The Bradley Collection

This first title in the new Oxbow Reflections series celebrates the academic career of leading British prehistorian Richard Bradley as seen through his many contributions to collected works and monographs published by Oxbow Books. In collaboration with the author, we have selected papers that reflect some of the major themes that have been the subject of his long-term research, including many aspects concerning the origins, development and demise of monumentality in prehistory; the analysis of rock art in its landscape, ontological and cultural setting; the role and significance of maritime connections and persistent places in coastal areas in the Neolithic and Bronze Age; and possible interpretations of the deliberate deposition of materials and objects across a variety of temporal and cultural settings. In these papers we see demonstrated the breadth and development of some of Richard’s key interests and most influential ideas that continue to inspire scholars and that have guided and often refocused our fundamental understanding of peoples, places and polity in British and European prehistory. Includes an introduction by the author.

Table of Contents:
Preface 1. Second Readings: An Introduction 2. Oral Literature and the Histories of Monuments (from Monumental Times: Pasts, Presents and Futures in the Prehistoric Construction Projects of Northern and Western Europe. 2023) 3. After the Great Stone Circles (from C. Nimura and R. Bradley (eds), The Use and Reuse of Stone Circles: Fieldwork at Five Scottish Monuments and its Implications. 2016) 4. The Dark Side of the Sky: The Orientations of Earlier Prehistoric Monuments in Ireland and Britain (from M. Dowd and R. Hensey (eds), The Archaeology of Darkness. 2016) 5. Dead Stone and Living Rock (from B. O’Connor, G. Cooney and J. Chapman (eds), Materialitas: Working Stone, Carving Identity. 2009) 6. Axes from the Sky (with Aaron Watson, from C. Rodríguez-Rellán, B.A. Nelson and R. Fábregas Valcarce (eds), A Taste for Green: A Global Perspective on Ancient Jade, Turquoise and Variscite Exchange. 2019) 7. Taphonomy and Cultural Selection: Tony Legge and the Neolithic Pits Beside the Dorset Cursus (from P. Rowley-Conwy, D. Sergeantson and P. Halstead (eds), Economic Zooarchaeology: Studies in Hunting, Herding and Early Agriculture. 2017) 8. Taking, Using and Giving Back Again: The Deposition of Living Matter in Ancient Europe (from C. Nimura, R. O’Sullivan and R. Bradley (eds), Sentient Archaeologies: Global Perspectives on Places, Objects and Practice. 2023) 9. An Assemblage of Bronze Age metalwork from the Scottish Highlands: Dail na Caraidh in Retrospect (from M.J. Boyd and R.C.P. Doonan (eds), Far from Equilibrium: A Response to the Archaeology of John C. Barrett. 2021) 10. Ben Lawers: Carved Rocks on a Loud Mountain (with Aaron Watson, from A. Cochrane and A. Meirion Jones (eds), Visualising the Neolithic. 2012) 11. Mixed Media, Mixed Messages: Religious Transmission in Bronze Age Scandinavia (from P. Skoglund, J. Ling and U. Bertilsson (eds), Picturing the Bronze Age. 2015) 12. The Riddle of the Sands (from Maritime Archaeology on Dry Land: Special Sites along the Coasts of Britain and Ireland from the First Farmers to the Atlantic Bronze Age. 2022) 13. The Hoard as a Still Life (from A Geography of Offerings: Deposits of Valuables in the Landscapes of Ancient Europe. 2016) 14. Social Distances (from Temporary Palaces: The Great House in European Prehistory. 2021)

About the Author :
Richard Bradley is Emeritus Professor of Archaeology at Reading University and an Honorary Research Associate in the School of Archaeology at Oxford. Recent publications include: Monumental Times (2023) Maritime Archaeology on Dry Land (2022), Temporary Palaces (2021), A Comparative Study of Rock Art in Later Prehistoric Europe (2020), The Prehistory of Britain and Europe (revised edition 2019), and A Geography of Offerings (2016).