This study approaches the prehistory of Wessex (central southern England) from an inclusive, broad brush point of view. It incorporates the whole of the land, the soils that the geology supports, the climate and drainage pattern and, in particular, it focuses on the less studied part of the area, the coastal zone. It concludes that settlement patterns were little different in Wessex to any other part of Britain, and contrary to existing notions of the importance of downland, were based primarily on the use of river valleys while the coastal plain played a siginificant role. "It shows as well as anything how one tenacious worker, armed with energy, enthusiasm and insight, can overturn a century or more of unwarranted speculation" - Richard Bradley.