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Gardom's Edge is an area of gritstone upland situated on the Eastern Moors of the Derbyshire Peak District. Like other parts of the Eastern Moors, Gardom's Edge has long been renowned for the wealth of prehistoric field systems, cairns and other structures which can still be traced across the surface. Drawing on the results of original survey and excavation, An Upland Biography documents prehistoric activity across this area, exploring the changing character of occupation from the Mesolithic to the Iron Age. It also tacks back and forth between local detail and regional patterns, to better understand the broader social worlds in which Gardom's Edge was set.
John Barnatt has worked in the Peak District for five decades, as a survey archaeologist for the National Park since 1989, carrying out survey, excavation and assessment reports of many monuments and other sites here. One of his long-standing passions has been reaching understandings of the region's prehistory.
Bill Bevan is an archaeologist, heritage interpreter, writer and photographer. With a research background in Iron Age studies and landscape archaeology, he is best known for his lavishly illustrated Walk Into Prehistory and Walk Into the Dark Ages books. He is currently Chair of the Association for Heritage Interpretation.
Mark Edmonds is Emeritus Professor of Archaeology at the University of York where he specialises in lithics, in the study and interpretation of landscape and memory in the Neolithic and Bronze Age and on the social dimensions of technology. His recent work deals directly with biographies of landscape from prehistory to the present day and in contemporary perceptions of landscape, with interdisciplinary collaboration and experiments in writing and the practice/performance of fieldwork.
"The book combines detailed description and discussion of stone features and excavated contexts with generalised, informal material that will appeal to a non-specialist audience [...] the Gardom's Edge project has set a benchmark in a continuing campaign to develop our understanding of upland landscapes not only in this region, but throughout the country."
– Roger Martlew, Proceedings of the Prehistoric Society (19/09/2017)
"[...] records with skill and in some detail, ordinary folk leaving a series of small, but clearly defined stone legacies (if you have the experience and patience to see it), built one stone upon a stone."
– Rob Ixer, Antiquaries Journal (11/09/2017)
"Well written, the book is compulsive reading. It is well illustrated throughout, and features a series of excellent colour landscape photographs. Detailed appendices provide analysis of material culture identified through excavation, which work well with the individual chapters by offering detailed studies without losing the broader focus of discussion. This publication will be of interest to anyone engaged with later prehistoric archaeology or, more specifically, who appreciates the world-class archaeology of the uplands of Britain."
– Gary Robinson, Current Archaeology (03/08/2017)
