Hostname: page-component-745bb68f8f-mzp66 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2025-01-11T02:27:00.411Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Making the Most of it: Late Prehistoric Pastoralism in the Avon Levels, Severn Estuary

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  18 February 2014

Julie Gardiner ,
Michael J. Allen ,
Sheila Hamilton-Dyer ,
Moira Laidlaw  and
Robert G. Scaife
Julie Gardiner
Affiliation:
Wessex Archaeology, Portway House, Old Sarum Park, Salisbury SP4 6EB. [email protected].
Michael J. Allen
Affiliation:
Wessex Archaeology, Portway House, Old Sarum Park, Salisbury SP4 6EB. [email protected].
Sheila Hamilton-Dyer
Affiliation:
5 Suffolk Avenue, Shirley, Southampton SO15 5EF
Moira Laidlaw
Affiliation:
Wessex Archaeology, Portway House, Old Sarum Park, Salisbury SP4 6EB. [email protected].
Robert G. Scaife
Affiliation:
Department of Geography, Southampton University, Highfield, Southampton SO17 1BJ.
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

A combination of archaeological and palaeo-environmental field work in the Avon Levels, western England, has enabled a much better understanding to be reached of the complex Holocene sedimentation in this part of the Severn Estuary, and of the close relationship between the upper part of that sequence and opportunities for exploitation of this wetland region during the later prehistoric and Romano-British periods. This paper explores that relationship, focusing in particular on two Iron Age to Romano-British sites. Both sites, at Hallen and Northwick, appear to have been short-lived and only seasonally occupied in order to exploit rich grazing but this occupation took place at different times and within rather different patterns of land-use. The paper concludes with an outline model for the human use of the Avon Levels from the Neolithic to Romano-British periods.

Résumé

Une combinaison de prospections archéologiques et paléo-environmentales dans les Avon Levels, dans l'ouest de l'Angleterre, nous a permis d'arriver à une bien meilleure compréhension de la complexité de la sédimentation holocène dans cette partie de l'estuaire de la Severn, et des liens étroits entre la partie supérieure de cette séquence et les opportunités d'exploitation de cette région marécageuse pendant la période finale de la préhistoire et la période romano-britannique. Cette étude explore ces liens, se concentrant en particulier sur deux sites allant de l'âge du fer à la période romano-britannique. Ces deux sites, à Hallen et Northwick, semblent avoir été de courte durée et n'avoir été occupés qu'à la belle saison afin d'en exploiter les riches pâturages, mais cette occupation a eu lieu à des périodes différentes et dans le cadre de systèmes d'utilisation de la terre très différents. Cette étude se termine sur une proposition de modèle de l'utilisation humaine des Avon Levels du néolithique à la période romano-britannique.

Resúmen

Una combinación de trabajos de campo arqueológicos y paleo-ambientales en los Avon Levéis, al oeste de Inglaterra, ha permitido llegar a una mejor comprensión de la compleja sedimentación durante el holoceno en esta parte del estuario del rio Severn, y de la estrecha relación entre la parte superior de la secuencia y las oportunidades de explotación de esta zona húmeda durante la tardía prehistoria y el periodo romano-británico. Este trabajo explora esa relación, concentrandose en particular en dos yacimientos de la edad del hierro al periodo romano-británico. Ambos yacimientos, en Hallen y Northwick, parecen haber sido asentamientos de corta duración y ocupados solo en ciertas estaciones para explotar los ricos pastos de esta zona, pero esta ocupación acaeció en distintos momentos y de acuerdo a modelos de uso del terreno bastante distintos. El trabajo termina con un bosquejo de un modelo para el uso humano de los Avon Levels desde el neolítico al periodo romano-británico.

Zusammenfassung

Die Kombination von archäologischer und paläogeographischer Feldforschung in der Avon-Ebene in Westengland ermöglichte ein besseres Verständnis der komplexen holozänen Sedimentation in diesem Teil des Severn-Mündungsgebietes sowie der engen Beziehungen zwischen dem oberen Abschnitt dieser Schichten und den Möglichkeiten der Ausbeutung dieser Feuchtbodenregion während später prähistorischer und römisch-britischer Perioden. Dieser Artikel untersucht diese Beziehungen, wobei er sich besonders auf zwei eisenzeitliche bis römisch-britische Fundplätze konzentriert. Beide Orte, Hallen und Northwick, scheinen kurzlebig gewesen und nur saisonal genutzt worden zu sein um ergiebige Weideflächen zu nutzen, doch fand diese Nutzung während verschiedener Zeiten und innerhalb recht verschiedener Systeme der Landnutzung statt. Der Artikel schließt mit einer Modellskizze der Nutzung der Avon-Ebene vom Neolithikum bis zur römisch-britischen Zeit.

Type
Research Article
Information
Proceedings of the Prehistoric Society , Volume 68 , 2002 , pp. 1 - 39
Copyright
Copyright © The Prehistoric Society 2002

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Allen, J.R.L. 1986 A short history of salt-marsh reclamation at Slimbridge Warth and neighbouring areas, Gloucestershire. Transactions of the Bristol & Gloucestershire Archaeological Society 104, 139–155Google Scholar
Allen, J.R.L. 1987a. Dimlington Stadial (Late Devensian) ice-wedge casts and involutions in the Severn Estuary, southwest Britain. Geological Journal 22, 109–18Google Scholar
Allen, J.R.L. 1987b. Late Flandrian shoreline oscillations in the Severn Estuary: the Rumney Formation at its type site (Cardiff area). Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London B315, 157–84Google Scholar
Allen, J.R.L. 1988. Modern-period muddy sediments in the Severn Estuary (south western UK): a pollutant-based model for dating and correlation. Sedimentary Geology 58, 1–21CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Allen, J.R.L. 1990a. The Severn Estuary in southwest Britain; its retreat under marine transgression, and fine-sediment regime. Sedimentary Geology 66, 13–28CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Allen, J.R.L. 1990b. The post-glacial geology and geoarchaeology of the Avon wetlands. Proceedings of the Bristol Naturalists' Society 50, 28–46Google Scholar
Allen, J.R.L. 1990c. Three Neolithic axes from the Severn Estuary. Transactions of the Bristol & Gloucestershir Archaeological Society 108, 171–4Google Scholar
Allen, J.R.L. 1999. Geological impacts on coastal wetland landscapes: some general effects of autocompaction in the Holocene of northwest Europe. Holocene 9, 1–12Google Scholar
Allen, J.R.L. 2000. Holocene coastal lowland in NW Europe: autocompaction and the uncertain ground. In Pye, K & Allen, J R L (eds), Coastal and Estuarine Environments: sedimentology, geomorphology and archaeology, 239–52. Geological Society of London, Special Publication 175Google Scholar
Allen, J.R.L. & Fulford, M.G. 1986. The Wentlooge Level; a Romano-British saltmarsh reclamation in southeast Wales. Britannia 17, 91–117CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Allen, J.R.L. & Fulford, M.G. 1988. Romano-British settlement and industry on the wetlands of the Severn Estuary. Antiquaries Journal 67, 237–89CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Allen, J.R.L. & Fulford, M.G. 1990a. Romano-British and later reclamations on the Severn salt-marshes in the Elmore area, Gloucestershire. Transactions of the Bristol & Gloucestershire Archaeological Society 108, 17–32Google Scholar
Allen, J.R.L. & Fulford, M G. 1990b. Romano-British wetland reclamations at Longney, Gloucestershire, and evidence for the earlier settlement of the inner Severn Estuary, Antiquaries Journal 70, 288–326CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Allen, J.R.L. & Fulford, M.G. 1992. Romano-British and later geoarchaeology at Oldbury Flats: reclamation and settlement on the changeable coast of the Severn Estuary. Archaeological Journal 149, 82–123Google Scholar
Allen, J.R.L. & Rae, J.E. 1987. Late Flandrian shoreline oscillations in the Severn Estuary: a geomorphological and stratigraphical reconnaissance. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London B315, 185–230Google Scholar
Allen, M.J. & Gardiner, J. 2000. Our Changing Coast: a survey of the intertidal archaeology of Langstone Harbour, Hampshire. York: Council for British Archaeology Research Report 124Google Scholar
Allen, M.J., Powell, A.B. & Godden, D. forthcoming. Mesolithic, Late Bronze Age and Medieval activity at Katherine's Farm, Avonmouth, 1998. Archaeology in the Severn EstuaryGoogle Scholar
Alcock, L. 1980. The Cadbury Castle sequence in the first millennium BC. Bulletin of the Board of Celtic Studies 28, 656–718Google Scholar
Andersen, S.Th. 1970. The relative pollen productivity and pollen representation of North European trees, and correction factors for tree pollen spectra. Danm. Geol. Unders. Ser I 196–9Google Scholar
Andersen, S.Th. 1973. The differential pollen productivity of trees and its significance for the interpretation of a pollen diagram from a forested region. In Birks, H.J.B. & West, R.G. (eds), Quaternary Plant Ecology, 109–15. Oxford: BlackwellGoogle Scholar
Andrews, J.T., Gilbertson, D.D. & Hawkins, A.B. 1984. The Pleistocene succession of the Severn Estuary: a revised model based upon amino acid racemization studies. Journal of the Geological Society of London 141, 967–74Google Scholar
ApSimon, A. 1958–1959. Iron Age pottery. In Rahtz, & Brown, 1958–9, 160–4Google Scholar
Barnes, I., Adam, N.J., Pellamy, P., Butterworth, C., Coe, D., Graham, A.H. & Powell, A. 1993. Second Severn Crossing: English Approaches an interim statement on the 1992/3 fieldwork. Annual Report of the Severn Estuary Levels Committee 1993, 3–30Google Scholar
Bell, M., Caseldine, A. & Neumann, H. 2000. Prehistoric Intertidal Archaeology in the Welsh Severn Estuary. York: Council for British Archaeology Research Report 120Google Scholar
Bennett, J. 1980. A Romano-British Settlement at Cattyrbrook Almondsbury, Avon. Bristol: Committee for Rescue Archaeology in Avon, Gloucestershire & Somerset Occasional Paper 5Google Scholar
Birks, H.J.B., Deacon, J. & Peglar, S. 1975. Pollen maps for the British Isles 5000 years ago. Proceedings of the Royal Society B189, 87–105Google Scholar
Clough, T.H. McK. & Cummins, W.A. 1988. Stone Axe Studies 2. London: Council for British Archaeology Research Report 67Google Scholar
Coles, J. & Coles, B. 1986. Sweet Track to Glastonbury: the Somerset Levels in prehistory. London: Thames & HudsonGoogle Scholar
Coles, J. & Orme, B. 1983. The Sedgemoor survey, 1982. Somerset Levels Paper 9, 6–8Google Scholar
Coles, J. & Orme, B. 1985. Archaeology in the Somerset Levels 1984. Somerset Levels Paper 11, 5–7Google Scholar
Coles, B., Rouillard, S.E. & Backway, C. 1986. The 1984 Excavations at Meare. Somerset Levels Paper 12, 31–48Google Scholar
Corbet, G.B. & Harris, S. 1991. The Handbook of British Mammals (3rd edn). Oxford: BlackwellGoogle Scholar
Cunliffe, B.W. 1984. Danebury: an Iron Age hillfort in Hampshire. London: Council for British Archaeology research Report 52Google Scholar
Cunliffe, B.W. 1991. Iron Age Communities in Britain (3rd edn). London: RoutledgeGoogle Scholar
Darvill, T. 1987. Prehistoric Gloucestershire. Stroud: Alan SuttonGoogle Scholar
Darvill, T. 1989. Neolithic axes in Wales and the mid-west of England. Proceedings of the Prehistoric Society 55, 27–43Google Scholar
Davies, P. 1989. Numerical analysis of subfossil wet-ground molluscan taxocenes from overbank alluvium at Kingsmead Bridge, Wiltshire. Journal of Archaeological Science 25, 39–52CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Davies, P. 1996. The ecological status of Pupilla muscorum (Linné) in Holocene overbank alluvium at Kingsmead Bridge, Wiltshire. Journal of Conchology 35, 467–471Google Scholar
Everton, A. & Everton, R. 1980. Romano-British occupation at Crooks Marsh Farm, Avonmouth. Bristol Archaeological Research Group Review 2, 57–8Google Scholar
Godwin, H. 1975. History of the British Flora. A Factual Basis for Phytogeography (2nd edn). Cambridge: University PressGoogle Scholar
Grant, A. 1984. Animal husbandry. In Cunliffe, B., Danebury: An Iron Age Hillfort in Hampshire, Vol 2. The excavations 1969–1978: The finds, 496–548. London: Council for British Archaeology Research Report 52Google Scholar
Graham, A. & Newman, C. 1993. Excavations of Iron Age and Romano-British enclosures in the Avon Valley, Wiltshire. Wiltshire Archaeological & Natural History Magazine 86, 8–57Google Scholar
Hambleton, E. 1999. Animal Husbandry in the Iron Age. Oxford: British Archaeological Report 282Google Scholar
Hamilakis, Y. 2000. Humans and animals. In Bell, et al. . 2000, 276–80Google Scholar
Hamilton-Dyer, S. & Maltby, J.M. 2000. Animal bones from a sample of Iron Age contexts. In Barrett, J.C., Freeman, P.W.M. & Woodward, A., Cadbury Castle, Somerset: the later prehistoric and early historic archaeology, 278–90. London: English HeritageGoogle Scholar
Harcourt, R.A. 1979. The animal bones. In Wainwright, G.J., Gussage All Saints: an Iron Age settlement in Dorset, 150–60. London: Department of the Environment Archaeological Report 10Google Scholar
Hibbert, F.A. 1980. Possible evidence for sea-level change in the Somerset Levels. In Thompson, F.H. (ed.), Archaeology and Coastal Change, 103–5. London: Society of Antiquaries of London Occasional Paper NS 1Google Scholar
Juggins, S. 1982. The Geoarchaeology of Hallen Marsh. Unpublished undergraduate project, Bristol UniversityGoogle Scholar
Kerney, M.P. 1999. Atlas of the Land and Freshwater Molluscs of Britain and Ireland. Colchester: Conchological Society of Great Britain & IrelandGoogle Scholar
Lawler, M., Parkhouse, J. and Straker, V. (eds), 1992. Archaeology of the Second Severn Crossing: assessment for recommendations for the English Approaches. The Glamorgan-Gwent Archaeological Trust LtdGoogle Scholar
Levine, M. 1986. The vertebrate fauna from Meare East 1982. Somerset Levels Paper 12, 60–71Google Scholar
Locock, M. 1999. Buried soils of the Wentlooge Formation. Archaeology of the Severn Estuary 10, 1–10Google Scholar
Locock, M. 2000. A later Bronze Age landscape in the Avon Levels: settlement, shelters, and saltmarsh at Cabot Park., In Brück, J. (ed.), Landscape and Settlement in Bronze Age BritainGoogle Scholar
Locock, M., Robinson, S. & Yates, A. 1998. Late Bronze Age Sites at Cabot Park, Avonmouth. Annual Report of the Severn Estuary Levels Committee 9, 31–6Google Scholar
Louwe-Kooijmans, L.P. 1993. Wetland exploitation and upland relations of prehistoric communities in the Netherlands. In Gardiner, J. (ed.), Flatlands and Wetlands: current themes in East Anglian Archaeology, 71–116. Dereham: East Anglian Archaeology 50Google Scholar
McDonnell, R.R.J. 1988. Archaeological survey in the Avon Levels: Part 1. Bristol: Unpublished report for Avon County CouncilGoogle Scholar
Macan, T. 1977. A Key to the British Fresh- and Brackish-water Gastropods (4th edn). Freshwater Biological Association Scientific Publication 13Google Scholar
Maltby, J.M. 1985. Patterns in faunal assemblage variability. In Barker, G. & Gamble, C. (eds), Beyond Domestication in Prehistoric Europe, 33–74. London: AcademicGoogle Scholar
Maltby, J.M. 1987. The Animal Bones from the Excavations at Owslebury, Hampshire: an Iron Age and Romano-British Settlement. Ancient Monuments Laboratory Report 6/87Google Scholar
Maltby, J.M. 1996. The exploitation of animals in the Iron Age: the archaeozoological evidence. In Champion, T.C. & Collis, J.R. (eds), The Iron Age in Britain and Ireland: Recent Trends, 17–28. Sheffield: Collis PublicationsGoogle Scholar
Moore, P.D. 1977. Ancient distribution of lime trees in Britain. Nature 268, 13–14CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Moran, N.C. & O'Connor, T.P. 1994. Age attribution in domestic sheep by skeletal and dental maturation: a study of available sources. International Journal of Osteoarchaeology 4, 267–85Google Scholar
Morris, E.L. 1982. Iron Age pottery from western Britain: another petrological study. In Freestone, I., Johns, C. & Potter, T. (eds), Current Research in Ceramics: thin-section studies, London: British Museum Occasional Paper 32, 15–27Google Scholar
Morris, E.L. 1987. The Iron Age occupation at Dibble's Farm, Christon. Proceedings of the Somerset Archaeological & Natural History Society 132, 23–81Google Scholar
Nayling, N. & Caseldine, A. 1997. Excavations at Caldicot: Bronze Age palaeochannels in the lower Nedern valley. York: Council for British Archaeology Research Report 108Google Scholar
O'Connor, T.P. 1998. On the difficulty of detecting seasonal slaughter of sheep. In Pals, J.P. & van Wijngaarden-Bakker, L. (eds), Environmental Archaeology 3, 5–11Google Scholar
Payne, S. & Munson, P.J. 1985. Ruby and how many squirrels? the destruction of bones by dogs. In Fieller, N.R.J., Gilbertson, D.D. & Ralph, N.G.A. (eds), Palaeobiological Investigations: research design, methods and data analysis, 31–41. Oxford: British Archaeological Report S266Google Scholar
PCRG. 1997. The Study of Later Prehistoric Pottery. Prehistoric Ceramics Research Group Occasional Papers 1–2Google Scholar
Peacock, D.P.S. 1968. A petrological study of certain Iron Age pottery from western England. Proceedings of the Prehistoric Society 34, 414–27CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Peacock, D.P.S. 1969. A contribution to the study of Glastonbury Ware from south-western Britain. Antiquaries Journal 49, 41–61Google Scholar
Pye, K. & Allen, J.R.L. 2000 Past, present and future interactions, management challenges and research needs in coastal and estuarine environments. In Pye, K. & Allen, J.R.L. (eds), Coastal and Estuarine Environments: sedimentology geomorpbology and geoarchaeology. London: Geological Society Special Publication 175, 1–4Google Scholar
Rahtz, P.A. & Brown, J.C. 1958–1959. Blaise Castle Hill, Bristol, 1957. Proceedings of the University of Bristo Spelaeological Society 8(3), 147–71Google Scholar
Rawes, J. & Wills, J. 1996. Archaeology Review 20. Transactions of the Bristol & Gloucestershire Archaeological Society 114, 163–85Google Scholar
Reilly, K. 1988. The animal bone. In Trow, S.D., Excavations at Ditches Hillfort, North Cerney, Gloucestershire 1982–3. Transactions of the Bristol and Gloucestershire Archaeological Society 106, 19–86Google Scholar
Rippon, S. 1996. The Gwent Levels: the evolution of a wetland landscape. York: Council for British Archaeology Research Report 105Google Scholar
Rippon, S. 1997. The Severn Estuary: landscape evolutio and wetland reclamation. Leicester: University PressGoogle Scholar
Rippon, S. 2000. The Romano-British exploitation of coastal wetlands: survey and excavation on the North Somerset Levels, 1993–7. Britannia 31, 69–200Google Scholar
Russett, V. 1990. The Archaeology of the Second Severn Crossing (observation of geotechnical trial pits). Bristol: Unpublished Report for Avon County Planning DepartmentGoogle Scholar
Russett, V. 1990/1991. Avon Archaeology 1990/1. Bristol & Avon Archaeology 9, 54–68Google Scholar
Scaife, R.G. 1980. Late-Devensian and Flandrian Palaeoecological Studies in the Isle of Wight. Unpubl. PhD thesis, University of LondonGoogle Scholar
Scaife, R.G. 1987. The elm decline in the pollen record of south east England and its relationship to early agriculture. In Jones, M. (ed.), Archaeology and the Flora of the British Isles, 21–33. Oxford: Oxford University Committee for ArchaeologyGoogle Scholar
Sellwood, L. 1984. Objects of antler and bone. In Cunliffe, B., Danebury: An Iron Age Hillfort in Hampshire, Vol 2. The excavations 1969–1978: The finds, 371–95. London: Council for British Archaeology Research Report 52Google Scholar
Smith, G.H. 1989. Evaluation work at the Druid Stoke megalithic monument, Stoke Bishop, Bristol, 1983. Transactions of the Bristol & Gloucestershire Archaeological Society 107, 27–37Google Scholar
Tratman, E.K. 1926. Second report on Kings Weston Hill, Bristol. Proceedings of the University of Bristol Spelogical Society 3, 238–43Google Scholar
Waller, M. 1994. The Fenland Project, Number 9: Flandrian Environmental Change in Fenland. Cambridge: East Anglian Archaeology 70Google Scholar
Wilson, B. 1993. Reports on the bones and oyster shell. In Allen, T.G. & Robinson, M.A., The Prehistoric Landscape and Iron Age Enclosed Settlement at Mingies Ditch, Hardwick with Yelford, Oxon, Oxford Archaeological UnitGoogle Scholar
Wilson, B. 1993. Reports on the bones and oyster shell. In Allen, T.G. & Robinson, M.A., The prehistoric landscape and Iron Age enclosed settlement at Mingies Ditch, Hardwick with Yelford, Oxon, Thames Valley landscapes: the Windrush Valley 2, 125–37 and appendix. Oxford: Oxford University Committee for ArchaeologyGoogle Scholar
Young, R. & Humphrey, J. 1999. Flint use in England after the Bronze Age: time for a re-evaluation? Proceedings of the Prehistoric Society 65, 231–42Google Scholar