The idea of domestic space and the concept of house and home in the distant past is at the core of this PhD research. The research takes as its main focus the analysis of mainly one kind of ‘artefact’ within ancient houses: the sediment, which makes up the anthropogenic occupation floors located inside the buildings. This doctoral thesis, therefore, explores the potential of multi-element analysis via TXRF-spectrometry in the study of archaeological house floors in Britain. The comprehensive deployment of multi-element analysis in the study of domestic space within British archaeology remains largely uncharted, and this is an issue that this research aims to address. Where traditional archaeological study relies on artefact distributions of houses (with occasional phosphate analysis), this study employs multi-element analyses to understand the chemical composition of the sediments that make up the house floor. This method, coupled with the study of architectural arrangements and features, and finds distributions (where available), from individual case studies, has produced significant insights about the use and organisation of domestic space in a range of prehistoric and early historical contexts.
Addressing several pivotal questions, the research sought to discern patterns in the use of the internal space within the houses examined. It also probes potential temporal and geographic variations in the use of domestic space, as reflected in the corresponding chemical signatures. Finally, the study assesses if observed patterns align with existing theoretical models of domestic space in British archaeological literature, focussing on the different time periods represented by the case studies.
Three well-preserved structures from western Britain, spanning later prehistoric and Early Medieval periods, serve as case studies in this thesis. They comprise of an Early-Middle Iron Age roundhouse at Meillionydd, a Late Iron Age cellular house at Orosaigh, South Uist and a Middle Norse longhouse at Bornais, also in South Uist. All three case studies were subjected to multi-element analysis using a Total X-ray fluorescence spectrometer at Environment Centre Wales, Bangor University. The analysis uncovered previously undetected possible storage/sleeping areas, possible cooking areas, possible activity areas, possible destroyed hearths, and potential partitions. It also revealed that specific activities in the houses were marked by distinctive chemical signatures, represented by elevated levels of certain elements in the floor layers. Moreover, the study demonstrated the potential of developing universal chemical signatures for specific activities or features based on the comparison of similar activities across the three sites, as well as from other studies where similar chemical signatures have been identified. By incorporating insights from anthropology, the research presents a better understanding of the organisation of space in these buildings, but this has broader significance in our understanding of houses from a range of different periods of the distant past. This PhD thesis, thus, underscores the potential utility of multi-element analysis in archaeological investigations of domestic spaces.