Wet, wooded and largely unattractive is how some have characterised the northern Midlands in the Bronze Age. In this thesis, David Mullin undertakes an archaeological investigation of the ill-studied regions of Cheshire, northern Shropshire and northern Staffordshire.

This research is concerned with the prehistory of the region which now forms the border between England and Wales. Whilst the Anglo-Welsh border is a relatively modern construct, and has shifted over time, the area is made up of distinctive topography, dividing the lowland Midland Plain from the hill country of central Wales. This also means that there are noticeable changes in both the flora and fauna of the areas to the west and east of the modern boundary. These are discussed in detail in Chapter 1, where the case is made that the region is, in the broadest sense, a natural borderland and a valid unit of study. Chapter 2 sets out to discuss the ways in which people living within landscapes which are both topographically and archaeologically distinct may have thought about their world and their relationship to other people within it. Chapters 3 to 5 explore the networks of production, distribution and consumption. The final chapter considers the issues raised in the earlier chapters, discuss the ways in which the landscape was used and perceived and how this changed over time. The relationships between extraction and deposition; the uses of stone and metal; the wider links between classes of objects; local traditions of production and consumption and the links between the study area and the wider world are all considered. The raw data on which this discussion is based is presented as a series of Appendices.

A collection of five short stories. "Bar Fly" is a mystery. "The Closet" is a supernatural horror. "Circle of Light" is a story about spirituality. "Buffalo Run" is a science fiction horror story. "Dewey" is a love story about a raindrop.

Excavation by Oxford Archaeology in 2008 at Kingshill North on the north-eastern edge of Cirencester uncovered evidence for occupation that opens a remarkable window into Cirencester's prehistoric past. The earliest inhabitants lived during the late Neolithic. They dug storage pits, which over time were filled with decorated Grooved Ware, bone pins and awls, flint tools, stone axe fragments, animal bones and antler and the burnt remains of cereal, nuts and fruit. The evidence points to the seasonal gathering of people to exchange exotic objects and indulge in communal feasting. Two Beaker burials were also found. Both individuals were females who were born outside the region in the chalkland areas of England. Another burial dated to the middle Bronze Age. More storage pits were dug in the middle Iron Age. In the late Iron Age, a small settlement was set within a pastoral landscape. Three human burials were recorded; all were interred in the settlement's enclosure ditch. The site was abandoned before the town of Corinium Dobunnorum was established. A cremation burial was placed in the former enclosure ditch between the late 1st or early 3rd century AD. The rite was Roman, but the location harked back to earlier burial practices.