Memory and forgetting are fundamental to human existence and experiences of the world. Within archaeology, there has been increasing interest in the role of the past in the past. To date, however, there has been little specific discussion of how such long-term persistence of place and practice was possible; and why this was the case. The sixteen papers in this volume use detailed contextual evidence to address these questions. In many instances, contributors discuss less visible examples where 'memory work' can be identified from non-monumental, 'everyday' landscapes. The case studies focus on British archaeology from the Neolithic to the early medieval period, but other contributions deal with Neolithic Central Europe, ancient Etruscan and Egyptian landscapes, and historic Native American practices. The volume interweaves theoretical considerations of memory, materiality and landscape with exciting evidence emerging from research and developer-funded commercial archaeology, challenging existing methodologies and proposing new research questions for future fieldwork and post-excavation practice.

The idea of this volume came out of two research gatherings that focused on land allotment and field systems. The first was a day seminar on Ancient Fields, held at the National Monuments Record centre at Swindon, England, in June 2002, and organised. The second was the session on Land Allotment at the 24th annual conference of the Theoretical Archaeology Group, held at Manchester University in December 2002. Contents: 1) Land, landscape and Englishness in the discovery of prehistoric land division (Helen Wickstead); 2) From clearance plots to 'sustained' farming: Peak District fields in prehistory (John Barnatt); 3) Commons, fields and communities in prehistoric Cornwall (Peter Herring); 4) Encounters with place in prehistory: writing a case study for Shipman Head Down, Isles of Scilly (Eleanor Breen); 5) The place and materiality of an upland field system at Cwm Ffrydlas, North Wales (Robert Johnston); 6) After the axe: ways into the upland landscapes of Cumbria (Helen Evans); 7) An empty hole, or a meaningful whole? Approaches to the study of pit alignments (John Thomas); 8) Towards a bounded landscape. Excavations at Gonalston, Nottinghamshire, and the development of the earliest field systems in the Trent Valley (David Knight and Lee Elliott); 9) Late prehistoric and Romano-British land division in South and West Yorkshire: an overview of the evidence (Ian Roberts); 10) Fields for discourse? Towards more self-critical, theoretical and interpretative approaches to the archaeology of field systems and land allotment (Adrian M. Chadwick); 11) 'The pleasant land of counterpane': linking site-specific archaeological land use to the landscape of prehistoric field systems (Helen Lewis); 12) Mobile and enclosed landscapes on the Yorkshire Wolds (Chris Fenton-Thomas); 13) Stone walls in west Ostergotland - their dating and its consequences (Maria Petersson); 14) Unfamiliar landscapes: infields, outfields, boundaries and landscapes in Iceland (Oscar Aldred); 15) Field-names in reconstructing late Anglo-Saxon agricultural land-use in the Bourn Valley, West Cambridgeshire (Susan Oosthuizen); 16) Not so common fields: the making of the East Anglian landscape (Edward Martin); 17) The co-axial field systems of Pembrokeshire revisited: towards an ekistic explanation (Jonathan Kissock); 18) Woodland and Champion: farming, 'the social', and the origins of medieval landscapes (Tom Williamson); 19) Parks and perceptions of parkland (Richard Muir); 20) Parliamentary Process: the creation of farming landscapes in eighteenth and nineteenth century Buckinghamshire (Hannah Sackett); 21) The irregularity of fields: historic piecemeal enclosure and dispersed settlement in upland England at the Upper Derwent, Peak District, and Great Langdale, Lake District (Bill Bevan).

This volume describes work on the Iron Age hillfort of Lodge Hill Camp, in Gwent, south-east Wales. Situated adjacent to the later Roman legionary fortress at Caerleon, the hillfort has, until recently, received little archaeological attention. Excavation was undertaken during the summer of 2000 within the interior of the hillfort, at its western entrance, and across the inner bank and ditch of the defences. An extended discussion is offered of Lodge Hills position within the regional Iron Age sequence, and of Roman and early Medieval reuse of hillforts in south Wales. The results of geophysical and earthwork survey at the hillfort of Llanmelin, near Chepstow, are also reported on. Contents: 1) Introduction (Joshua Pollard, Michael Hamilton & Neil Phillips); 2) Excavation Results (Joshua Pollard, Adrian Chadwick & Lesley McFadyen); 3) Artefactual Material Ironwork (Philip Macdonald); Metalworking slags (Tim Young); Prehistoric pottery (Rick Peterson, Joshua Pollard & Elaine Morris); Droitwich briquetage (Joshua Pollard & Elaine Morris); Roman pottery (Ray Howell & Joshua Pollard); Medieval pottery (Rick Peterson & Joshua Pollard); Brick and tile (Joshua Pollard); Fired clay (Joshua Pollard); Worked flint (Joshua Pollard); Other worked stone (Joshua Pollard) ]; 4) Environmental Evidence (Ruth Young); 5) Discussion: Lodge Hill Camp and the hillforts of Gwent (Joshua Pollard, Ray Howell, Adrian Chadwick & Lesley McFadyen); 7) Appendix 1. Llanmelin Hillfort, Caerwent: geophysical and earthwork survey (Daryl Williams).

Man's impact on the landscape is obvious although, as this book makes clear, his relationship with the landscape is a complicated one and is both physical and emotional. This collection of stories', written by both field archaeologists and academics, aims to show how archaeology can give us an idea of how people in the past thought and moved about their landscapes on a routine, daily basis'. Combining theory with archaeological data the contributors discuss such themes as: landscape and technology; relams of existence in the early Neolithic of southern Britain; forest wilderness in the Middle Ages; the urban sprawl of Mexico City; architecture and buildings; the prehistoric Peak District; Cranborne Chase in Dorset; boundaries. Poems and interesting illustrations complement the stories.