Purbeck Papers
David Hinton, 2003. https://doi.org/10.5284/1000222. How to cite using this DOI
Data copyright © Prof David Hinton unless otherwise stated
This work is licensed under the ADS Terms of Use and Access.
Primary contact
Prof
David
Hinton
Department of Archaeology
University of Southampton
Avenue Campus
Highfield
Southampton
SO17 1BJ
England
Tel: 01703 592247
Resource identifiers
- ADS Collection: 346
- DOI:https://doi.org/10.5284/1000222
- How to cite using this DOI
Overview
Purbeck Papers is Monograph Number 4 in the Department of Archaeology, University of Southampton series published by Oxbow Books (ISBN to be announced). The others in the series are on fieldwork in the Pacific, by A.D. Crosby and Y.M. Marshall, on survey in Italy by S.J. Keay, and on themes in computing, edited by D.W. Wheatley. Others in the series will include a report on the ship-building site at Buckler's Hard, Hampshire, by J.R. Adams.
The first contribution to Purbeck Papers is a report on an Iron Age and Romano-British site at Worth Matravers. As the selected colour pictures show, the use of stone for building foundations means that the survival of an Iron Age roundhouse and of a Romano-British barn and grain drier was remarkably good. There were also two late Iron Age and one late Romano-British burials, pits and other features. There is a good sequence of pottery, and a range of other artefacts. Environmental data show both agricultural practices and the functions of different parts of the roundhouse. Also available within this archive are tables detailing the artefacts and ecofacts that accompany the reports.
The second paper is a long examination of the economy of Purbeck in the centuries before the Black Death, using a range of material and documentary evidence. It is argued that high population levels before the Black Death led to low wealth levels, despite the natural resources of the region. Transport difficulties were a constraining factor. The appendices contain supporting detail, and information supplementary to the main text.
The third paper, by Neil Rushton, is a commentary upon some of the data for Corfe, Langton Matravers and Steeple, with transcripts of original documents that have not been fully published before.
The fourth paper, by David Williams, discusses the different uses made of the much sought-after Purbeck marble in the Roman and medieval periods.
The last two papers are both on the field systems to the south of Worth Matravers, which include the remarkably well-preserved strip-lynchets. They have been surveyed in detail by David McOmish, and their later history and abandonment is then described, using an eighteenth-century estate map and other documents.
