So you can, I have just tested it out on Heritage Gateway.
I put in 2400-1700 cal BC and it brought up everything with either date in the description and many results that didn't seem to be relevant at all. I would then have to trawl through all of the results (which amount to many, in most cases) to pick out the ones that were actually relevant.
It seems to be the case that each HBSMR uses its own date ranges and approaches to dating constituent parts of a site and that sherds of different periods are clumped together; I have just spotted an example where the entry says sherd: middle Bronze Age to early Iron Age.
If that was all standardised and if the phrase late Neolithic-early Bronze Age was used whenever relevant (or the date ranges more specific) or alternatively if the databases were all clever enough to lead the researcher to specific relevant entries, then it would be much easier.
All the Best
Emily Edwards
Honorary Research Associate with the Institute of Archaeology and
Antiquity at the University of Birmingham
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