Bøker av Andrew Mudd

This report describes the results of the evaluations and excavations of the new A34/M4 interchange at Chieveley, West Berksire, England, and discusses the combined evidence from superficial and subsurface finds. It is concluded that there was a significant intensification of activity in the area starting in the Middle Bronze Age following a sporadic earlier prehistoric presence. This continued into the Late Bronze Age. The lack of Iron Age material is noted and there seems to have been a re-intensification of occupation in the late Iron Age or early Roman periods. The few early-middle Saxon pits were divorced from a settlement context and remain enigmatic.With contributions from Alex Thorne, Jane Timby, Tora Hylton, Ian Meadows, Val Fryer, Rowena Gale and Karen Deighton

Northamptonshire Archaeology Monograph 2A programme of archaeological excavation was undertaken by Northamptonshire Archaeology in 1999-2000 on land to the north of West Fen Road, Ely, in response to conditions upon planning permission for housing development. The excavation, conducted in several stages, examined substantial parts of later Iron Age and Middle Saxon settlements. Both settlements formed part of wider complexes lying to the south of West Fen Road (The Ashwell Site) which have been published elsewhere. The Iron Age and Middle Saxon sites are described and discussed in detail. Both sites consisted mainly of ditched enclosures with sparser numbers of pits and other features. They yielded significant artefactual assemblages and palaeo-environmental and economic material, including some waterlogged and mineralised plant remains for the Middle Saxon period. Comparisons between the periods show a greater emphasis on sheep rearing in the Middle Saxon period than in the Iron Age, and a more varied diet for the inhabitants, including fish and hedgerow fruits. Both periods of occupation are in many respects typical of broader trends. The Iron Age enclosures formed part of an extensive permanent occupation of the Isle of Ely from 400-300 BC, with reorganisation in the 1st century AD. The beginning of Middle Saxon settlement around AD 700 and its contraction around AD 850 can be attributed to the wider fortunes of the monastic centre on the island.With contributions from Michael J Allen, Philip L Armitage, Paul Blinkhorn, Wendy J Carruthers, Sharon Clough, Mark Curteis, Val Fryer, Lorrain Higbee, Tora Hylton, Ivan Mack, Gerry McDonnell, Gwladys Monteil, Sarah Percival, Phil Piper and Alex ThompsonIllustrations by Jacqueline Harding

Archaeological excavation of about 11ha of land at Tower's Fen, Thorney, Peterborough (England), investigated part of an extensive pattern of ditched enclosures and fields associated with several waterholes and two ponds. One large pit, which may have been a waterhole, yielded Early Bronze Age pottery and is radiocarbon dated to the terminal 3rd millennium BC. Two other dates from the ponds came out at around 1500-1300 BC. The other features were probably also Middle to Late Bronze Age although the limited quantity of pottery was not datable precisely. Waterlogged material recovered from the deeper features included most of an unusual wooden tub or bucket, as well as other pieces of worked wood. The palaeo-environmental evidence from pollen, plant macro-fossils, insects and charred plant remains indicated that the land supported a mosaic of woodland, scrub, arable fields, meadow and short grazed grassland. A wide variety of trees was present, particularly wet-loving species such as willow and alder, and there was abundant evidence for coppicing. Nearby excavations at Pode Hole, and the wider picture provided by plotted cropmarks, indicate that the site formed part of an extensive prehistoric landscape. It is suggested that the Bronze Age agricultural landscape developed piecemeal and was based upon a mixed arable and pastoral economy. This contrasts with Fengate and other landscapes of this period where large-scale land divisions have been related to intensive livestock management. The sparse evidence for contemporaneous settlement is typical of many sites of this period.Written by Andrew Mudd and Ben Pears.Edited by Andy Richmond, Gary Coates, Andy Chapman and Pat ChapmanWith contributions from Maisie Taylor, Nick Branch, Barbara Silva, Christopher Green, Scott Elias, Alys Vaughan-Williams, Iñaki Valcarcel, Imogen Poole, Karen Deighton, Stuart Needham, Andy Chapman, Pat Chapman and Steve Critchley.Illustrations by Jacqueline Harding and Pat Walsh with Steven J. Allen.