The Dartmoor Reaves: Investigating Prehistoric Land Divisions

by Andrew Fleming

First published in 1988, The Dartmoor Reaves is a classic story of archaeological fieldwork and discovery, and a winner of the Archaeological Book Award. This major new edition adds both color illustrations and two substantial new chapters to the original groundbreaking text, which revolutionized our understanding of Britain's prehistoric landscapes.

Dartmoor has long been known for the richness of its prehistoric heritage; stone circles, hut circles, massive burial cairns, and stone rows all pepper the landscape. In the 1970s a new dimension was added, with the recognition that the long-ignored reaves (ruined walls) are also prehistoric; Dartmoor now posed all sorts of questions about the nature of Bronze Age society. Andrew Fleming describes the critical moment when his own fieldwork picked up the pattern of the reaves, and he realized their true identity.

His new chapters place Dartmoor's large-scale, planned, prehistoric landscapes in the context of other 'co-axial' field systems that have since been found elsewhere, and also discuss their meaning, in the light of the latest research on the Bronze Age.

Genres: Prehistory

224 pages, Paperback

First published November 5, 1988

Reviews

[Andrew McAuley]

It may be over 30 years old, but The Dartmoor Reaves is perhaps the best book on Bronze Age archaeology on Dartmoor. Aided with plenty of maps and diagrams, Andrew Fleming provides an in depth interpretation and analysis of Bronze Age coaxial field systems and their place in the wider geography of Dartmoor.

I suspect the book will be much less interesting to anyone who hasn't walked the land it describes, as I found the last chapter about field systems beyond Dartmoor less interesting for me. There is plenty of investigation into hut circles and touches on small finds to a lesser extent.

Fleming narrative voice is wonderful. He is even more readable than Richard Pryor. A joy to read.