Prehistoric field systems in Britain and north-west Europe - A review of some recent work

This paper is a study of the earliest surviving field systems in five areas of north-west Europe, and is concerned with their form, chronology and function. In each area field systems are first found on soils which were under some pressure and in periods of colonization or expansion. It is argued that these pressures were not sufficient to lead to a change of agricultural regime until social changes allowed this to be organized.