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Burnt mounds as saunas, and the prehistory of bathing

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2015

Lawrence Barfield  and
Mike Hodder
Lawrence Barfield
Affiliation:
Department of Ancient History and Archaeology, University of Birmingham, PO Box 363, Birmingham B15 2TT
Mike Hodder
Affiliation:
Sandwell Borough Council, Penny Hill Lane, West Bromwich, West Midlands, B71 3RZ
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Abstract

The physical scale of buildings like the Baths of Caracalla give the clearest indication of the importance of bathing in the classical order of things – though whether what Romans did in the bath was always clean and decent may be an open question. But what about the prehistory of bathing, and particularly of bathing in steam? An answer is given here which links the historical and ethnographic record to burnt mounds, among the more common and puzzling types of north European site.

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Type
Article
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Antiquity , Volume 61 , Issue 233 , November 1987 , pp. 370 - 379
Copyright
Copyright © Antiquity Publications Ltd 1987

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