Cartimandua's capital? The late Iron Age royal site at Stanwick, North Yorkshire, fieldwork and analysis 1981–2011

• Published in: Antiquity Vol. 91; no. 356; pp. 544 - 545
• Main Author: Guichard, Vincent
• Format: Book Review
• Language: English
• Published: Cambridge Cambridge University Press 01-04-2017
• Subjects: 1st century; Archaeology; Celtic languages; Excavation; Field study; Fieldwork; Iron Age; Population growth; Rites & ceremonies; Symbolism; Teams; United Kingdom > UK; England; North Yorkshire England
• ISSN: 0003-598X; 1745-1744
• DOI: 10.15184/aqy.2017.10

Reviewed: Colin Haselgrove (ed.). Cartimanduas capital? The late Iron Age royal site at Stanwick, North Yorkshire, fieldwork and analysis 1981-2011 (Research Report 175). 2016. xxviv+530 pages, numerous colour and b&w illustrations, tables. York: Council for British Archaeology; 978-1-902771-98-4 hardback £40. This review is written from the perspective of a continental archaeologist for whom Stanwick, North Yorkshire, was no more than a dot on the distribution map of the oppida of the 'Celtic' world. It has therefore been hugely satisfying to discover the details of Stanwick's archaeological record, a site famous for a first-century AD metalwork hoard discovered nearby in 1843 (now in the British Museum) and for the research carried out there by Sir Mortimer Wheeler in 1951 and 1952. This substantial volume contains an abundance of information, including a complete account of the work undertaken at the site by Colin Haselgrove and his team since the 1980s and a broader overview of the significance of the results on various spatial scales.