Bronze Age, Roman and Early Anglo-Saxon Occupation on Land to the South of Kings Reach, Ditton Park, Slough, Berkshire

ISBN-13: 9781911228141 / Angielski / Miękka / 2017 / 47 str.

David Platt

Opis

Archaeological excavation in advance of construction of Ditton Park Academy has examined a site with a long history of use, from the later Bronze Age through to the medieval period.The prehistoric phases on the site have proved difficult to date more closely than Bronze Age to Iron Age, but there are hints that phases include Middle Bronze Age, Late Bronze Age and early-middleIron Age. The post-built roundhouses, of which as many as six were found, must represent at least three phases of building which could be later Bronze Age or earlier Iron Age.A ditched enclosure can be given only a broad Iron Age date, but was recut in the Roman period, which also sees the creation of a second, more regular enclosure. Usually, a site occupied in the Roman period will produce considerably greater quantities of finds than an Iron Age one, but here there was a marked reduction in the amount of pottery. Either the Roman occupation was extremely short-lived, or this area was well away from the core of any settlement.The more noteworthy results involve the early Anglo-Saxon period. Although represented by just two Sunken Featured Buildings (SFB), and a handful of other features, they produced more finds and more important information. It is the two radiocarbon dates on residues from Anglo-Saxon pottery which are particularly significant with regard to the end of Roman Britain and Anglo-Saxon settlement. The Thames Valley is considered to have been well colonized by the later 5th century. The dating here of two demonstrably Anglo-Saxon artefacts, one to the late 4th century, the other possibly as early, or not much later, are difficult to explain unless Anglo-Saxon colonization is already well underway before the end of the 4th century, still within Roman times.