Preserving and dating Glastonbury Lake Village, Somerset
Author(s): Richard Brunning
The project was primarily conducted to determine the extent and condition of the archaeology left in situ after the Bulleid and Gray excavations. The ditch on the west side of the site had water control and supply structures created and water table monitoring equipment was installed in two locations. It was also intended that sampling for scientific dating could provide a robust chronology for the settlement and that other research questions could be answered. The fieldwork succeeded in all these aims. The extent of the in situ archaeology was seen to vary significantly across the site. The main advance in our understanding of the settlement was produced by the scientific dating programme. Although dendrochronology was not successful, an extensive radiocarbon dating programme, utilising Bayesian analysis, was able for the first time to produce a precise and robust chronology for the site and, by extension, for the artefacts excavated from it. This demonstrated the short-lived character of the occupation and the frequency of roundhouse rebuilding. The project results have been presented in two articles (Hill et al. 2018 and Marshall et al. 2020) focusing on the paleoenvironmental and chronological aspects. A third article about the structural evidence of the settlement is in preparation. In addition, two Historic England Research Reports have been produced (Hazell and Challinor 2018 and Nayling et al. 2017).
- Report Number:
- 4/2022
- Series:
- Other
- Pages:
- 126
- Keywords:
- Iron Age
