Settlement on the Bedfordshire Claylands : Archaeology along the A421 Great Barford Bypass

by Timby, Jane; Brown, Richard; Hardy, Alan; Leech, Stephen; Poole, Cynthia; Webley, Leo; Slater, George R.

• ISBN13: 9780953153152
• ISBN10: 0953153150
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2008-10-30
• Publisher: David Brown Book Co

Summary

Excavations at nine sites along the route of the Great Barford Bypass provided a rare opportunity to investigate an extensive area of the South Midlands claylands, a landscape that has hitherto seen little archaeological work. The excavations produced evidence for the long-term development of the social landscape, agrarian economy and environment of the area from prehistory to the Middle Ages. Sporadic occupation took place during the Neolithic and Bronze Age, with systematic colonisation first occurring in the later Iron Age. One of the four excavated Iron Age settlements showed striking ritual activity, including what is believed to be the first conclusive evidence for the long-term curation of human bone within Iron Age Britain. In the Roman period, two of the settlements continued to be occupied and two new sites were founded. Associated features included pottery kilns and cremation and inhumation cemeteries. Early Saxon activity was also present at one of the Roman sites. A new settlement pattern appeared in the late Saxon/early medieval period, with the establishment of three farmsteads or hamlets, all of which were abandoned by the 13th century. The implications of the evidence for our understanding of the archaeology of the wider region are fully discussed.

Table of Contents

List of Figures

List of Plates

List of Tables

Preface

Abbreviations

Introduction

Prehistoric Sites: Archaeological Descriptions

The First Settlers: Overview of the Prehistoric Evidence

Roman Sites: Archaeological Descriptions

New Landlords? Overview of the Roman Evidence

Saxon and Medieval Sites: Archaeological Descriptions

Continuity or Change: Overview of the Saxon and Medieval Evidence

The Finds

Introduction

Flint

Human Remains

Animal and Fish Bone

Animal bone

Fish bone

Environmental Evidence

Charred plant remains

Wood charcoal

Waterlogged wood

Land and freshwater snails

Scientific Dating

Radiocarbon dating

Archaeomagnetic dating of Romano-British kiln 10490

Overview

Bibliography

Index

Table of Contents provided by Blackwell. All Rights Reserved.