Holy Island is a small island just off the west coast of Anglesey, North Wales, which is rich in archaeology of all periods. Between 2006 and 2010, archaeological excavations in advance of a major Welsh Government development site, Parc Cybi, enabled extensive study of the island’s past. Over 20 hectares were investigated, revealing a busy and complex archaeological landscape, which could be seen evolving from the Mesolithic period through to the present day. Major sites discovered include an Early Neolithic timber hall aligned on an adjacent chambered tomb and an Iron Age settlement, the development of which is traced by extensive dating and Bayesian analysis. A Bronze Age ceremonial complex, along with the Neolithic tomb, defined the cultural landscape for subsequent periods. A long cist cemetery of a type common on Anglesey proved, uncommonly, to be late Roman in date, while elusive Early Medieval settlement was indicated by corn dryers. This wealth of new information has revolutionised our understanding of how people have lived in, and transformed, the landscape of Holy Island. Many of the sites are also significant in a broader Welsh context and inform the understanding of similar sites across Britain and Ireland.

Of all of Britain's great archaeological monuments the prehistoric and later hillforts have arguably had the most profound impact on the landscape, if only because there are so many; yet we know very little about them. Were they recognised as being something special by those who created them or is the ‘hillfort’ purely an archaeologist's 'construct'? How were they built, who lived in them and to what uses were they put? This book, which is richly illustrated with photography of sites throughout England and Wales, addresses these and many other questions. After discussing the difficult issue of definition and the great excavations on which our knowledge is based, Ian Brown investigates in turn the origins of hillforts, their architecture and the role they played in Iron Age society. He also discusses the latest theories about their location, social significance and chronology. The book provides a valuable synthesis of the rich vein of research carried out in England and Wales on hillforts over the last thirty years. The great variability of hillforts poses many problems, and this book should help guide both the specialist and non-specialist alike though the complex literature. Furthermore, it has an important conservation objective. Land use in the modern era has not been kind to these monuments, with a significant number either disfigured or lost. Public consciousness of their importance needs raising if their management is to be improved and their future assured.

This volume presents the results of the zooarchaeological analysis of animal bones that were recovered from sixteen sites in Ipswich between 1974 and 1988. The focus of the study is on the animal bones from Middle Saxon (700-850/880), Early Late Saxon (850/880-920), Middle Late Saxon (920-1000) and Early Medieval (1000-1150) sites that were part of the Origins of Ipswich project.The faunal assemblages from all four periods were composed primarily of cattle, caprines (sheep and goats), pigs, and domestic chickens. Horses were few in number and do not seem to have formed part of the diet after the Middle Saxon period. In terms of NISP (Number of Identified Specimens Per taxon), cattle are always the most numerous animals, followed by pigs and then caprines, but the relative number of sheep and goats increases throughout the Middle Saxon, Late Saxon and Medieval periods. Domestic chickens greatly outnumber domestic geese in all periods. Wild birds and mammals are rare in all the Ipswich assemblages. The most common wild species are red deer (Cervus elaphus) and roe deer (Capreolus capreolus). Biometrical data show that the Middle Saxon cattle are comparable in size to the cattle from other Middle Saxon emporia in England. These data also suggest that fewer oxen were sent to market in the later periods and that there was a slight overall decrease in the size of cattle by the Early Medieval period. The Middle Saxon sheep from Ipswich are small and comparable in size to the Middle Saxon sheep from rural East Anglian sites such as Brandon in Suffolk. All the Ipswich horses are the size of large ponies; most are between 130 and 140cm (about 13-14 hands) in withers height. The dog remains from the Late Saxon and Early Medieval contexts in Ipswich include dogs of a range of different sizes. The smallest are about 30cm at the withers; the largest are about 50cm in shoulder height. Ageing data indicate that Ipswich was supplied with market-aged and older adult cattle, sheep and pigs. Elderly animals and very young animals are rare. These data suggest that the inhabitants of Ipswich obtained their meat from markets throughout the Middle Saxon, Late Saxon and Early Medieval periods.

The construction of a natural gas pipeline across southern Wales and into Herefordshire and Gloucestershire between 2005 and 2007 resulted in numerous archaeological discoveries, including sites of national significance. The project not only produced a wealth of new archaeological sites, it also generated important radiocarbon and environmental datasets for the region.The earliest activity is indicated by worked flint of Mesolithic (or earlier) date, with the earliest Neolithic communities represented by pits, evidence for occasional timber houses, and the discovery of a previously unknown henge. Beaker and Bronze Age settlement and burial remains were found too, including a rare copper halberd. The excavations also produced evidence for Early Bronze Age houses and numerous examples of burnt mounds.Other discoveries comprised much new evidence for Iron Age settlement (including some in areas of upland), Roman roads, crop-processing ovens, and ironworking. Rare evidence for the early medieval period was also found, along with the remains of later farmsteads and field systems. Moves towards industrialisation were reflected in the discovery of a brick kiln and charcoal-burning platforms.

With the thought of treasure, Isle of Wight islander, Derek Williams researched ancient local wreck records. Top of his extensive wreck list was the 40-gun frigate Assurance lost in 1753 while returning from Jamaica with Governor Trelawny on board, whose story possibly inspired Robert Louis Stevenson to write Treasure Island. Derek’s first dive at the western point of the Isle of Wight called “The Needles” put him on top of cannons, various wreckage and Spanish-American “Pieces of Eight”, all scattered at the foot of the rock face. He reported this astonishing discovery to the authorities which resulted in the site being designated the 6th British historic protected wreck site. When the authorities decided that further professional help was needed, author and diver John Bingeman supplied his Portsmouth Royal Naval diving team, and together with David Tomalin, County Archaeologist, developed the full potential of this important site. Over the next nine years John Bingeman’s team conducted annual visits to excavate the site; they successfully recovered 3,471 artefacts including cannon weighing 1½ tons. Some of these cannon post-dated the Assurance, leading to the identification of a second 38-gun frigate, the Pomone, lost in 1811. Her Captain, Robert Barrie’s extensive correspondence was discovered by Paul Simpson to have been archived by Duke University, North Carolina. It features Pomone’s continuous actions during the French Napoleonic wars, followed by his appointment to the 74-gun Dragon when he saw action in Chesapeake Bay during the 1812-15 war with the USA. Returning to North America as Senior Naval Officer Canada, Commodore Barrie made quite a name for himself improving the political relationship between the USA and Canada; he is remembered by the Canadian City named Barrie. Previously un-researched archaeological finds are featured, including the development of rigging blocks, gunlocks, military buttons and ship’s chain pumps, all superbly illustrated, as well as the results of research into numerous other artefacts of the period. Appendices contain the transcripts of the two ship’s court martials and make fascinating reading. Captains seem to be blameless while their navigating officers are held responsible even going to prison. Perhaps not surprising when tried by fellow Captains!

Construction of the Peterborough Eastern Bypass led to the excavation of a burial mound and the discovery of a complex burial and ritual site, which lay in the Nene valley on the north bank of an old course of the river. The site was effectively sealed under alluvial deposits accumulating over the last thousand years, and almost untouched by any post-medieval disturbance. A round barrow, found by David Hall in the 1970s, was a slight bump in the flood meadows, scarcely 0. 25m above the general level. When archaeological excavation began, a change in the vegetation nearby proved to be another, older, burial monument. Work was intermittent, held up by lack of funds and only completed under a government unemployment scheme. Both burial sites span the period from the Neolithic to the Middle Bronze Age with evidence that they shared a sequence of development. Iron Age weaponry and currency bars were recovered from the old course of the river Nene and there was evidence that ritual or religious practice continued at the barrow into Early Saxon times. The focus of the cult may have been the tidal effect on the Nene. Cultivation in open fields up-stream during the Late Saxon and Medieval periods led to silting of the valley bottom, almost completely covering the burial mounds, the process coming to an end progressively through the eighteenth century.

For many centuries, scholars and enthusiasts have been fascinated by Stonehenge, the world’s most famous stone circle. In 2003 a team of archaeologists commenced a long-term fieldwork project for the first time in decades. The Stonehenge Riverside Project (2003-2009) aimed to investigate the purpose of this unique prehistoric monument by considering it within its wider archaeological context. This is the first of four volumes which present the results of that campaign. It includes investigations of the monuments and landscape that pre-dated Stonehenge on Salisbury Plain as well as of excavation at Stonehenge itself. The main discovery at Stonehenge was of cremated human remains from many individuals, allowing their demography, health and dating to be established. With a revised radiocarbon-dated chronology for Stonehenge’s five stages of construction, these burials can now be considered within the context of the monument’s development. The different types of stone from which Stonehenge is formed – bluestones from Wales and sarsen silcretes from more local sources – are investigated both at Stonehenge and in its surroundings. These surrounding monuments include single standing stones, the Cuckoo Stone and the Tor Stone, as well as the newly discovered circle of Bluestonehenge at West Amesbury beside the River Avon. The ceremonial Stonehenge Avenue, linking Stonehenge to Bluestonehenge, is also included, based on a series of excavations along its length.The working hypothesis behind the Stonehenge Riverside Project links Stonehenge with a complex of timber monuments upstream at the great henge of Durrington Walls and neighbouring Woodhenge. Whilst these other sites are covered in a later volume (Volume 3), this volume explores the role of the River Avon and its topographic and environmental evidence.With contributions by:Umberto Albarella, Michael Allen, Olaf Bayer, Wayne Bennett, Richard Bevins, Christopher Bronk Ramsey, Chris Casswell, Andrew Chamberlain, Benjamin Chan, Rosamund Cleal, Gordon Cook, Glyn Davies, David Field, Charles French, Robert Ixer, Neil Linford, Peter Marshall, Louise Martin, Claudia Minniti, Doug Mitcham, Bob Nunn, Andy Payne, Mike Pitts, Rebecca Pullen, Julian Richards, David Robinson, Clive Ruggles, Jim Rylatt, Rob Scaife, Ellen Simmons, Charlene Steele, James Sugrue, Anne Teather, Sarah Viner, Tony Waldron, Katy Whitaker and Christie Willis

This book explores the economic evidence for the settlement at Bornais on South Uist. It reports in detail on the large assemblages of material found during the excavations at mounds 2 and 2A. There is important evidence for craft activity, such as bone and antler working and this includes the only comb making workshop from a rural settlement in Britain. A large proportion of the copper alloy, bone and antler assemblages comprise pieces of personal adornment and provide important information on the dress and thereby social relations within the settlement occupation. There is a large assemblage of iron tools and fittings, which provides important information on the activities taking place at the settlement. The information derived from the artefact assemblages is complemented by that provided by the ecofactual material. Large amounts of animal, fish and bird bones plus carbonised plant remains provide detailed information on agricultural practices, and the processing, preparation and consumption of foodstuffs. It is clear that the Norse inhabitants of the settlement had access to a much richer variety of resources than had been exploited before the Viking colonisation of the region. The settlement also had a significantly wider range of connections; material culture indicates contacts to the south with the Irish Sea ports and Bristol, and to the north with Shetland and the Viking homelands of Norway. The evidence produced by these excavations is exceptional and provides an unparalleled opportunity to explore medieval life in the Scandinavian kingdoms of Western Britain.

Thinking Hinterlands – Spanning 25 years of fieldwork across a 3 sq. km swathe on the west side of Cambridge, this and its companion volume present the results of 15 sites, including seven cemeteries. The main focus is on the area’s prehistoric ‘inland’ colonization (particularly its Middle Bronze Age horizon) and the dynamics of its Roman hinterland settlements. The latter involves a variety of farmsteads, a major roadside centre and a villa-estate complex, and the excavation programme represents one of the most comprehensive studies of the Roman countryside anywhere within the lands of its former empire. Appropriately, this book also includes a review of Roman Cambridge, appraising its status as a town.

The King’s Dyke and Bradley Fen excavations occurred within the brick pits of the Fenland town of Whittlesey, Cambridgeshire. The investigations straddled the south-eastern contours of the Flag Fen Basin, a small peat-filled embayment located between Peterborough and the western limits of Whittlesey ‘island’. Renowned principally for its Bronze Age discoveries at sites such as Fengate and Flag Fen, the Flag Fen Basin also marked the point where the prehistoric River Nene debouched into the greater Fenland Basin. A henge, two round barrows, an early fieldsystem, metalwork deposition and patterns of sustained settlement along with metalworking evidence helped produce a plan similar in its configuration to that revealed at Fengate. In addition, unambiguous evidence of earlier second millennium BC settlement was identified together with large watering holes and the first burnt stone mounds to be found along Fenland’s western edge. Genuine settlement structures included three of Early Bronze Age date, one Late Bronze Age, ten Early Iron Age and three Middle Iron Age. Later Bronze Age metalwork, including single spears and a weapon hoard, was deposited in indirect association with the earlier land divisions and consistently within ground that was becoming increasingly wet. The large-scale exposure of the base of the Flag Fen Basin at Bradley Fen revealed a beneath-the-peat or pre-basin landscape related to the buried floodplain of an early River Nene. Above all, the revelation of sub-fen occupation means we can now situate the Flag Fen Basin in time as well as space.

The prehistoric, Roman, and Anglo-Saxon periods were all represented in an excavation carried out in the centre of a Worcestershire village some time ago, but with results that can now be seen in new light because of all the archaeological work that has taken place since. A deep Iron Age ditch can be set in the context of enclosures revealed, mainly by air photography, of the gravel terraces in the river valleys of the Severn and Avon. The Romano-British skeletons form a small, elderly and hard-worked group, providing a contrast to the better-known large urban cemeteries. The growing of crops on an increasingly large scale has been demonstrated for the seventh to ninth centuries A.D., and at Fladbury the complex arrangements made to dry grain on what is known to have been a large and important estate show the resources put into feeding royal, aristocratic, and ecclesiastical households.

Norfolk has a rich heritage of prehistoric metalwork from the daggers of the Early Bronze Age to the late pre-Roman Iron Age treasures of Snettisham. In recent years relatively little has been written about the Bronze Age metalwork. Individual classes, such as swords, have been recorded in Prähistorische Bronzefunde while depositional practices have been explored in a number of theses, building on earlier classification of hoards and other assemblages going all the way back to the work of Sir John Evans in the late 19th century. Weapon assemblages and their deposition have more generally been a focus of attention, especially in relation to the ritual use of water and wet places, and regional biases in distribution have been noted when compared with other classes of hoard. More recently particular attention has been paid to the practical use of weapons and their condition at deposition, quantifying combat and other damage. The discovery over a period from the 1950s of three roughly contemporary Late Bronze Age weapon assemblages from north-west Norfolk, provides the opportunity to combine a range of archaeological and technological approaches to their characterisation and interpretation. For the first time the resources were available to link a full compositional, metallographic and radiographic study of the largest of the assemblages, that from Waterden, with an assessment of combat and ritualised damage and with the more traditional archaeological approaches of typology and chronology to enhance our understanding of some important aspects of Late Bronze Age life and society. The results from Waterden are supported by archaeological field investigation, and serve to illuminate the two smaller finds, both from Fincham.

This volume examines the archaeology of the Waithe Valley as it passes through the central Lincolnshire Wolds. It concentrates on fieldwork and finds from the eastern edge of the Wolds and was undertaken as part of the Central Lincolnshire Wolds Research Project. It documents the development of human presence in and use of the valley from prehistory to recent times, reporting on geophysical survey, fieldwalking and excavations. The monograph focusses on the evidence for a late Roman settlement, field system and enclosures. Evidence of corn-drying ovens and faunal remains reflect agricultural regimes and the various finds assemblages recovered provide an understanding of the landscape and economy of a later Roman farming complex.

Excavations in Wandsworth along the riverfront to the east of the Thames (which here trends roughly south to north), have revealed details of the diverse history of this part of the borough and its fluctuating fortunes. This monograph details the results of excavations at three sites along that stretch of riverfront at Price’s Candle Factory, Regent and Groves Wharves and Bridges Wharf. A ditch and associated Middle and Late Bronze Age pottery are the only evidence for prehistoric activity here. It was not until the later 15th Century that development of the area began in earnest, with construction of a moated manor house, known as Bryggecourt, or Bridge Court, which later came to be known as York House. Initially constructed as an episcopal residence, this manor house provided a country retreat for the pleasure and relaxation of bishops of York, yet was close enough to allow a visit to London and the Royal Court whenever necessary. At Bridges Wharf evidence for the revetments which controlled and modified the waterfront was revealed, whilst at Regent and Groves wharves an 18th-century sugar plant gave way to a turpentine factory. York House suffered changing fortunes. Variously used as a prison, private residence and industrial premises, by the mid-19th century the site had become the location of one of the country’s foremost candle manufactories. Amongst various industries the site was home to the Battersea Enamelling Manufactory; only in existence for three years, between 1753 and 1756, this operation was short but highly innovative and influential. Recent development has seen the area turn full circle and return once more to residential housing.

The crannog on Llangorse Lake near Brecon in mid Wales was discovered in 1867 and first excavated in 1869 by two local antiquaries, Edgar and Henry Dumbleton, who published their findings over the next four years. In 1988 dendrochronological dates from submerged palisade planks established its construction in the ninth century, and a combined off- and on-shore investigation of the site was started as a joint project between Cardiff University and Amgueddfa Cymru - National Museum Wales. The subsequent surveys and excavation (1989-1994, 2004) resulted in the recovery of a remarkable time capsule of life in the late ninth and tenth century, on the only crannog yet identified in Wales. This publication re-examines the early investigations, describes in detail the anatomy of the crannog mound and its construction, and the material culture found. The crannog’s treasures include early medieval secular and religious metalwork, evidence for manufacture, the largest depository of early medieval carpentry in Wales and a remarkable richly embroidered silk and linen textile which is fully analysed and placed in context. The crannog’s place in Welsh history is explored, as a royal llys (‘court’) within the kingdom of Brycheiniog, as well as its subsequent significance of the crannog in local traditions and its post-medieval occupation during a riotous dispute in the reign Elizabeth I. The cultural affinities of the crannog and its material culture is assessed, as are their relationship to origin myths for the kingdom, and to probable links with early medieval Ireland. The folk tales associated with the lake are explored, in a book that brings together archaeology, history, myths and legends, underwater and terrestrial archaeology.

Sark came briefly to prominence in 1719 when the Sark hoard was found – a pot containing Gaulish coins and embossed silver plaques. It was brought to England and disappeared. The Archaeological Survey of Sark began in 2004 with a view to studying the island in the context of Atlantic maritime networks to explore the themes of remoteness and connectivity. Fieldwork organized through the School of Archaeology, University of Oxford has been carried out annually and continues. A complete gazetteer of nearly 100 sites has been compiled together with a full listing of all the artefacts recovered. Notable are the large number of Neolithic stone axes, many made from the local dolerite, and the widespread use of local serpentine to make amulets Sark: a sacred island contains full reports on eight archaeological excavations including details of an early Neolithic settlement, a middle Neolithic ritual site, a Beaker cist burial a Mid–Late Bronze Age settlement, a Gallo-Roman ritual site (from which the Sark hoard came) and an early Medieval farm. Results of surveys of a Dark Age monastery and 16th century French fortifications are also given.