A Slice of Rural Essex: Recent Archaeological Discoveries from the A120 Between Stansted Airport and Braintree

by Timby, Jane; Brown, Richard; Biddulph, Edward; Hardy, Alan; Powell, Andrew; Allen, Michael J. (CON); Avery, Rachel R. (CON); Bates, Martin (CON); Carruthers, Wendy (CON); Challinor, Dana (CON); Nichols, Karen; Roughley, Mark; James, Liz

• ISBN13: 9780954597023
• ISBN10: 0954597028
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2007-08-30
• Publisher: David Brown Book Co

Summary

The upgrading of the A120 between Stansted Airport and Braintree allowed the unique opportunity to examine a slice of landscape crossing the clay plateau of Essex; a geology which has received little attention in the past. A diverse pattern of human history was revealed including earlier prehistoric flint knapping, later prehistoric ritual activity, a Roman farmstead with accompanying cemetery, a middle Saxon hall, medieval settlement, pottery production and a windmill. This report is the product of a joint venture between Oxford Archaeology and Wessex Archaeology and has been designed to provide the reader with an accessible interpretation of the findings with supporting factual data.

Table of Contents

List of figures
List of plates
List of tables
CD-ROM contents
List of CD-ROM tables
Abbreviations
Acknowledgements
Summary
Introduction to the CD-ROM
Introduction
Background	p. 1
Format of the report	p. 1
Sequence of work	p. 5
Aims of the project	p. 6
Excavation methodology	p. 6
Location, geology and topography	p. 7
Archaeological and historical background	p. 10
The first settlers: Prehistoric activity
Introduction	p. 13
Mesolithic, Neolithic and early Bronze Age	p. 16
Middle Bronze Age	p. 20
Late Bronze Age	p. 26
Early Iron Age	p. 45
Middle-late Iron Age	p. 45
Discussion	p. 73
Finds summaries
Flint	p. 16
The prehistoric worked and utilised stone	p. 28
Prehistoric pottery	p. 43
Metalworking debris	p. 44
Other finds	p. 50
Metalwork	p. 68
Human bone	p. 78-9
Animal bone	p. 79
Conquest and change? The Roman period
Introduction	p. 81
Principal sites	p. 81
Settlements: origins and appearance	p. 108
Land use and the economy	p. 112
Aspects of society	p. 117
Conclusions	p. 147
Finds summaries
Coins	p. 87
Late Iron Age and Romano-British pottery	p. 94
Animal bone	p. 114
Objects of bone and antler	p. 115
Ceramic building material	p. 116
Romano-British worked stone	p. 118
Human bone	p. 136-7
Romano-British glass	p. 139
Late Iron Age and Romano-British metalwork	p. 145
What happened to the Saxons?
Introduction	p. 149
The post-Roman environment	p. 149
The archaeological perspective on Saxon settlement in north-west Essex	p. 149
The A120 Project results	p. 151
Conclusion	p. 156
Lords or peasants? The medieval and post-medieval evidence
Introduction	p. 157
The A120 Project	p. 159
Settlement sites	p. 159
Industrial sites	p. 165
Other Sites	p. 175
Finds summaries
Medieval and post-medieval metalwork	p. 162
Medieval pottery	p. 172-3
Animal bone	p. 175
Continuity and discontinuity
Introduction	p. 177
Settlements - locations and shifts in location through time	p. 179
Ritual and burial	p. 184
Trade and status	p. 185
Environmental overview	p. 186
Conclusion	p. 192
Bibliography	p. 193
Index	p. 207
Table of Contents provided by Blackwell. All Rights Reserved.