The Wessex culture: a minimal view

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to present some facts that appear to have been under-estimated or overlooked in the consideration of the graves of the Early Bronze Age in the Wessex region, that is, the material remains of the ‘Wessex culture’. We are not concerned in this paper with the evidence or non-evidence for connexions between the Wessex region and Mycenae (Renfrew, 1968), nor do we consider that anything new can be stated about the ‘radiocarbon age’ or the calendar year age for he Wessex graves, particularly in view of the fact that no radiocarbon dates are available for this material. What we intend to show is that the division of the Wessex graves into a traditional Early Bronze Age I and 2, and the duration of these presumed episodes, are open to question.