THE PREHISTORIC AND EARLY MEDIEVAL WATERLOGGED PLANT REMAINS FROM MULTIPERIOD BECKFORD SITES 5006 AND 5007 (WORCESTERSHIRE), AND WHAT THEY SHOW OF THE SURROUNDINGS THEN.
Author(s): S Colledge, J R A Greig
A peaty sediment was investigated for its biological remains. The sequence starts in the early bronze age, according to the radiocarbon date, and the original limeforest had mostly been cleared from this particular areaby then. Forest clearance may have been somewhat earlier than elsewhere. The open landscape had grass- land, including pasture shown by the presence of dung beetles. Some cereals were cultivated. The site itselfwas a pond or oxbow with aquatic vegetation and an aldercarr. Further up the profile the signs are of increased local human activity, with more weeds, charred cereal remains,and more inorganic material in the sediment. The local wetland vegetation is more marshy than aquatic in natureso there was probably not often standing water then, andthe alder carr shows signs of clearance. This may correspond to the iron age and Romano- British period ofoccupation, known from the adjacent excavated site. At the top of the profile there are signs of less farming followed by increased ploughing below a level with a late Saxon radiocarbon date. There are possible signs of hemp and bean cultivation. Finally, the peaty sediment was covered with soil that appears to have been brought down from the slopes of Bredon Hill by medieval ploughing.
- Report Number:
- 54/1988
- Series:
- AML Reports (New Series)
- Pages:
- 18
- Keywords:
- Plant Remains
