PITS, PRECONCEPTIONS and PROPITIATION IN the BRITISH IRON AGE
Author:
- 1 March 1992
- journal article
- Published by Wiley in Oxford Journal of Archaeology
- Vol. 11 (1) , 69-83
Abstract
Summary: Large pits have long been known to be a characteristic of the British Iron Age. Originally they were thought to be habitations but since the 1930s they have been assumed to have served as grain silos. This paper reviews our changing conceptions and then considers a range of new data for special burials within the pits. A model is developed which sees the storage of seed grain in pits as a deliberate act designed to place the grain in the protection of the chthonic deities. the chronological and spatial implications of pit storage in Britain are briefly considered.Keywords
This publication has 8 references indexed in Scilit:
- BEFORE HILLFORTSOxford Journal of Archaeology, 1990
- WINTER SCENEWeather, 1988
- Ritual and Religion in Iron Age Britain, Parts i and ii1985
- Centralized Storage in Later Prehistoric BritainProceedings of the Prehistoric Society, 1983
- Experimental Iron Age Storage Pits: An Interim ReportProceedings of the Prehistoric Society, 1974
- Maiden Castle, Dorset1943
- Excavations at Little Woodbury, WiltshireProceedings of the Prehistoric Society, 1940
- Pits and Pit-dwellings in Southeast Europe1936