Land and People: Papers in Memory of John G. Evans

By Michael J. Allen, Niall Sharples and Terry O'Connor

This volume is derived, in concept, from a conference held in honour of John Evans by the School of History and Archaeology and The Prehistoric Society at Cardiff University in March 2006. It brings together papers that address themes and landscapes on a variety of levels. They cover geographical, methodological and thematic areas that were of interest to, and had been studied by, John Evans. The volume is divided into five sections, which echo themes of importance in British prehistory. They include papers on aspects of environmental archaeology, experiments and philosophy; new research on the nature of woodland on the chalklands of southern England; coasts and islands; people, process and social order, and snails and shells - a strong part of John Evans' career. This volume presents a range of papers examining people's interaction with the landscape in all its forms. The papers provide a diverse but cohesive picture of how archaeological landscapes are viewed within current research frameworks and approaches, while also paying tribute to the innovative and inspirational work of one of the leading protagonists of environmental archaeology and the holistic approach to landscape interpretation.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Oxbow Books
• Release date: Sep 10, 2009
• ISBN: 9781782973584

Michael J. Allen

Michael J. Allen is associate professor of history at Northwestern University.

Book preview

Part 1

John, Environmental Archaeology, Experiment and Philosophy

Environmental archaeology as a discipline relies, in many ways, upon data and parallels gained from, or observed in, biology and the real world. In some cases these observations are made on experiments ranging, from the reconstruction of field movements monuments (eg, Overton Down and Wareham earthwork experiments), to the results of dog-gnawing on bones. Where data are not present as analogues for palaeo-ecological interpretation we are often forced to become ecologists ourselves, and to record and map the ecology of species in their present day habitat. Each study of a subfossil biological assemblage, or that of the geographical properties of, for instance, a soil, a sediment, or a landscape, is an example of an applied science. It is important that the data generated engender interpretation that is applied to, and directed at, archaeological, and not purely palaeo-ecological, enquiry. Importantly a philosophical agenda is required within which to set and view the results of such enquiries. As that philosophical agenda changes (or as another line of enquiry is engaged) so too might the nature of the interpretation gained from the same datasets change.

John Evans examining stones in the gravel bank of the River Taff in July 2004

As ‘environmental archaeology’ as a whole matures the main protagonists in its study – often trained archaeologists – are now returning to archaeological as well as palaeo-ecological interpretation. John attempted to get us all to engage in, and with, people as individuals and real identities in the past not just with grey ‘concepts’ of their landscape. The papers in the following section relate to our engagement with, and enquiry of, the natural and archaeological world.

1

Professor John Gwynne Evans, 1941–2005 aka ‘Snails’ Evans – an appreciation

Michael J. Allen

This ‘appreciation’ was first published in the Journal of Conchology (2006, vol 39, 111–117) and the text is reproduced here, with kind permission of the Conchological Society of Great Britain and Ireland. This is a revised version that contains some additional comment as well a few references omitted from the list of John’s references, and some published since then.

John ‘snails’ Evans, developed a whole new subdiscipline of palaeo-environmental enquiry for archaeology, advancing both the understanding of past landscapes and human activity, and that of palaeo-molluscan ecology. He was an influential figure both as an environmental archaeologist and prehistorian, and as an oldfashioned field naturalist. Although others before him (Zeuner, Dimbleby) had set the course, it was John who almost single-handedly developed the discipline of environmental archaeology and, in 1970, was appointed as lecturer of environmental archaeology at Cardiff, the first post of its kind outside London. He became a Reader in 1982, a Professor in 1994 and retired in 2002, donating his extensive snail collection to the National Museum of Wales, Cardiff.

John was widely known in the British archaeology community and the conchology world, and made a great impact upon archaeologists, studiers of snails and conchology alike in his own inimitable style and maverick way. He was a colleague, friend and mentor to many of us, and made an immense contribution to palaeoenvironmental research and largely introduced the study of snails to archaeology.

In 1972 he published the seminal work Land Snails in Archaeology, a book that unlike its companion Soils and Archaeology by Susan Limbrey (1975), had no predecessors and, also unlike its companion, had no successor until recently (2008). Over 30 years later it has still not been surpassed. Long out of print, this book remains the ‘bible’ for several generations of archaeologists, environmental archaeologists and archaeomalocologists alike. So sought after is this tome that it is currently available second hand at the modest sum of $1392!

John was a member of the Conchological Society from 1964–97, rejoining again in 2003. In retirement John’s interest in snails had been re-awakened, and he was revisiting ideas about mollusc assemblages from sand dunes (see Evans 2004). At his last attendance at a Conchological Society meeting (26 February 2005), only months before he died, he was ordering and collecting the few back numbers of the Journal of Conchology that he had missed. More ironic was that he was attending my lecture on, of all subjects, ‘Molluscs in archaeology’. Why was he there? and what had he, of all people, to learn? Perhaps little, but it was the interest in the subject, the ideas and the people generating and discussing them, that constantly intrigued. He died prematurely at 63, two years after retiring, on 14th June 2005, after a short illness.

Figure 1.1: John with Darwin in 2004 (photograph: Gill Swanton)

Life before snails

Born in St. Albans, Herefordshire 11 November 1941, son of the microbiologist Sir David Evans (director of the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine) John was brought up in London, and went to University College School, Hampstead and studied zoology at Reading University (1960–63). As an undergraduate he was a keen chorister, rower and demonstrated his love of Wagner to his fellow students.

It was here that some of his first interest in archaeology was gained, that interest would lead him to a life long connection with snails. He met the then curator of Reading Museum, John Wymer, himself a celebrated and recently departed doyen of British Palaeolithic archaeology. This friendship provided some of the inspiration for John to take zoological studies into archaeology and it also introduced him to the university’s excavations at Silchester.

With this fusion of archaeology and zoology John set off back to London, after graduating in 1963, to study under the illustrious Pleistocene archaeologist and archaeozoologist Prof Zeuner. That summer he was sent by Zeuner, ‘to a site at Rainham, Essex, under the supervision of [two young and later eminent archaeologists], Derek Simpson and Isobel Smith to learn how to excavate’. This was Zeuner’s way of initiating John into archaeology; the acquaintance of these two, as John continued, ‘was an auspicious choice because two significant strands of my PhD thesis on fossil snails were developed under these two archaeologists, the one on Neolithic chalk soils under Isobel and the other on windblown sand under Derek’. Unfortunately, Zeuner died suddenly, aged 58, that autumn. Instead of studying mega palaeo-fauna, John ended up working on sub-fossil land snails. He continued at the Institute of Archaeology but was supervised by Michael Kerney of Imperial College, who had developed a methodology for their study from Pleistocene and Holocene deposits, focusing on changing distribution of species and climatic conditions. From this time John earned the epithet, and became affectionately know as, ‘Snails’ Evans; in part to distinguish him from John D. ‘Malta’ Evans, Mediterranean prehistorian, later Director of the Institute of Archaeology. He was rigorously encouraged, from 1964, by the newly appointed professor of Human Environment, Geoff Dimbleby, and together they worked on a number of projects and together they wrote, in 1974, a seminal paper on pollen and snails from chalkland sites.

Prior to the final completion of his PhD John was offered a job as the first field archaeologist for Buckinghamshire County Museum (succeeded by Ros Dunnet, then by Mike Farley). By report this was not a complete success as John saw the job as an opportunity to complete his PhD and personal research investigations (clearly evidenced in his research in the area at Pitstone, Pink Hill etc), rather than dealing with the ‘archaeology’. I’m sure John was convinced that studying key snail and sedimentary sequences was archaeology, much to the consternation of the curator. He completed his PhD at the Institute in 1967 on ‘The stratification of Mollusca in chalk soils and their relation to archaeology’, largely subsequently published 5 years later in 1972 as ‘Land Snails in Archaeology’. He was appointed lecturer at University College Cardiff in 1970 where he stayed as reader, later professor, until his retirement in 2002. He was elected as a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries, London, in 1974.

Snails in archaeology

John made snails important in archaeology. Where previously landscapes devoid of pollen yet rich in human activity, remained empty of palaeo-environmental information and reconstruction, the analysis of snails enabled the study of chalkland vegetation. He provided evidence for prehistoric woodland, of clearings and opening for settlements and of the first positive indications of tillage and farmers. In this way he rewrote much of the prehistory of the chalk through the analysis of snails combined with archaeology.

John had bouts of tremendous energy, zeal, enthusiasm for archaeology, in his research and field investigation. This is exemplified by campaigns of fieldwork in the Avebury area in the late 1960s with Isobel Smith; on sand dunes in Scotland with Derek Simpson from the early 1970s; revisiting Avebury studying the landscape from alluvial deposits and snails with Prof Susan Limbrey (1980s), and later Neolithic monuments with Alasdair Whittle (1990s). Rivers and alluvium of the Test (Hampshire) and Wylye (Wiltshire) were studied in the early 1990s, and from each of these campaigns were borne postgraduate research and a number of disciples.

At least three generations of archaeologists were brought up on John’s seminal works: The Environment of Early Man in the British Isles (1975), Introduction to Environmental Archaeology (1978), and more recently Environmental Archaeology: Principles and Methods (1999; with Terry O’Connor), and Land and Archaeology (2001). More recently, his thinking and writing had become more adventurous in Environmental Archaeology and the Social Order (2003) in which he was willing us, as environmental archaeologists, to think of the meanings of our work in terms of people inhabiting landscapes. John was involved in editing the Proceedings of the Prehistoric Society from 1975 (vol. 41) to 1994 (vol. 60), producing 20 volumes containing many papers and site reports upon which much of our current archaeological foundation is based. Accompanying these was a wealth of his own major papers and contributions; many based on the analysis, or interpretation derived from the analysis of, land snails.

John was confident in his own approaches, to archaeology, and in later years his exploration of people – the individual’s engagements with nature and their surroundings became an important part of his thinking – and paralleling, in part, John’s own wonder of nature and ecology. This is reflected in his last book (Environmental Archaeology and the Social Order), as well as in his confident, if unorthodox, approach to the land snail and environmental evidence from Ascott-under-Wychwood. His unusual approach did not find favour with its English Heritage referees, but thankfully the volume editors recognised the value of this and published that account.

Stimulating but hard work

John developed a reputation as a stimulating and challenging teacher and there were few students who attended his courses who were not left with vivid and inspirational memories. He was particularly noted for his innovative methods. These included the arrival, as an active participant, of his dog (Darwin) at a laboratory session designed to examine the effects of carnivores on large animal bone collections. He pushed friendship, teaching methods, technical procedures and theoretical ideas to the limits and was unpredictable; being dismissive in one meeting, and overwhelmingly excited and encouraging at another. His interest and encouragement in others’ research was sometimes overwhelming and detrimental; his ever enthusiastic questioning consumed time that the recipient might have preferred to have been enquiring of Johns own, better, more wide-ranging, and significant research. Working with John was seldom predictable, often exhausting, but always stimulating and mind-broadening. Despite his significant contribution as a prehistorian, environmental archaeologist, conchologist and teacher, he was surprisingly modest. He inspired many, wrote ground-breaking texts but he himself never spoke about that, and never boasted to anyone about what he had done and achieved.

John’s funeral said it all – a packed house in light airy summer clothes, Wagner, hymns in Welsh, tears and laughter, anger at his untimely departure and delight in shared memories, and the coffin adorned with wild grasses and meadow flowers. He will be remembered for his individual style, such as ejecting potted plants through opened pub windows because they were irritating to the eye, but also for his guidance of and kindness towards the next generations of scholars. His enthusiasm was infectious and anyone showing an interest in his work or challenging his ideas was in for a great experience of discussion, debate and banter. His genuine interest and support of others work, whether they be students or colleagues, engendered an intensely loyal, but not uncritical, following.

Bibliography of John G. Evans

Note: This bibliography aims to include all of John’s major works, most of his papers – but I am sure that there are, unfortunately, omissions especially amongst the list of his numerous contributions to others work and papers, and particularly those geographically further away from my own research, and those earlier in his career. This has, however been updated since its original publication in the Journal or Conchology (Allen 2006), and I thank numerous people for additional information including Niall Sharples, and Astrid Caseldine.

Books and Pamphlets

Evans J.G. 1972. Land Snails in Archaeology. London: Seminar Press

Evans J.G. 1975. The Environment of Early Man in the British Isles. London: Paul Elek

Evans J.G. 1978. An Introduction to Environmental Archaeology. London: Paul Elek

Evans, J.G. 1986. Prehistoric farmers of Skomer Island: an archaeological guide. Haverfordwest: West Wales Trust for Nature Conservation

Evans J.G. 1999. Land & Archaeology; histories of human environment in the British Isles. Stroud: Tempus

Evans J. & O’Connor T. 1999. Environmental Archaeology; principles and methods. Stroud: Sutton

Evans J.G. 2001. Land and Archaeology. Stroud: Tempus

Evans J.G. 2003. Environmental Archaeology & the Social Order. London: Routlege

O’Connor T. & Evans J. 2005. Environmental Archaeology; principles and methods Stroud: Sutton. 2nd edn. and revised

Edited Volumes

Evans J.G., Limbrey S. & Cleere H. (eds), 1975. The Effects of Man on the Landscape: the Highland Zone. London: Council for British Archaeology Research Report 11

Limbrey S. & J.G. Evans (eds), 1978. The effect of Man on the Landscape: the lowland zone. London: Council for British Archaeology Research Report 21

Thesis

Evans J.G. 1967 The stratification of Mollusca in chalk soils and their relation to archaeology. Unpub Ph.D. thesis, University of London, Institute of Archaeology

Journal Editor

Proceedings of the Prehistoric Society – assistant editor to John Coles 1978–9

Proceedings of the Prehistoric Society – assistant editor to T.C. Champion 1980–6

Proceedings of the Prehistoric Society – assistant editor with A.W.R. Whittle to T.C. Champion 1987

Proceedings of the Prehistoric Society – Editor 1988–9

Proceedings of the Prehistoric Society – Editor with A.W.R. Whittle 1990–3.

Proceedings of the Prehistoric Society – Editor with J. Gardiner & A.W.R. Whittle 1994

Papers

Evans J.G. 1966. Late-glacial and post-glacial subaerial deposits at Pitstone, Buckinghamshire. Proceedings of the Geologists’ Association 77, 347–363

Evans J.G. 1966. A Romano-British interment in the bank of the Winterbourne, near Avebury. Wiltshire Archaeological and Natural History Magazine 61, 97–98

Evans J.G. 1966. Land Mollusc from Neolithic enclosure on Windmill Hill. Wiltshire Archaeological and Natural History Magazine 61, 91–92

Fowler P.J. & Evans J.G. 1967. Ploughmarks, lynchets and early fields. Antiquity 41, 289–301

Evans J.G. 1968. Periglacial deposits on the chalk of Wiltshire. Wiltshire Archaeological and Natural History Magazine 63, 12–29

Evans J.G. 1968. Changes in the composition of land molluscan populations in north Wiltshire during the last 5,000 years. Symposium of the Zoological Society of London 22, 293–317

Evans J.G. 1969. The exploitation of molluscs. In P.J. Ucko. & G.W. Dimbleby, The domestication and exploitation of plants and animals, 479–484. London: Duckworth

Evans J.G. 1969. Land and freshwater Mollusca in archaeology: chronological aspects. World Archaeology 1, 170–183

Evans J.G. 1969. Further periglacial deposits in North Wiltshire. Wiltshire Archaeological and Natural History Magazine 64, 112–113

Evans J.G. 1970. Interpretation of land snail faunas. Bulletin of the London Institute of Archaeology 8 & 9, 106–116

Evans J.G. 1971. Habitat change on the calcareous soils of Britain: the impact of Neolithic man. In D.D.A. Simpson (ed.), Economy and Settlement in Neolithic and Early Bronze Age Britain and Europe, 27–73. Leicester: University Press

Evans J.G. 1971. Notes on the environment of early farming communities in Britain. In D.D.A. Simpson (ed.), Economy and Settlement in Neolithic and Early Bronze Age Britain and Europe, 11–26. Leicester: University Press

Wainwright, G.J., Evans J.G. & Longworth I.H. 1971. The excavation of a late Neolithic enclosure at Marden, Wiltshire. Antiquaries Journal 51, 177–239

Evans J.G. & Jones H. 1973. Subfossil and modern land-snail faunas from rock rubble habitats. Journal of Conchology 28, 103–129

Evans J.G. & Limbrey, S. 1974. The experimental earthwork on Morden Bog, Wareham, Dorset, England: 1963–1972. Proceedings of the Prehistoric Society 40, 170–202

Evans J.G. & Valentine, K.W.G. 1974. Ecological changes induced by prehistoric man at Pitstone, Buckinghamshire. Journal of Archaeological Science 1, 343–351

Dimbleby G.W. & Evans J.G. 1974. Pollen and land-snail analysis of calcareous soils. Journal of Archaeological Science 1, 117–133

Evans, J.G. 1978. Comment on paper by Barker and Webley 1978, Proceedings of the Prehistoric Society 44, 185–186

Evans J.G., French C & Leighton D. 1978. Habitat change in two Late-glacial and Post-glacial sites in southern Britain: the molluscan evidence. In S. Limbrey & J.G. Evans (eds), The effect of Man on the Landscape: the lowland zone, 63–75. London: Council for British Archaeology Research Report 21

Evans J.G. 1979. The palaeo-environment of coastal blown-sand deposits in western and northern Britain. Scottish Archaeological Forum 9, 16–26

Evans J.G. 1979. The environmental background to British prehistory. In J.V.S. Megaw & D.D.A. Simpson (eds), Introduction to British Prehistory, 6–22. Leicester: University Press

Ashbee P., Smith I.F. & Evans J.G. 1979. Excavation of three Long Barrows near Avebury, Wiltshire. Proceedings of the Prehistoric Society 45, 207–300. [includes ‘The environment’ with, land-snail analysis (Horslip barrow) p275–60; The pre-barrow soil (Beckhampton Road) p 279–80; Land-snail analysis (South Street barrow) 283–96]

Evans J.G. 1983. Excavations at Bar Point, St Mary’s, Isles of Scilly, 1979–80. Cornish Studies 11, 7–32

Evans, J.G. 1983. Fieldwork in teaching environmental archaeology: the Cardiff course. Circaea 1, 76–78

Evans J.G. & Smith I.F. 1983. Excavations at Cherhill, North Wiltshire 1967. Proceedings of the Prehistoric Society 49, 101–109. [inc. Evans J.G, Molluscan analysis p 101–6]

Evans J.G. 1984. Stonehenge – the environment in the Late Neolithic and Early Bronze Age and a Beaker burial. Wiltshire Archaeological and Natural History Magazine 78, 7–30

Davis J. & Evans J.G. 1984. Grims Ditch, Ivinghoe, Records of Buckinghamshire 26, 1–10

Evans J.G., Pitts M.W. & Williams D. 1985. An excavation at Avebury, Wiltshire, 1982 Proceedings of the Prehistoric Society 51, 305–320

Evans J.G. & Vaughan M.P. 1985. An investigation into the environment and archaeology of the Wessex liner ditch system Antiquaries Journal 65, 11–38

Evans J.G. 1986. Radiocarbon dates from the Pitstone soil at Pitstone, Buckinghamshire. In J.A.J. Gowlett. & R.E.M. Hedges (eds), Archaeological Results from Accelerator Dating, 91–4. Oxford: Oxford University Committee for Archaeology Monograph 11

Evans J.G. 1986. Mollusca from the Iron Age sites at Meare, Somerset. Somerset Papers 12, 97–102

Evans J.G. 1987. Perforatella rubiginosa (Schmidt 1853) in the Late Bronze Age at Runneymede, Egham, Surrey. Conchologists’ Newsletter 102, 27–8

Evans J.G., Limbrey, S., Maté, I. & Mount R. 1988. Environmental change and land-use history in a Wiltshire river valley in the last 14,000 years. In J.C. Barrett & I.A. Kinnes (eds), The Archaeology of context in the Neolithic and Bronze Age; recent trends, 97–103. Shefield: J.R. Collis

Evans J.G, Rouse A. & Sharples N. 1988. The landscape setting of causewayed camps, recent work on the Maiden Castle enclosure. In J.C. Barrett & I.A. Kinnes (eds), The Archaeology of context in the Neolithic and Bronze Age: recent trends, 73–78. Shefield: J.R. Collis

Benson D.G., Evans J.G., Williams G.H., Darvill T. & David A., 1990. Excavations at Stackpole Warren, Dyfed. Proceedings of the Prehistoric Society 56, 179–245

Evans J.G. 1990. Notes on some Late Neolithic and Bronze Age events in long barrow ditches in southern and eastern England. Proceedings of the Prehistoric Society 56, 111–116

Evans J.G. 1990. An archaeological survey of Skomer, Dyfed. Proceedings of the Prehistoric Society 56, 247–67

Evans, J.G. 1990. Mollusca in Welsh archaeology. In A. Caseldine, Environmental Archaeology in Wales, 112–120. Lampeter: St Savid’s University College Lampeter

Evans J.G. & Rouse A. 1990. Small-vertebrate and mollusca analysis from the same site. Circaea 8, 75–84

Evans J.G. 1991. An approach to the interpretation of dry-ground and wet-ground taxocenes from central-southern England. In D.R. Harris & K.D. Thomas (eds), Modelling ecological change: perspectives from neoecology, palaeoecology and environmental archaeology, 75–90. London: University College

Evans J.G. & Simpson, D. 1991. Giants’ Hill 2 long barrow, Skendlebury, Lincolnshire. Archaeologia 109, 1–45

Griffiths H.I. & Evans J.G. 1991. Some freshwater ostracods (Crustacea, Ostracoda) from South Wales. Freshwater Forum 1, 64–72

Young M.S. & Evans J.G. 1991. Modern land mollusc communities from Flat Holm, South Glamorgan. Journal of Conchology 34, 63–70

Evans J.G. 1992. River valley bottoms and archaeology in the Holocene. In B. Coles (ed.), The Wetland Revolution in Prehistory, 47–53. Warp, The Prehistoric Society, 47–53.

Evans J.G., Davies P., Mount R. & Williams D. 1992. Mollusc taxocenes from Holocene overbank alluvium in southern central England. In S. Needham & M.G. Macklin (eds), Alluvial Archaeology in Britain, 65–74. Oxford: Oxbow Monograph 27

Griffiths H.I. & Evans J.G. 1992. Potamocypris arcuata (SARS, 1903) (Ostracoda) new to Britain Crustaceana 62, 110–112

Griffiths H.I. & Evans J.G. 1992. A simple notation scheme to describe time-averaged ostracod assemblages (Crustacea, Ostracoda) by their taxonomic composition Journal of Micropalaeontology 11, 31–35

Evans J.G. 1993. The influence of human communities on the English chalkands from the mesolithic to the Iron Age: the molluscan evidence. In F.M. Chambers (ed.), Climate change and human impact on the landscape, 147–56. London: Chapman & Hall

Evans J.G. & Griffiths H.I. 1993. Holocene mollusc and ostracod sequences: their potential for examining short-timescale evolution. In D.R. Lees & D. Walker (eds), Evolutionary patterns and Processes, 125–137. London: Academic Press

Evans J.G. & Griffiths H. I. 1993. Mollusc and ostracod evidence. In W.P. Warren & M. O’Connell (eds), An Boireann/The Burren (Field Guide 15), 52–5. Galway: Irish Association for Quaternary Studies

Evans J.G. & Griffiths H. I. 1993. Investigations towards the reconstruction of the Late-glacial environment at Lurga, S.E. Burren. II Mollusc and ostracod evidence (Site P1). In W.P. Warren & M. O’Connell (eds), An Boireann / The Burren (Field Guide 15), 48–50. Galway: Irish Association for Quaternary Studies

Evans J.G., Limbrey S., Maté I. & Mount R. 1993. An environmental history of the Upper Kennet valley, Wiltshire, for the last 10,000 years. Proceedings of the Prehistoric Society 59, 139–195

Griffiths H.I., Martin D.S., Shine A.J. & Evans J.G. 1993. The ostracod fauna (Crustacea, Ostracoda) of the profundal benthos of Loch Ness. Hydrobiologia 254, 111–117

Walker M.J.C., Griffiths H.I., Ringwood V. & Evans J.G. 1993. An early Holocene pollen, mollusc and ostracod sequence from lake marl at Llangorse, South Wales, UK. The Holocene 3, 139–49

Whittle A., Rouse A.J. & Evans J.G. 1993. A Neolithic downland monument in its environment: excavations at Easton Down long barrow, Bishops Cannings, north Wiltshire. Proceedings of the Prehistoric Society 59, 197–239 [with land molluscs by A.J. Rouse and J.G. Evans, 211–17]

Griffiths H.I., Rouse A. & Evans J.G. 1993. Processing freshwater ostracods from archaeological deposits with a key to the valves of the major British genera. Circaea 10, 53–62

Griffiths H.I. & Evans J.G. 1994. Infestation of the freshwater ostracod Cypria ophthalmica (Jurine) by the peritrich Nüchterleinella corneliae (Matthes). Archiv für Protistenkunde 144, 23–25

Griffiths H.I., Ringwood, V. & Evans J.G. 1994. Weichselian Late-glacial and early Holocene molluscan an ostracod sequences from lake sediments at Stellmoor, north Germany. Archiv für Hydrobiologie (Suppl.) 99, 357–80

Rouse A. and Evans J.G. 1994. Modern land Mollusc from Maiden Castle, Dorset, and their relevance to the interpretation of subfossil archaeological assemblages Journal of Molluscan Studies 60, 315–29

Griffiths H.I. & Evans J.G. 1995. The Late-glacial and early Holocene colonisation of the British Isles by freshwater ostracods. In J. Riha (ed.), Ostracods and biostratigraphy, 291–302. Rotterdam: Balkema

Griffiths H.I. & Evans J.G. 1995. An annotated checklist of British Pleistocene, Holocene and Modern freshwater Ostracoda Journal of Micropalaeontology 14, 59–65

Griffiths H.I., Pillidge K.E., Hill C.J., Evans J.G. & Learner M. 1996. Ostracod Gradients in a Calcareous Stream: Implications for the Palaeoecological Interpretation of Tufas and Travertines. Limnologica 26, 49–61

Griffiths H.I., Pietrzeniuk E., Fuhrmann R., Lennon J.J., Martens K. & Evans J.G. 1998. Tonacypris glacialis (Ostracoda Cyprididae): taxonomic position, (palaeo-) ecology, and zoogeography. Journal of Biogeography 25, 515–526

Murton, J.B., Baker, A., Bowen, D.C., Caseldine, C.J., Coope, G.R., Currant, A.P., Evans, J.G., Field, M.H., Green, C.P., Hatton, J., Ito, M., Jones, R.L., Keen, D.H., Kerney, M.P., McEwan, R., McGregor, D.F.M., Parish, D., Robinson, J.E., Schreve, D.C. & Smart, P.L. 2001. A late Middle Pleistocene temperate-periglacialtemperate sequence (Oxygen Isotope Stages 7-5e) near Marsworth, Buckinghamshire, UK. Quaternary Science Reviews 20, 1787–1825

Evans J.G. 2004. Land snails as a guide to the environments of wind-blown sand: the case of Lauria cylindracea and Pupilla muscorum. In A. Gibson & A. Sheridan (eds), From Sickles to Circles; Britain and Ireland at the time of Stonehenge, 366–79. Stroud: Tempus

Evans J.G. 2004. Texture and asymmetry in later prehistoric lithics, and their relevance to environmental archaeology. In R. Cleal & J. Pollard (eds), Monuments and Material Culture; papers in honour of an Avebury archaeologist: Isobel Smith, 215–224. Salisbury: The Hobnob Press

Evans J.G. 2005. Memory and ordination: environmental archaeology in tells. In D. Bailey, A. Whittle & V. Cummings (eds), (Un)settling the Neolithic, 112–125. Oxford: Oxbow Books

Contributions to Other Papers

(except contributions within papers co-authored by John)

Evans J.G. 1965. Land Mollusca. In. I.F. Smith, Excavation of a Bell Barrow, Avebury, G.55, 44–55. Wiltshire Archaeological and Natural History Magazine 60, 24–46

Evans J.G. 1967. The land snails. In M. Avery, J.E.G. Sutton & J.W. Banks, Rainsborough, Northants, England: Excavations 1961–5, p 300. Proceedings of the Prehistoric Society 33, 207–306

Evans J.G. 1970. Non-marine Mollusca. In P.J. Fowler, Fieldwork and excavation in the Butcombe area, North Somerset Proceedings University Bristol Spaeological Society 12, 169–194

Evans J.G. 1971. Durrington Walls: the pre henge environment. In G.J. Wainwright & I.H. Longworth, Durrington Walls: Excavations 1966–68, 329–337. London: Research Report of the Society of Antiquaries of London 27

Evans, J.G. 1972. The environment of the inner bailey ditch. In T. Rowley, First report on the excavation at Middleton Stoney Castle, Oxfordshire, 1970–71. Oxoniensia 37, 109–136

Evans J.G. & Jones H. 1973 Court Hill Cairn: land snails. In H.S. Green, Archaeology and the M5 Motorway; fifth report: the excavation of a roundcairn on Court Hill, Tickenham, North Somerset 1969. Somerset Archaeological & Natural History 117, 38–41

Evans J.G. 1974 Land snails. In H.S. Green, Early Bronze Age burial territory and population in Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire, and the Great Ouse Valley. Archaeological Journal 131, 97–100

Evans J.H. 1974. The land snails. In J.H. Williams (ed.), Two Iron Age sites in Northampton, 63. Northampton Development Corporation Archaeological Monograph 1

Evan, J.G. 1974. Molluscs, 77, in P.J. Casey, Excavations outside the north-east gate of Segontium, 1971. Archaeologia Cambrensis 123, 54–77

Evans J.G. 1975. Mollusca. In Johnson A.E., Excavations at Bourton Grounds, Thornborough 1972–3. Records of Buckinghamshire 20, 49

Evans J.G. 1976. Land snails. In P. Everson, Iron Age enclosures at the Queensway Health Centre site, Hardwick Park, Wellingborough. Northamptonshire Archaeology 11, 97–98

Evans J.G. & Dimbleby G.W. 1976. Appendix I; the prebarrow environment. In T.G. Manby, Excavation of the Kilham long barrow, East Riding of Yorkshire. Proceedings of the Prehistoric Society 42, 150–156

Evans, J.G. 1977. Land snail faunas from Cathole, 1968 and Longhole, 1969. In J.B. Campbell, The Upper Palaeolithic of Britain. A study of man and nature in the late Ice Age, vol. 1, 208–210. Oxford: Clarendon Press

Evans J.G. 1977. Appendix I Gerrard’s Cross: Environmental. In L.H. Barfield, The excavation of a Mesolithic site at Gerrards Cross, Buckinghamshire. Records of Buckinghamshire 20, 319–20

Evans J.G. & Spencer P.J. 1977. Appendix 4: the Mollusca and environment, Buckquoy, Orkney. In A. Ritchie, Excavation of Pictish and Viking-age farmsteads at Buckquoy, Orkney. Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland 108, 174–227

Evans J.G. 1978. Mollusca. In S.A. Butcher, Excavations at Nornour, Isles of Scilly 1969–73: the prehistoric and Roman settlement. Cornish Archaeology 17, 103–4

Evans, J.G. 1979. Appendix III: Shellfish from the Old Estate Office site, 117, in R.S. Kelly, The excavation of two sites in Conway 1975. Archaeologia Cambrensis 128, 104–118

Evans J.G. 1979. Mollusca. In P. Rahtz, The Saxon and Medieval Palaces at Cheddar, 362. Oxford: British Archaeological Reports 65

Evans J.G. & Jones H. 1979. Mount Pleasant and Woodhenge: the land Mollusca. In G.J. Wainwright, Mount Pleasant, Dorset: Excavations 1970–1971, 190–213. London: Society of Antiquaries of London Research Report 37

Evans, J.G. & Wainwright, G.J. 1979. The Woodhenge Excavations. In G. J. Wainwright, Mount Pleasant, Dorset: Excavations 1970–1971, 71–4. London: Society of Antiquaries

Evans J.G. 1980. Land Molluscs. In M.E. Robertson MacKay, A ‘head and hooves’ burial beneath a round barrow, with other Neolithic and Bronze Age sites, on Hemp Knoll, near Avebury, Wiltshire. Proceedings of the Prehistoric Society 46, 171–174

Evans J.G. 1980. Land molluscs. In R. Price & L. Watts, Rescue excavations at Combe-Hay, Somerset 1968–73 Somerset Archaeological & Natural History 124, 1–42

Evans, J.G. 1981. XVII Flora and fauna of the well, 2: small vertebrates. In M.G. Jarrett & S. Wrathmell, Whitton: an Iron Age and Roman farmstead in South Glamorgan, 243–244. Cardiff: University of Wales Press

Evans, J.G. 1981. XVII Flora and fauna of the well, 4: the land snail fauna. In M.G. Jarrett & S. Wrathmell, Whitton: an Iron Age and Roman farmstead in South Glamorgan, 239–240. Cardiff: University of Wales Press

Evans J.G. & Jones H. 1981. Chapter VI: subfossil landsnails from Grimes Graves and other Neolithic flint mines. In R.J. Mercer, Grimes Graves, Norfolk: excavations 1971–72: Vol I. London: HMSO

Evans, J.G. 1983. Appendix 2: Mollusca and other invertebrates from Ardnave, Islay. In G. Ritchie & H. Welfare, Excavations at Ardnave, Isaly. Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries Scotland 113, 350–358

Evans J.G. & Vaughan M. 1983. Appendix 8: the Mollusca from Knap of Howar, Orkney. In A. Ritchie, Excavation of a Neolithic farmstead at Knap of Howar, Papa Westray, Orkney Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland 113, 104–114

Evans J.G. 1985. Land Mollusca. In H.S. Green & S. Sofranoff, A Neolithic settlement at Stacey Bushes, Milton Keynes. Records of Buckinghamshire 27, 17–19

Evans J. & Evans V. 1986 Marine shells, 55–63, in C. Smith, Excavations of the Ty Mawr hut-circles, Holyhead, Anglesey, Part III: the finds Archaeologia Cambrensis 135, 12–80

Evans J.G. 1987. The land molluscan assemblages. In C.J. Gingell, An earthwork near Badbury Rings in Dorset. Proceedings Dorset Natural History & Archaeological Society 109, 76–7

Evans, J.G. 1989. Mollusc identifications reported in M. Davies, Cave archaeology in North Wales, 97. In T.D Ford, Limestones and Caves of Wales 92–101. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press

Evans J.G. & Hyde L.M. 1990. The Mollusca, 229–234, in D.G. Benson, J.G. Evans, G.H. Williams, T. Darvil & A. David, Excavations at Stackpole Warren, Dyfed. Proceedings of the Prehistoric Society 56, 179–245

Evans, J.G. & Hewitt, T. 1991. Land snail analysis. In B. Cunliffe & C. Poole, Danebury, an Iron Age hillfort in Hampshire. Volume 5, the excavations 1979–88: the finds, 432–9. Council for British Archaeology Research Report 73

Evans J.G. & Rouse A. 1991. The river valleys of the South Winterbourne and Frome. In N.M. Sharples, Maiden Castle; excavations and field survey 1985–6. English Heritage Archaeological Report No. 19, 15–17

Evans J.G. & Rouse A. 1991. The land Mollusca. In N.M. Sharples, Maiden Castle; excavations and field survey 1985–6. English Heritage Archaeological Report No. 19, 118–125

Evans J.G. 1991. Discussion. In N.M. Sharples, Maiden Castle; excavations and field survey 1985–6. English Heritage Archaeological Report No. 19, 250–253

Evans J.G. 1991. The land and freshwater Mollusca. In S.P. Needham, Excavation and Salvage at Runneymede Bridge, 1978: the Late Bronze Age waterfront site, 263–274. London: British Museum

Evans J.G. 1991. Syntheses of the environmental evidence. In S.P. Needham, Excavation and Salvage at Runneymede Bridge, 1978: the Late Bronze Age waterfront site, 363–368. London: British Museum

Evans J.G. & Williams D. 1991. Land Mollusca from the M3 archaeological sites – a review. In P.J. Fasham & R.J.B. Whinney, Archaeology and the M3; the watching brief, the Anglo-Saxon settlement at Abbots Worthy and retrospective sections, 113–142. Hampshire Field Club and Archaeological Society Monograph 7

Evans J.G. 1992 Mollusca. In C.A. Butterworth & S.J. Lobb, Excavations in the Burghfield Area, Berkshire; developments in the Bronze Age and Saxon landscapes, 130–43. Salisbury, Wessex Archaeological Report 1

Evans J.G. 1993. Mollusca. In P.J. Casey, J.L. Davies & J. Evans, Excavations at Segontium (Caernarfon) Roman Fort, 1975–1979, pp 120–121. London: Council for British Archaeology Research Report 90

Evans, J.G. 1994. Shellfish remains, 172, in J.M. Lewis, Excavations at Loughor Castle, West Glamorgan 1969–73. Archaeologia Cambrensis 142, 99–181

Harris J. & Evans J.G. 1994. Molluscan analysis. In A. Whittle, Excavations at Millbarrow Neolithic Chambered Tomb, Winterbourne Monkton, North Wiltshire Wiltshire Archaeological and Natural History Magazine 87, 26–32

Evans J.G. 1995. Land- und Susswassermollusken. In B. Ottaway, Ergolding, Fischergasse – eine Feuchtbodensiedlung der Altheimer Kultur in Niederbayern, 193–202. Kallmunz: Michael Lassleben, 193–202

Evans J.G. 1997. Mollusca [Silbury Hill]. In A. Whittle, Scared Mound Holy Rings; Silbury Hill and the West Kennet palisade enclosures; a later Neolithic complex in north Wiltshire, p47. Oxford: Oxbow Monograph 75

Williams D. & Evans J.G. 1997. Molluscs. In J.D. Hurst, A multi-period salt production site at Droitwich: excavations at Upwich, 145–146. York: Council for British Archaeology Research Report 107

Evans M. & Evans J.G. 2000. Chapter 7: Molluscan evidence. In S.P. Needham, The Passage of the Thames; Holocene environment and settlement at Runneymede, 125–138. London: British Museum Press

Evans J.G. 2000. Discussion [of the molluscan evidence]. In S.P. Needham, The Passage of the Thames; Holocene environment and settlement at Runneymede, 138–45. London: British Museum Press

Evans, J.G., Limbrey, S. & Macphail, R. 2007. The environmental setting. In D. Benson & A. Whittle (eds), Building memories: the Neolithic Cotswold long barrow at Ascott-under-Wychwood, Oxfordshire, 55–77. Oxford: Oxbow

Some Ancient Monuments Laboratory Reports (English Heritage)

Evans J.G. 1975 Henley Wood, Yatton, Somerset, AML Report 1755

Evans J.G. 1975 Mollusca identification: Cannington Somerset, AML Report 1774

Evans J. 1975 New Palace Yard Molluscs, AML Report 1785

Evans J.G. 1975 Mollusca identification; Beeston Castle, AML Report 1820

Evans J.G. 1975 Mollusca identification: Witcombe, Gloucetershire, AML Report 1822

Evans J.G. 1975 Mollusc identification: Wroxeter, AML Report 1825

2

Culture and Environment; mind the gap

Terry O’Connor

The paper argues that archaeology needs to recognise ‘the environment’ as a product of human social and cultural decision-making, tempered by the biophysical processes that go on in soils and other living systems. Today we value the appearance and composition of landscapes for what they embody, particularly for their time depth. Past peoples probably valued landscapes for similar properties, not only for the survival in them of earlier constructed monuments, but for their attributes of flora, fauna and soil that may in themselves have been deliberately shaped by earlier societies. This poses the challenge of integrating social agendas in relation to landscape with the diverse ‘agendas’ of other species. The concept of landscape as living monument is not new, but archaeology has yet to fully develop models of people and other species reacting to each others’ activities according to each species’ needs and objectives, and the challenges and outcomes that may result. This failure leads us to prioritise the study of past environmental change, when long periods of apparent stasis may be more indicative of deliberate human intervention.

The landscape around us is the very substance of archaeology. In it are the traces of past human activity that we seek to understand, many of those traces having originated in the response of earlier peoples to the landscape around them. That earlier landscape in turn bore the traces of yet earlier peoples’ ways of shaping and using the land. Successive generations of people living in a locality understand and respond to its particular characteristics in distinctive ways, thereby altering the content and appearance of that landscape for the future, whilst also responding to the landscape features and qualities that they have inherited from the past. Terms such as ‘Protected Landscape’ and ‘Historic Landscape Characterisation’ have entered the heritage management literature. As archaeologists, we have our own particular involvement with the land around us, and we may think that our decisions to investigate this or to conserve that are driven by important scholarly concerns. None the less, we are just one facet of that long-term and continuing interaction between people and the land on which they live (eg, see Davidson & Simpson 2005; Hamilton et al. 2008).

One of the attractions of archaeology as a scholarly discipline is its sheer diversity of ideas and methods. A conference such as Land and People can attract a wide range of colleagues whose research interests range across artefacts and structures, the physical as well as behavioural traces of people, and the biophysical environment of prehistory, explored and investigated in ways that derive their understandings from social anthropology, from human geography, and from various of the environmental and physical sciences. That diversity is one of the subject’s strengths. It is also something of a challenge, as we know only too well that different research traditions within archaeology can tend to talk past each other, neither fully understanding, nor fully respecting, a fundamentally different investigative paradigm. Albarella (2001) brings together a diversity of papers on the subject of past peoples and their environment, a number of which contradict and argue with each other on basic matters of research paradigm, revealing significant differences in the definition of seemingly obvious concepts such as environment.

Past human activity in relation to the surrounding environment is, paradoxically, both one of the more outlying specialisms within archaeology and one that offers the best hope of reintegrating this intellectual diversity. On the one hand, the thing that some call ‘environmental archaeology’ uses the terminology of geology, biology and soil science, applies a range of field and laboratory procedures including machines that go ping, and often seems to be pursuing its own, specific, palaeo-environmental agenda. On the other hand, what could be more fundamental to understanding how past peoples understood and acted within their world than seeking evidence that shows those peoples’ relationship with the land on which they lived? Out there is a vast range of evidence of past human activity, be it the monuments of Wiltshire or the sub-peat palaeosols of northern England. In our different ways, archaeologists of whatever persuasion try to make sense of those particular aspects of the land around us.

The aim of this paper is to set out some ideas that seek to recognise the environment as a product of human social and cultural decision-making, tempered by the biophysical processes that go on in soils and other living systems. The premise of the paper is that the past human environment was not a dominant external force that steered and restricted human activity in some deterministic way, nor was it a wholly constructed environment, the product of unfettered human choice and ingenuity. Land and People is a fascinating topic precisely because that relationship lay, and lies, somewhere between those two