 The first edition cover of the book, depicting Cleeve Hill in the background, with a relief of Mercury and his consort found in Gloucester in the foreground. | |
| Author | Stephen J. Yeates |
|---|---|
| Language | English |
| Subject | English Iron Age archaeology, Anglo-Saxon archaeology |
| Publisher | Oxbow Books |
Publication date | 2008 |
| Publication place | England |
| Media type | Print (Paperback) |
| Pages | 195 |
| ISBN | 978-1842173190 |
| Followed by | A Dreaming for the Witches (2009) |
The Tribe of Witches: The Religion of the Dobunni and Hwicce is a historical and archaeological study of pre-Christian religion among the Iron Age Dobunni and the Early Medieval Hwicce, two tribal groups who lived in central England. It was written by the archaeologist Stephen J. Yeates and published by Oxbow Books in 2008. Yeates had previously published his theories in a three-volume British Archaeological Report monograph entitled Religion, Community and Territory: Defining Religion in the Severn Valley and Adjacent Hills from the Iron Age to the Early Medieval Period (2006).[1]
Throughout the book, Yeates explores a number of different archaeological and geographical features located in the region of Dobunni and Hwicce, looking at how the landscape evolved throughout the Iron Age, Romano-British period and Early Middle Ages. These include the temples built in the area, sacred rivers, mines and defensive features.
The Tribe of Witches was reviewed in both peer-reviewed academic journals and by a number of practicing Pagans. The former were predominantly negative, arguing that Yeates' arguments were farfetched, lacking sufficient evidence and that he suffered from a poor grasp of onomastics; in contrast, many also praised his writing style and his extensive use of references and images. Yeates expanded on the theories put forward in The Tribe of Witches in his later book, A Dreaming for the Witches: The Recreation of the Dobunni Primal Myth (2009).