Brean Down Excavations 1983-1987

Description

with major contributions by M. Allen, A. Clark, K. Crabtree, J. Evans, J. Foster, R. Harrison, S. Johnson, A. K. Jones, B. Levitan, R. Macphail, C. O'Mahoney, S. Needham, J. E. Robinson, S. Ross, A. Saville, V. Straker, A. Walker, D. Williams and A. Woodward. E-book (PDF) published 2013. Excavations made necessary by coastal erosion have revealed probably the best preserved Bronze Age settlement sequence in Southern Britain. Five metres of deposits contained five prehistoric occupation phases separated by blown sand and eroded soil. The two lowest horizons, containing Beaker pottery, were followed by a layer with biconical urns and an oval stone structure; then came a rich middle Bronze Age layer with two round houses superseded by a late Bronze Age midden type deposit which produced two gold bracelets. At the top was a sub-Roman cemetery. The Bronze Age layers contained an abundance of pottery and other artefacts, including fired clay objects which represent one of the earliest salt extraction sites in Atlantic Europe. Environmental evidence was also prolific and contributions are included on soil thin sections, chemistry, magnetic properties, pollen, diatoms, ostracods, charred plant remains, animal bones, coprolites, and molluscs. The site seems to have been an island in the Bronze Age, with a considerable expanse of infrequently inundated saltmarsh to its south. The causes of the alternating sequence of sand deposition and stabilisation are considered in the context of environmental change generally in the Severn Estuary and the Somerset Levels. List of illustrations viii List of tables x Acknowledgements xv A. Site investigations 1 1. Introduction to the site, research methods, and stratigraphy 1 2. Beaker and earlier activity in Units 8a and 7 19 3. Early/middle Bronze Age, Unit 6 28 4. Middle Bronze Age structures in Unit 5b 37 5. Late Bronze Age occupation, Unit 4 63 6. The sub-Roman cemetery and Iron Age to medieval stratigraphy 73 7. The post-medieval period 84 8. The auger survey, soil pits, and intertidal archaeology 90 B. The Bronze Age cultural evidence 107 9. Scientific dating 107 10. Bell Beaker Pottery 117 11. The Bronze Age pottery 121 12. Bronze Age metalwork 146 13. The flint and chert artefacts 152 14. Other Bronze Age artefacts 158 C. Environmental and economic evidence 176 15. Physical and chemical characteristics of the stratigraphy 176 16. Soil history and micromorphology 187 17. Magnetic susceptibility 197 18. Pollen analysis, diatoms, ostracods, and the foreshore peat 203 19. Charred plant macrofossils 211 20. The vertebrate remains 220 21. Coprolites and faecal concretions 242 22. Mollusca and other zoological evidence 246 D. 23. Conclusions 253 Summary 264 Bibliography 268 Index 275