Constructing Houses and Building Context: Bersu's Manx Round-house Campaign

Abstract

Bersu's war-time excavation of three ‘great’ Iron Age round-houses on the Isle of Man are considered. Their archive includes letters from colleagues (eg Hawkes and Childe) which offer unique insights into the construction of fieldwork context, particularly, in this case, a Celtic paradigm. Concerned with house studies and the possibility of ‘reconstruction’, Bersu's methodology is analysed. Site documentation shows him to be a ‘graphic archaeologist’, thinking and interpreting visually, and as such contrasts with concepts of ‘archaeology as text’.