Environ Archaeol 6

The integrated palaeoenvironmental results from a shallow palaeochannel in one of the old courses of the Trent are presented. The sampled deposit consisted of an accumulation of worked and fallen timbers, dated to 1049 to 810 cal BC, in the base of the channel. Sedimentological, pollen, plant macrofossil and insect analyses were carried out. The sediment seems to have been deposited by flooding within an area of back-swamp in the abandoned channel. The local landscape appears to have still included substantial woodland. There is also evidence for limited pasture and arable land. Pollen from the upper parts of the sampled horizons suggests that woodland clearance and cultivation may have increased in the area at this time. Although it was not possible to directly date the onset of the valley wide alluviation at Yoxall Bridge, it is probably consistent with the suggested date of around the first half of the first millennium BC for this part of the Trent valley. One beetle present, Panagaeus cruxmajor (L.), is today very rare, its decline perhaps a result of habitat loss

This report presents the entomological evidence obtained from fourth-century fills of a Roman well at Piddington, Northamptonshire. Analysis of the Coleoptera remains was restricted to one sample from the lower fill. A large fauna suggested an open, dry environment with areas of vegetation and accumulations of occupation debris nearby. The deposit was formed through a variety of mechanisms including accidental incorporation, natural deposition and possibly the deliberate dumping of refuse.

Reviews of: Cox, M. & Mays, S. (eds.) 2000. Human Osteology in Archaeology and Forensic Science. London: Greenwich Medical Media Ltd. ISBN 1-841100-46-3. 544pp. £39.50 (hardback) by Donald J. Ortner; Gosden, C. & Hather, J. (eds.) 1999.The Prehistory of Food. Appetites for change (One World Archaeology Series 32). London: Routledge. ISBN 0-415-11765-8. 544pp. £95.00 (hardback) by Marek Zvelebil; Parker Pearson, M. & Sharples, S. with Mulville, J. & Smith, H. 1999. Between Land and Sea: Excavations at Dun Yulan, South Dist. (Sheffield Environmental and Archaeological Research Campaign in the Hebrides 3). Sheffield: Sheffield Academic Press. ISBN 1-85075-880-8. 379pp. £57.50 (hardback) by Julie M. Bond; Pearsall, D. 2000. Paleoethnobotany. A Handbook of Procedures (second edition). London: Academic Press. ISBN 0-12-548042-3. 512pp. £56.95 (hardback) by Dorian Q. Fuller. SH