Eventful, influential and absorbing, the early history of Northumberland is a fascinating story that has rarely been brought together under one cover. In this authoritative historical account, the authors bring to bear a huge quantity of old and new data and craft it into an in-depth synthesis. The authors deliver this history in chronological order from a perspective that places human activity and environment at its core. The narrative extends from the Palaeolithic through to, and including, the Anglo-Saxon period. This enormous sweep of history is supported by a robust radiocarbon chronology, with all available dates for the region brought together and calibrated against the most recent calibration curves for the first time. The geographic focus of the volume is North Northumberland but the narrative frequently extends to cover the whole county and occasionally further afield into neighbouring areas so as to deal with key topics at an appropriate geographic scale and to take account of important information from nearby areas.
This second volume in the Till-Tweed monograph series follows on from the first volume, Managing Archaeological Landscapes in Northumberland , which provided a considerable quantity of new field data, in addition to presenting a landscape management methodology based around the "landform element" approach.

• Cover Page
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Contents
• List of Figures
• List of Tables
• Acknowledgements
• Summary
• Résumé
• Zuasammenfassung
• Samenvatting
• Sammenfatning
• Till Tweed Volume I Erratum
• Part 1. Setting the Scene
  • 1. Introduction
    • Setting the scene
    • Aims and research themes
    • Scope of the study
    • Radiocarbon conventions and chronology
    • Character of the data set: landscape and archaeological associations
  • 2. Environmental Background
    • Introduction and context
    • The form of the landscape: geology and geomorphology, soils and Quaternary history
      • Geology and Late Devensian glaciation
      • Landscapes associated with Late Devensian deglaciation
        • Development of Lake Milfield and the Milfield Fan
        • Late Devensian and Holocene fluvial sequences in the Milfield Basin
        • Late Devensian and Holocene fluvial sequences in the Wooler Water
        • Discussion: the chronology of Lake Milfield drainage and glaciofluvial terrace development
      • Holocene river channel and floodplain environments
        • High-energy gravel bed river environments
        • Low-energy confined gravel-bed river environments
        • Low-energy alluvial environments: the Milfield Basin
    • Holocene climate change and vegetation histories
      • Holocene climate records from northern Britain and Europe
        • 1. Bog surface wetness records from Cumbria and the Anglo-Scottish Borders
        • 2. Chironomid records of Holocene temperatures from lake sediments at Talkin Tarn, Cumbria
        • 3. Temperature reconstructions from the European pollen database
        • 4. Episodes of Holocene glacier advance and retreat in Northern Europe
      • Deglaciation and the transition to the Holocene
      • Mesolithic climax woodland and early woodland disturbance
      • The Mesolithic-Neolithic transition and the onset of farming
      • Late prehistoric-early historic settlement expansion and clearance
      • The mid-late first millennium AD
  • 3. Monuments From the Air
    • Introduction
      • The Influence of Geology and Topography on Air Photography
    • A brief history of aerial reconnaisance in north Northumberland
    • The prehistoric landscape 4000-2000 BC
      • Neolithic
      • Henges and related ceremonial monuments
    • The prehistoric landscape 2000-750 BC
      • Cairnfields, burials and unenclosed settlements
    • The prehistoric landscape 750 BC-AD 500
      • The pre-Roman and Roman Iron Age
        • Palisades
        • Hillforts and related settlements
      • The later pre-Roman and Roman Iron Age: extant stone-built settlements and single-ditched cropmarked enclosures
      • Roman military archaeology
    • The early medieval period AD 500-AD 1000
• Part 2. Chronological Narrative
  • 4. Hunter-Gatherer-Fishers c. 13,400-3900 BC
    • Introduction
    • A Palaeolithic presence?
      • Summing up
      • Future research
    • Mesolithic background
      • Climate and sea level change
      • Floodplains and hill slopes
      • Woodland landscapes
      • Geography and chronology of the Mesolithic
    • Technology and material culture
      • Other materials
    • Subsistence
    • Settlement and economic organisation
      • Settlement geography
      • Settlement form
      • Patterns of settlement
      • A secondary colonisation of Britain?
      • Settlement and economy in the late ninth-eighth millennia cal BC
    • Peopling the land
  • 5. The First Agriculturalists 3900-1800 BC
    • Introduction
    • Climate change and environment
      • Geomorphology and climate
      • Woodland disturbance and the introduction of agriculture
    • A chronological framework
      • Samples and context
      • Calibration
      • The model for the start and end of the Neolithic
      • The overlapping ceramics model
      • Alternative: the abutting model
      • The Milfield henge complex and related sites
    • Taming of the land: transition or revolution?
    • Settlement
      • Post-built structures
      • Neolithic pits
      • Geography of Neolithic settlement in Northumberland
    • Land use and subsistence
    • Technology and material culture
      • Ceramics
      • Lithics
    • Monumentalising the land
      • Neolithic
      • Chalcolithic
  • 6. From Sacred Landscapes to Organised Agriculture 2100-1000 BC
    • Introduction
    • Chronology
    • Climate and environment
      • Woodland composition and land use
    • Land use, farming and upland expansion
    • Settlement morphology
    • Upland retreat
    • Material culture
      • Ceramics
      • Metalwork
    • Funerary and ceremonial activity
      • Funerary Practice
      • Votive Deposits
      • Burnt Mounds
      • Four-Posters and reuse of existing monuments
    • A social perspective
  • 7. Defending the Land 1000 BC-AD 79
    • Introduction
    • Chronology
    • Climate and environment
      • Woodland composition and land use
      • Floodplains and hill slopes
    • Settlement and land use
      • Settlement Morphology
      • Farming the Land
    • Enclosure and defence
    • Technology and material culture
      • Metalworking
      • Ceramic Evidence
      • Stone Working
      • Textiles and Adornment
    • Death and ritual
      • Treatment of the Dead
      • Votive Deposits
    • Social narratives
  • 8. On the Edge of Empire AD 79-AD 410
    • Introduction
    • The historical background
    • Chronology
    • Climate and environment
      • Agrarian Landscapes
    • Settlement and land use
    • Material culture
    • Death, burial and religion
    • A social perspective
  • 9. A Kingdom Born and Lost AD 410-1066
    • Introduction
    • Historical narrative
    • Chronology
    • Climate and environment
      • Land use change in the palaeoenvironmental record
    • Land use and subsistence
    • Settlement
    • Technology and material culture
      • Ceramics
      • Glass
      • Metalwork
    • Religion, death and burial
    • Cultural transformations
  • 10. Perspectives Through Time
    • Introduction
    • Settlement
    • Environment, subsistence and land use
    • Warfare and defence: contesting the land
    • Ritual and religion
    • Wider contacts
• Appendices
  • A. Supplementary details of sedimentary sequences recorded on Holocene Alluvial landform elements
    • A Holocene palaeochannel fill sequence at Etal (Sandyford), River Till
    • A Holocene alluvial floodbasin sequence at Canno Mill, River Glen
    • A Holocene palaeochannel fill sequence at Lanton Quarry (Akeld Bridge), River Glen
  • B. Pollen analysis and chronology of Ford Moss
    • Background
    • Methodology
    • Lithostratigraphy and 14C dates
    • Pollen assemblages
  • C. Pollen analysis and chronology of Broad Moss
    • Background
    • Methodology
    • Lithostratigraphy and 14C dates
    • Pollen assemblages
    • Discussion
  • D. North Northumerland temperature reconstruction from the European pollen database: methodology
• References
• Index