Our Changing Coast: A Survey of the Intertidal Archaeology of Langstone Harbour, Hampshire

Description

With principal contributions from Neil J. Adam, Jon Adams, A. M. ApSimon, John M. Bingeman, Alan Clapham, Justin K. Dix, Sarah Draper-Ali, Dominic Fontana, Val Fontana, Rowena Gale, Michael Hughes, Arthur T. Mack, Lorraine Mepham, Jacqueline I. McKinley, Garry Momber, Paul Pettitt, Rob Scaife, and Rachael Seager Smith. Illustrations by S. E. James and the authors (Digital Map data supplied by Dept of Geography, University of Portsmouth). The Langstone Harbour Archaeological Survey Project was founded to undertake a detailed investigation of a large, shallow marine inlet on the southern coast of England. This volume outlines the results of work carried out between 1993 and 1998 when a broad range of inter-disciplinary investigative techniques were employed: fieldwalking, GPS survey, auger survey, limited excavations, underwater geophysical survey and excavation. A history of the physical development of the harbour as well as the populations that lived in the vicinity and exploited its resources, is given, from the earliest evidence in the Mesolithic and Neolithic, to the Bronze Age Urnfield cemetery, salt production in the Roman period, through to more recent changes and ecological and environmental threats to the survival of this area. List of figures xiii List of plates xv List of tables xvii List of contributors’ names and addresses xviii Acknowledgements xix General notes xx Summary (English, French, and German) xxi Foreword / Barry Cunliffe xxv 1. Introduction 1 2. Results of the Langstone Harbour Archaeological Survey 43 3. The site investigations 88 4. The finds assemblages 129 5. Absolute dating evidence and palaeoenvironmental data 168 6. Erosion of our history: evidence for net sediment loss and artefact displacement and redistribution 186 7. The physical development of a harbour: 9000 years of human activity 199 8. Langstone Harbour multidisciplinary project: a retrospective 221 Bibliography 232 Unpublished Sources 245 Appendix 1: Summary of investigation areas by geographical location 247 Appendix 2: Gazetteer of sites and finds in and around Langstone Harbour 252 Appendix 3: Fieldwork strategy and health and safety issues 276 Index 279