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In this thesis I test the validity of applying the biographical approach to prehistoric material culture by constructing biographies for iron-age mirrors. Building upon previous studies, and incorporating new information from recent discoveries, this thesis also provides the first study of the entire corpus of mirrors since 1909. The biographical approach has been shown to be useful for studies which are historically or anthropologically situated. However, when the approach has been applied to prehistoric material culture the results have been less enlightening. Following Strathern (1988), the biography of a mirror is seen to be the sum of the social relationships that constitute it. Relationships were formulated when mirrors were made. The form of a mirror also directed the kinds of relationships that could be structured around them. By making mirrors from component parts which refer to other contemporary artefacts, mirrors had the potential to act within many different social spheres. The component parts of the mirror possess an 'internal logic'. Metaphors created between the handle, the reflective side of the plate and decoration act to reemphasise the reflective properties of the mirror. Throughout their lives mirrors acted as an emblem of the relationships formulated by their production. As they were exchanged and used mirrors would have mediated further relationships. When they were deposited in graves mirrors acted in relationships between the deceased, other grave goods and mourners. The mirror also acted to physically constitute past relationships - its biography - which were referred to through the positioning of mirrors in the grave. Mirrors are seen to be a microcosm of relationships in the Iron Age.

Four decades of meticulous collection of metal detected finds data in Norfolk by the Norfolk Historic Environmental Record (NHER) and the Portable Antiquities Scheme (PAS) have given rise to one of the largest regional datasets in English archaeology. It is estimated that this dataset contains approximately 1.5 million data points on artefacts spanning prehistory to the modern era. It provides a remarkably dense spatial and temporal distribution of past activity and a compelling opportunity to intensively analyse the circulation, deposition, and social significance of metals and metalwork in the prehistoric landscape. More than 70% of these finds come from arable land and not from traditional archaeological contexts, so the dataset covers enormous areas and indicates the presence of thousands of archaeological sites, many of which have never been examined in any detail. This information, coupled with the data compiled by cropmark surveys, like the National Mapping Programme (NNM) in Norfolk, provides vast potential for inferences about past landscapes. Yet questions remain as to the best ways to make use of these types of large datasets, a problem that collections of grey literature equally face. However, the conscientious manipulation of the NHER/PAS datasets using a range of the latest techniques in GIS and statistics, including summed probability distributions for dating and geographically weighted regression to view the connections between disparate sites, coupled with the careful analysis and critique of biases in the underlying data structure, allows for a broad perspective on past patterns of life across much of later prehistoric Norfolk. It is possible to see trends occurring in both the circulation and deposition of metals in the longue-durée. This may shed light on the practice of votive deposition as a trend emerging from earlier prehistory but one that is largely dependent upon the social pressures of the current moment. This illuminates the ways in which certain features of social landscape recur again and again. The clustering and recurrence of hoards and other types of sites in certain localities across great time-spans is of particularly interest, and allows for commentary on place-making, social memory, and ritual during later prehistory. As Cyril Fox’s famous regional study of archaeology showed, however, there is no substitute for being there, and a critique often levelled against GIS projects is that they are overly reliant on technical wizardry to see things that might not actually exist outside a computer. Therefore, a significant part of this research has involved many trips crossing the landscape on foot or by rail or by car, visiting sites much like Fox did in Cambridgeshire a century ago. In such a way, it is possible to integrate the latest digital methods with more traditional landscape archaeology to present persuasive and novel models of the social, ecological, and geographical significance of Norfolk’s landscapes in the period leading up to the Roman conquest of Britain. Thus, this research clearly illustrates an array of methodological procedures for connecting the observations of metal detectorists to higher level discussions about the linkages between knowledge of place and knowledge of self, or identity, in the past. It also shows how large datasets can be used in thoughtful, contextual ways to learn about the past and to inform and shape future research agendas throughout the county.

This thesis explores the evidence for the earliest brooches in Britain. The first brooches were used and made in Britain in the Early Iron Age from c.450 BC. During this period, and into the Middle Iron Age, methods were devised for constructing brooches with mock springs and hinges. In tandem with these changes a greater variety of types came into use. Some are relatively widespread across Wales, England and into Scotland. Others are concentrated in central or western and eastern regions of England. Brooches were manufactured from both bronze and iron. Bronze brooches dominate in the earlier period but iron brooches are as common as bronze in the Middle Iron Age. Some bronze brooches are constructed with small elements of iron and vice versa. Other materials are also employed as decoration on the body of the brooch including coral and glass. A revised chronology and typology are proposed, drawing on both intrinsic attributes and external archaeological evidence. The evidence from burials shows brooches were used to clasp fabric. The fabric was probably a woollen cloak wrapped around the body as a shroud. The brooch was positioned so it was visible during the funerary process. Some brooches fastened bags and other small brooches were better suited as ornaments or badges. These have distinctive designs that would have made them recognisable, perhaps as objects belonging to a particular person and/or associating that person with a specific group. Brooches are also found at settlements, at hillforts and in rivers, as well as at sites with or deposits of a ritualised character. Aside from cemeteries these latter sites contain the highest numbers of brooches. The deposition of personal objects at these types of site may have asserted the individual’s connection to the community in a manner comparable to the burial of a person in a cemetery.