The Bedd Branwen Period is the name given by Colin Burgess to a division of the early Bronze Age

Bronze Age

The Bronze Age is a period characterized by the use of copper and its alloy bronze as the chief hard materials in the manufacture of some implements and weapons. Chronologically, it stands between the Stone Age and Iron Age...

 in Britain

Great Britain

Great Britain or Britain is an island situated to the northwest of Continental Europe. It is the ninth largest island in the world, and the largest European island, as well as the largest of the British Isles...

 covering the period between 1650 BC and 1400 BC. It follows his Overton Period

Overton Period

The Overton Period is the name given by archaeologists to a division of prehistory in Britain covering the period between 2000 BC and 1650 BC....

 and is superseded by his Knighton Heath Period

Knighton Heath Period

The Knighton Heath Period is the name given by Colin Burgess to a phase of the Bronze Age in Britain following the Bedd Branwen Period and spanning the period 1400 BC to 1200 BC.It was succeeded by the Penard Period.-History:...

.

It covers the period after the end of the Beaker tradition and the early Wessex culture

Wessex culture

The Wessex culture is the predominant prehistoric culture of central and southern Britain during the early Bronze Age, originally defined by the British archaeologist Stuart Piggott in 1938...

, and was a time when cremation

Cremation

Cremation is the process of reducing bodies to basic chemical compounds such as gasses and bone fragments. This is accomplished through high-temperature burning, vaporization and oxidation....

 became an almost universal burial rite in Britain. Earlier round barrow

Round barrow

Round barrows are one of the most common types of archaeological monuments. Although concentrated in Europe they are found in many parts of the world because of their simple construction and universal purpose....

s were re-used for cremation cemeteries although new barrows were also still being built.

The pottery of the Deverel-Rimbury culture

Deverel-Rimbury culture

The Deverel-Rimbury culture was a name given to an archaeological culture of the British Middle Bronze Age. It is named after two barrow sites in Dorset and dates to between 1600 and 1100 BC....

 appears alongside the earlier collared urns in the archaeological record during this period and metalworking developed through the Arreton Down

Arreton Down

Arreton Down is a 29.77 hectare biological Site of Special Scientific Interest on the Isle of Wight, originally notified in 1979 for its geological interest and then renotified in 1987, but for its biological interest only....

 and Acton Park industries.

In his 1986 article Burgess acknowledged that the Bedd Branwen site was wrongly dated. Most of the burials actually date from a new period, the Fargo Phase c. 1800 - 1600 bc, (which previously was incorporated in the Overton Period

Overton Period

The Overton Period is the name given by archaeologists to a division of prehistory in Britain covering the period between 2000 BC and 1650 BC....

). Burgess re-named the Bedd Branwen period the Aldbourne-Edmondsham phase.