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An Insect Fauna from the Roman Site at Alcester, Warwickshire

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  09 November 2011

P. J. Osborne
Affiliation:
Geology Department, University of Birmingham

Extract

An extensive Romano-British site, on the bank of the River Arrow at Alcester, Warwickshire, was excavated under the direction of Miss C. Mahany in 1964–65. The settlement contained, as well as habitation, what appeared to be an industrial area. In this area, with the remains of buildings, a pit was uncovered containing a muddy matrix in which was embedded a great number of scraps of leather. This so called ‘leather pit’ has been provisionally dated by Miss Mahany as belonging to the Antonine period, i.e. middle to late second century, or possibly a little later, on archaeological evidence. It was the infilling of this pit from which the insect fauna described here was recovered. The sample, collected by Professor F. W. Shotton, Drs. G. R. Coope and C. H. S. Sands and the author, was dug directly from the pit after the surface layers had been removed. The material was put into clean polythene bags and taken immediately back to the laboratory for processing. As the site of collection was well away from present-day buildings, the possibility of contamination by modern insects would seem to be remote.

Type
Articles
Information
Britannia , Volume 2 , November 1971 , pp. 156 - 165
Copyright
Copyright © P. J. Osborne 1971. Exclusive Licence to Publish: The Society for the Promotion of Roman Studies

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