Synopsis
Geoffrey Taylor and David Heys together and separately over a 25 year period amassed a huge amount of prehistoric material (almost 20,000 worked pieces and some 250,000 pieces of waste) in flint, jet, stone, glass and metal, gathered mostly off the North York Moors. The present book aims to introduce the collections to the archaeological world and to give the reader a clear impression of their contents. The book begins with brief biographies of the two collectors and outlines the areas in which they collected, principally the North York Moors, and their method of working, before attempting to set their work into its wider prehistoric context. It then explains how the over 18,000 worked pieces in the combined collections are each individually identified, and presents illustrations of selected groups of pieces, such as arrowheads, knives, axeheads, and so on. This is followed up with a more detailed look at some of the more notable classes of artefacts, such as discoidal knives, Iron Age glass bangles, and jet pieces, including a superb undamaged Early Bronze Age jet wristguard (bracer), of which only one other example is known in Britain. To correct the impression that Taylor and Heys only ever collected casual finds off the surface of the moors and farmland, details of several excavations, most never before published, are given. These included pioneering work on the Early Mesolithic of the North York Moors, and the discovery of an Early Bronze Age grave with cremated human remains complete with a Collared Urn and a perforated battle-axehead. At long last, the hitherto unheralded work of these two remarkable individuals is given the credit it undoubtedly deserves.
About the Author
Keith Boughey is a member of the Yorkshire Archaeological and Historical Society Prehistory Research Section and has been the editor of its journal, Prehistoric Yorkshire, since 2005. From 2008 to 2013 he directed the Stanbury Hill Project and is co-author of The Stanbury Hill Project: Archaeological Investigation of a Rock Art Site (2012). Other publications include Prehistoric Rock Art of the West Riding (with E.A. Vickerman, 2003), Prehistoric Bingley (2013), and Life and Death in Prehistoric Craven (2015). Alison Sheridan is a specialist in the Neolithic, Chalcolithic and Bronze Age of Britain (especially Scotland) and Ireland. Formerly Principal Curator of Early Prehistory, National Museums Scotland. Vice-President of Archaeology Scotland; past President of the Prehistoric Society; Rhind Lecturer, 2020; Research Fellow, Edinburgh University; Research Associate, NMS; Team member of Project JADE and the Beaker People Project; PI of AHRC-funded project on gold in Britain's auriferous regions, 2450-800 BC; specialist topics include artefacts of jet and similar-looking materials. Fraser Hunter is Principal Curator of Iron Age and Roman collections at National Museums Scotland, where the finds from Trimontium form the backbone of the Roman collection. He co-edited a volume to mark the centenary of Curle's landmark publication of the site. His research interests include the impact of the Roman frontier on the local populations of Iron Age Scotland, and Iron Age and Roman material culture.
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