
Evolution of a Community: The Colonisation of a Clay Inland Landscape
Neolithic to post-medieval remains excavated over sixteen years at Longstanton in Cambridgeshire
Archaeopress Archaeology
Published on 26. February 2015
Book
Paperback/Softback
257 pages
978-1-78491-086-0 (ISBN)
Description
The movement of people from the fen edge and river valleys into the clay lands of eastern England has become a growing area of research. The opportunity of studying such an environment and investigating the human activities that took place there became available 9 km to the north-west of Cambridge at the village of Longstanton. The archaeological excavations that took place over a sixteen year period have made a significant contribution to charting the emergence of a Cambridgeshire clayland settlement and its community over six millennia. Evolution of a Community chronologically documents the colonisation of this clay inland location and outlines how it was not an area on the periphery of activity, but part of a fully occupied landscape extending back into the Mesolithic period. Subsequent visits during the Late Neolithic became more focused when the locality appears to have been part of a religious landscape that included a possible barrow site and ritual pit deposits. The excavations indicate that the earliest permanent settlement at the site dates to the Late Bronze Age, with the subsequent Iron Age phases characterised as a small, modest and inward-looking community that endured into the Roman period with very little evidence for disjuncture during the transition. The significant discovery of a group of seventh-century Anglo-Saxon burials which produced rare evidence for infectious deceases is discussed within the context of 'final phase' cemeteries and the influence of visible prehistoric features within the local landscape. The excavation of the Late Anglo-Saxon and medieval rural settlement defined its origins and layout which, alongside the artefactual and archaeobotanical assemblages recovered creates a profile over time of the life and livelihood of this community that is firmly placed within its historical context.
Reviews / Votes
'This is an important book whose archaeological results deserve wide recognition...' - Susan Oosthuizen (2015): AntiquityMore details
Language
English
Place of publication
Oxford
United Kingdom
Publishing group
Archaeopress
Target group
Professional and scholarly
Product notice
A4
Illustrations
illustrated throughout in colour and black & white
Dimensions
Height: 297 mm
Width: 210 mm
Thickness: 10 mm
Weight
989 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-78491-086-0 (9781784910860)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Content
Chapter 1: Introduction ;
Part 1 ;
Chapter 2: The Prehistoric and Roman Archaeology ;
Chapter 3: Neolithic and Bronze Age Finds ;
Chapter 4: The Iron Age and Roman Finds ;
Chapter 5: Inland Incursions: Discussion of the Prehistoric to Roman Activity ;
Part 2 ;
Chapter 6: The Anglo-Saxon and Medieval Archaeology ;
Chapter 7: Early Anglo-Saxon Burial and Ritual ;
Chapter 8: Longstanton: Settlement and Economy in a Medieval Cambridgeshire Vill. ;
Chapter 9: The Anglo-Saxon and Medieval Pottery ;
Chapter 10: The Late Anglo-Saxon and Medieval Finds ;
Chapter 11: Charred Plant Remains from the Excavations ;
Chapter 12: The Archaeology of a Community: Longstanton in the Late Anglo-Saxon and Medieval Periods ;
Part 3 ;
Conclusions ;
Acknowledgements ;
References ;
Appendix 1: Archaeological Project Details ;
Appendix 2: Methodologies and Tables ;
Appendix 3: Petrography Detailed Sample Descriptions ;
Appendix 4: Animal Bone Tables ;
Appendix 5: Slag Tables ;
Appendix 6: Radiocarbon Dates ;
Appendix 7: Human remains additional data ;
Appendix 8: Small Finds Tables ;
Appendix 9: Other Finds Catalogues ;
Appendix 10: CPR Tables
Part 1 ;
Chapter 2: The Prehistoric and Roman Archaeology ;
Chapter 3: Neolithic and Bronze Age Finds ;
Chapter 4: The Iron Age and Roman Finds ;
Chapter 5: Inland Incursions: Discussion of the Prehistoric to Roman Activity ;
Part 2 ;
Chapter 6: The Anglo-Saxon and Medieval Archaeology ;
Chapter 7: Early Anglo-Saxon Burial and Ritual ;
Chapter 8: Longstanton: Settlement and Economy in a Medieval Cambridgeshire Vill. ;
Chapter 9: The Anglo-Saxon and Medieval Pottery ;
Chapter 10: The Late Anglo-Saxon and Medieval Finds ;
Chapter 11: Charred Plant Remains from the Excavations ;
Chapter 12: The Archaeology of a Community: Longstanton in the Late Anglo-Saxon and Medieval Periods ;
Part 3 ;
Conclusions ;
Acknowledgements ;
References ;
Appendix 1: Archaeological Project Details ;
Appendix 2: Methodologies and Tables ;
Appendix 3: Petrography Detailed Sample Descriptions ;
Appendix 4: Animal Bone Tables ;
Appendix 5: Slag Tables ;
Appendix 6: Radiocarbon Dates ;
Appendix 7: Human remains additional data ;
Appendix 8: Small Finds Tables ;
Appendix 9: Other Finds Catalogues ;
Appendix 10: CPR Tables