Isles, Scotland
This paper reports on the results from stable isotope analysis of faunal bone collagen from a number of Iron Age and later sites on the island of South Uist, in the Western Isles, Scotland. This preliminary investigation into the isotopic signatures of the fauna is part of a larger project to model the interaction between humans, animals, and the broader environment in the Western Isles. The results demonstrate that the island fauna data fall wit…
Scottish Odysseys
Christopher Evans. Power and island communities
Christopher Evans. Power and island communities: excavations at the Wardy Hill ringwork, Coveney, Ely (East Anglian Archaeology Report No. 103). xiv+294 pages, 145 figures, 18 b&w & colour plates, 83 tables. 2003. Cambridge: Cambridge Archaeological Unit; 0-9544824-0-9 paperback. - Volume 79 Issue 303
Later prehistory in the Outer Hebrides
An abstract is not available for this content so a preview has been provided. Please use the Get access link above for information on how to access this content
Stuart Piggott (1910-1996)
Norse Settlement in the Outer Hebrides
Recent work on the Norse settlement of Scotland has focused on the settlements of the Northern Isles. In this article we present some new results from the less intensively studied Western Isles. A detailed survey of South Uist has revealed a large number of settlements on the machair plain on the west coast of the island. These settlements are closely related to the pre-existing native settlement pattern and suggest settlement continuity from the…
Place, house, person
This is an interesting and important paper that argues in a reasoned and convincing manner for a new approach to an archaeology of houses. It uses as an archaeological case study the evidence from the southern Netherlands but the approach presented here has a much wider application and the results are directly relevant to a very large area of northern Europe. I originally heard this paper delivered as a lecture at a conference on settlement studi…
Brochs and Iron Age society
The brochs, great stone towers of Iron Age Scotland, are famously puzzling. Who inhabited these strongholds (if habitations they were)? New fieldwork at the broch of Dun Vulan, on South Uist in the Western Isles, prompts reappraisal of the geographical and social context of the brochs, by developing untapped sources of social evidence
Excavations at Miltown of Clava, Inverness-shire
This report presents the results of the excavation of a cairn at Miltown of Clava, Inverness District, Highland Region. The excavations were superficial but revealed that underneath a large spread of more recent field clearance was a prehistoric cairn probably of Clava type. The cairn was circular with an estimated diameter of 12m. To the SW of the cairn is a large standing stone and lying on the cairn was a large slab decorated with small cup ma…
Danebury
Individual and Community
This paper is an exploration of the chronological development of a series of elaborate and architecturally distinctive chambered tombs on the Islands of Orkney. It begins with a short critique of the present views of the Orcadian Neolithic and highlights a failure to understand chronological developments as the most significant problem. Thus after a brief classification of the monuments there is a detailed discussion of the chronological evidence…
Norse Settlement in the Outer Hebrides
Recent work on the Norse settlement of Scotland has focused on the settlements of the Northern Isles. In this article we present some new results from the less intensively studied Western Isles. A detailed survey of South Uist has revealed a large number of settlements on the machair plain on the west coast of the island. These settlements are closely related to the pre-existing native settlement pattern and suggest settlement continuity from the…
Excavations at Pierowall Quarry, Westray, Orkney
Complex multi-period site. Spiral-decorated stones, large circular chambered tomb of mid-3rd millennium, demolished for small structure (Grooved Ware) then abandoned until large Iron Age round house built over cairn. Critical examination of many recent Orkney publications in the light of this evidence, and some new approaches suggested. 14C dates and environmental evidence
Brochs and Iron Age society
The brochs, great stone towers of Iron Age Scotland, are famously puzzling. Who inhabited these strongholds (if habitations they were)? New fieldwork at the broch of Dun Vulan, on South Uist in the Western Isles, prompts reappraisal of the geographical and social context of the brochs, by developing untapped sources of social evidence
Tempo of a Mega-henge
Radiocarbon dating and Bayesian chronological modelling have provided precise new dating for the henge monument of Mount Pleasant in Dorset, excavated in 1970–1. A total of 59 radiocarbon dates are now available for the site and modelling of these has provided a revised sequence for the henge enclosure and its various constituent parts: the timber palisaded enclosure, the Conquer Barrow, and the ditch surrounding Site IV, a concentric timber and …
Histories of deposition
The Late Bronze Age–Early Iron Age midden sites of Southern Britain are amongst the richest archaeological sites in the country. The organic accumulations contain substantial quantities of animal bone, decorated ceramics, metalwork and other objects; the often deep stratigraphy allows for changes in material culture and depositional practices, food production and consumption, and shifts in social identities, to be traced through time. The well-st…
Isotopic Analysis of Faunal Material from South Uist, Western Isles, Scotland
This paper reports on the results from stable isotope analysis of faunal bone collagen from a number of Iron Age and later sites on the island of South Uist, in the Western Isles, Scotland. This preliminary investigation into the isotopic signatures of the fauna is part of a larger project to model the interaction between humans, animals, and the broader environment in the Western Isles. The results demonstrate that the island fauna data fall wit…
Tomb of the Eagles
Contrasting Patterns of Resource Exploitation on the Outer Hebrides and Northern Isles of Scotland during the Late Iron Age and Norse Period Revealed through Organic Residues in Pottery
This paper presents the findings from an investigation of organic residues extracted from pottery sherds from Late Iron Age and Norse phases from Bornais, South Uist, and the Late Norse period from Jarlshof on Shetland. These data confirm intensive and/or specialized processing of marine products in pottery on Shetland, either for consumption or other uses, such as rendering of oil from fish livers. In contrast, at Bornais, little increase in the…
A Short History of Archaeology in the Uists, Outer Hebrides
The Scottish islands have played a role in the development of Scottish archaeology that seems disproportionate to the size of the islands. The archaeology of the islands is often considered to exemplify Scottish archaeology much to the annoyance of archaeologists working on the mainland where the archaeology is very different. This is particularly the case with Orkney where the archaeological record is exceptional in many ways and where the histo…
Christopher Evans. Power and island communities
Christopher Evans. Power and island communities: excavations at the Wardy Hill ringwork, Coveney, Ely (East Anglian Archaeology Report No. 103). xiv+294 pages, 145 figures, 18 b&w & colour plates, 83 tables. 2003. Cambridge: Cambridge Archaeological Unit; 0-9544824-0-9 paperback. - Volume 79 Issue 303
Later prehistory in the Outer Hebrides
An abstract is not available for this content so a preview has been provided. Please use the Get access link above for information on how to access this content
Excavations at Pierowall Quarry, Westray, Orkney
Complex multi-period site. Spiral-decorated stones, large circular chambered tomb of mid-3rd millennium, demolished for small structure (Grooved Ware) then abandoned until large Iron Age round house built over cairn. Critical examination of many recent Orkney publications in the light of this evidence, and some new approaches suggested. 14C dates and environmental evidence
Individual and Community
This paper is an exploration of the chronological development of a series of elaborate and architecturally distinctive chambered tombs on the Islands of Orkney. It begins with a short critique of the present views of the Orcadian Neolithic and highlights a failure to understand chronological developments as the most significant problem. Thus after a brief classification of the monuments there is a detailed discussion of the chronological evidence…
Tomb of the Eagles
Excavations at Miltown of Clava, Inverness-shire
This report presents the results of the excavation of a cairn at Miltown of Clava, Inverness District, Highland Region. The excavations were superficial but revealed that underneath a large spread of more recent field clearance was a prehistoric cairn probably of Clava type. The cairn was circular with an estimated diameter of 12m. To the SW of the cairn is a large standing stone and lying on the cairn was a large slab decorated with small cup ma…
Danebury
Brochs and Iron Age society
The brochs, great stone towers of Iron Age Scotland, are famously puzzling. Who inhabited these strongholds (if habitations they were)? New fieldwork at the broch of Dun Vulan, on South Uist in the Western Isles, prompts reappraisal of the geographical and social context of the brochs, by developing untapped sources of social evidence
Norse Settlement in the Outer Hebrides
Recent work on the Norse settlement of Scotland has focused on the settlements of the Northern Isles. In this article we present some new results from the less intensively studied Western Isles. A detailed survey of South Uist has revealed a large number of settlements on the machair plain on the west coast of the island. These settlements are closely related to the pre-existing native settlement pattern and suggest settlement continuity from the…
Place, house, person
This is an interesting and important paper that argues in a reasoned and convincing manner for a new approach to an archaeology of houses. It uses as an archaeological case study the evidence from the southern Netherlands but the approach presented here has a much wider application and the results are directly relevant to a very large area of northern Europe. I originally heard this paper delivered as a lecture at a conference on settlement studi…
Later prehistory in the Outer Hebrides
An abstract is not available for this content so a preview has been provided. Please use the Get access link above for information on how to access this content
Stuart Piggott (1910-1996)
Christopher Evans. Power and island communities
Christopher Evans. Power and island communities: excavations at the Wardy Hill ringwork, Coveney, Ely (East Anglian Archaeology Report No. 103). xiv+294 pages, 145 figures, 18 b&w & colour plates, 83 tables. 2003. Cambridge: Cambridge Archaeological Unit; 0-9544824-0-9 paperback. - Volume 79 Issue 303
Scottish Odysseys
Iron Age Households
(2009). Iron Age Households: Structure and Practice in Western Denmark, 500 BC—AD 200. By Leo Webley. Archaeological Journal: Vol. 166, No. 1, pp. 245-246
Prehistoric Europe
(2009). Prehistoric Europe: Theory and Practice. Edited by Andy Jones. Archaeological Journal: Vol. 166, No. 1, pp. 238-240
Isotopic Analysis of Faunal Material from South Uist, Western Isles, Scotland
This paper reports on the results from stable isotope analysis of faunal bone collagen from a number of Iron Age and later sites on the island of South Uist, in the Western Isles, Scotland. This preliminary investigation into the isotopic signatures of the fauna is part of a larger project to model the interaction between humans, animals, and the broader environment in the Western Isles. The results demonstrate that the island fauna data fall wit…
Defining the Individual
During the 1985 excavation at Maiden Castle (Sharples 1991a), a large grain storage pit cut into the back of the rampart of the Early Iron Age hillfort was excavated. About half way down the fill of that pit the left femur of a mature adult was exposed. This bone was lying in a relatively sterile soil layer and it was not marked by any special finds or careful constructions; in many respects it could easily be dismissed as a discovery with little…
Social Relations In Later Prehistory Wessex In The First Millennium Bc
Christopher Evans 2009. Fengate Revisited
Christopher Evans 2009. Fengate Revisited: Further Fen-edge Excavations, Bronze Age Fieldsystems & Settlement and the Wyman Abbot/Leeds Archives. Cambridge Landscape Archives: Historiography and Fieldwork (No. 1). Cambridge: Cambridge Archaeological Unit
The Beaker-period and Early Bronze Age settlement at Sligeanach, Cill Donnain
The Idea of Order
The Life and Death of Querns
The Life and Death of Querns: The Deposition and Use-Contexts of Querns in South-Western Britain from the Neolithic to the Iron Age, by Susan R. Watts." Archaeological Journal, 173(2), pp. 395–396
Contrasting Patterns of Resource Exploitation on the Outer Hebrides and Northern Isles of Scotland during the Late Iron Age and Norse Period Revealed through Organic Residues in Pottery
This paper presents the findings from an investigation of organic residues extracted from pottery sherds from Late Iron Age and Norse phases from Bornais, South Uist, and the Late Norse period from Jarlshof on Shetland. These data confirm intensive and/or specialized processing of marine products in pottery on Shetland, either for consumption or other uses, such as rendering of oil from fish livers. In contrast, at Bornais, little increase in the…
A Short History of Archaeology in the Uists, Outer Hebrides
The Scottish islands have played a role in the development of Scottish archaeology that seems disproportionate to the size of the islands. The archaeology of the islands is often considered to exemplify Scottish archaeology much to the annoyance of archaeologists working on the mainland where the archaeology is very different. This is particularly the case with Orkney where the archaeological record is exceptional in many ways and where the histo…
Early Neolithic Enclosures in Wales
Causewayed enclosures have recently been at the forefront of debate within British and European Neolithic studies. In the British Isles as a whole, the vast majority of these monuments are located in southern England, but a few sites are now beginning to be discovered beyond this core region. The search in Wales had seen limited success, but in the 1990s a number of cropmark discoveries suggested the presence of such enclosures west of the River …
The Later Prehistory of North-Western Europe
The Later Prehistory of North-Western Europe: The Evidence of Development-Led Fieldwork, By Richard Bradley, Colin Haselgrove, Marc Vander Linden, and Leo Webley." Archaeological Journal, 174(2), pp. 509–510
Archaeology and ancient environmental studies (25 works) · Archaeology (24 works) · History (20 works) · Geography (18 works) · History (12 works) · Ancient history (8 works) · Art (7 works) · Excavation (7 works) · Iron Age (7 works) · Historical and Cultural Archaeology Studies (6 works)