A4 format, soft cover, 87pp, illustrated throughout.
ISBN 0-9544006-0-7
Price: £15.00
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A4 format, soft cover, 87pp, illustrated throughout.
ISBN 0-9544006-0-7 |
The first volume in the series details the evidence of a long, if intermittent human exploitation of this floodplain landscape.
Although a few Upper Palaeolithic/Early Mesolithic flints were found, theearliest securely dated features were later Mesolithic fire pits, which containedcharred plant remains, suggesting they were used for cooking. Otherconcentrations of late Mesolithic flintwork came from surface collection,both on the floodplain and on a gravel ‘island’ rising above it.
Early Bronze Age finds include three components: a pit circle, an adjacentoccupation area, and detailed environmental evidence derived from a pollensequence indicating, for example, that woodland clearance did not beginuntil the early Bronze Age.
There is then a lengthy gap in the use of the area until a small settlementwas created in Saxon times. Most of the structures and deposits on the site,however, were medieval. A bi-focal settlement seems to be indicated, mostprobably neighbouring farms, created in the11th-12th centuries and lastinguntil an abandonment probably in the 14th century. Although finds of thisperiod were not abundant, environmental evidence allows a reconstructionof a mixed farming economy.
