Andrew Mudd – författare

Archaeological work ahead of pipeline construction in East and South Devon led to the excavation of over thirty sites spanning the earlier Neolithic to early modern times. Early features included a wide scatter of pits dating to the Neolithic and Beaker periods (c. 3700–2000 BC), and a variety of Middle Bronze Age features that included evidence for land division in the Otter valley and South Devon. Iron Age activity was relatively uncommon but included iron smelting near Dartington in South Devon and piecemeal settlement more widely.Later remains included evidence for a hillslope enclosure close to the River Dart and an open settlement engaging in pewter manufacture close to the River Avon, which were both Roman in date. There was also a medieval sunken outbuilding near Powderham containing charred cereals (believed to be a first for Devon), as well as a cob linhay relating to the mapped 19th-century rural landscape near Exton. Although none of the sites were particularly rich in artefacts, more than fifty radiocarbon dates have added considerably to our understanding of the changes in human activity, land use and environment over the past 5,000 years across these parts of Devon.

Archaeological surveys and excavations were carried out between 2006 and 2010 in advance of the construction of a gas pipeline in the Gloucestershire Cotswolds. They resulted in the discovery of many new sites and the investigation of eighteen of them dating from the prehistoric to medieval periods.Early Neolithic and Beaker/Early Bronze Age pits in the southern part of the route near Winstone, suggest transitory occupation in early prehistoric times. Early Bronze Age cremation graves on lower ground near Stanway were associated with two slightly later ring-ditches, and another Bronze Age ring-ditch was excavated at Foxcote Hill. A segmented boundary ditch near Winstone was also the location of Iron Age and Roman activity. An Iron Age settlement on Salter’s Hill, Winchcombe, included an Early Iron Age roundhouse, while Middle Iron Age grain-storage pits here and elsewhere indicated other farming settlements. Late Iron Age and Roman occupations in the high Wolds showed a range of remains, including unusual deposits of artefacts, animal bones and burials.A fragmentary sequence of Anglo-Saxon boundary burials was found at the southern end of the route near Sapperton. In the same area, two 12th- to 13th-century buildings near Overley Wood may have been part of the medieval settlement of Pinbury. Trackways revealed near Coberley, Foxcote and Hailes linked rural settlements in historical times.The range of sites and finds from these investigations provide important new information on the human past across parts of a landscape in many respects considered to be marginal.

Two enclosures were recorded – near Rodway was discovered a small Middle Bronze Age farmstead containing evidence of two roundhouses, with associated pottery and plant remains; and at Sandy Lane a Roman villa was shown to have developed from a Late Iron Age ridge-top settlement.

Details results of excavations along the A477 from St Clears to Red Roses during the Road Improvement Scheme, 2012. Finds include a Mesolithic site in the lower Tâf valley; early Neolithic pits and a post-built structure at Cildywyll; the remains of an Early Bronze Age barrow, 38 burials (some urned), a pyre site, and a Middle Bronze Age drying oven near St Clears; and A Bronze Age burnt mound near Red Roses.

This book rescribes the results of excavations undertaken between 2017 and 2018 in advance of a housing development at Picket Twenty, Andover, Hampshire. The excavations revealed a barrow cemetery dating to the Early Bronze Age (2150–1500 BC). The barrow cemetery lies within the upper reaches of the Test Valley, an area of chalkland known as the Hampshire Downs. The earliest barrow contained a Beaker burial, a possible ‘founder’ monument for the cemetery. The barrows had suffered plough damage and no mounds or earthworks survived into modern times. However, the barrows were still extant during the Roman and medieval periods , as evidenced by extensive deposits of Roman refuse in the ditches, and a few medieval finds. The barrow ditches ranged in size and form and whilst most were round, there were two oval examples. More unusual was a post alignment and stake circle outside the barrows. Most of the monuments were associated with the burial of cremated remains, some of which occurred with Collared Urn pottery. Pyre goods were occasionally present, whilst no evidence for in situ pyre sites was identified. The earliest settlement evidence includes a Beaker pit of Chalcolithic (2400–2150 BC) date and a small number of dispersed timber structures comprising a roundhouse and a fence line that indicate small-scale open settlement across the landscape during the later Bronze Age (1500–1150 BC).

Excavations were undertaken ahead of redevelopment at Redcliff Quarter in Bristol between 2016 and 2018, enabling the investigation of medieval and later properties along Redcliff Street and St Thomas Street. A sequence of archaeological remains survived from the early 12th century to the modern period, providing detailed information, complemented by documentary research, about the lives, diets and trades of the suburb’s inhabitants. The results indicate that some belonged to Bristol’s prosperous mercantile class, while others were probably labourers or worked in trades such as butchery, dyeing and bell-founding. During the Georgian period, the character of both streets changed, as St Thomas Street became primarily residential and Redcliff Street was occupied by industrial concerns. The excavations detailed in this volume provide fascinating and often unexpected insights into the lives of those who lived and worked in the Redcliffe suburb of Bristol between the early 12th and early 20th centuries. This report presents the finds and environmental evidence recovered from the excavations.

Early Neolithic occupation (from about 3600 BC) was represented by small groups of pits which were partly contemporary with a well-known round barrow – a protected monument called Wick Barrow or Pixies’ Mound – lying just outside the development site. Later prehistoric remains included Bronze Age burnt mounds, boundary ditches, a Late Bronze Age enclosure, and an Early Iron Age midden. There was more widespread Late Iron Age and Roman settlement, including a seasonally occupied linear settlement with evidence of salt-making. Contemporary activity included a nearby late Roman settlement. On another site a sequence of occupation from the late Iron Age to modern eras was examined. Here historical documents add to the account of the site and preserved the names of some of the farm’s recent inhabitants.