Current Archaeol 7

Summary of excavations 1961-79. A large timber-framed house was replaced c AD 360 by a stone villa, which later underwent radical reconstruction and was finally converted to agricultural use: associated dry stone farmyard structures were found and a field system continued into 5th century. In late 4th the site may have functioned as a collecting point for market animals. DG

At least fifteen ditched enclosures in west central France have been recognized in recent years: they are closer to British causewayed enclosures than either the Peu Richard or Michelsberg types, although unlikely to be ancestral to ours. A brief account is given of their discovery from the air, their locations, and the single extensively excavated example (Champ Durand).

HY 276109. Interim account of excavations of the extensive and complex Pictish occupation, with frequently reconstructed and altered buildings recessed into the earlier broch structures. A large number of stratified finds (pottery, some bronze, bone, and stone) indicates the importance of the site for a little-known millennium in Orkney. D C

Crossmatching of N and S Irish tree-ring chronologies confirms that Ireland can be treated as a single tree-ring area; the reference curve now covers the period 12 BC to the present (with a 30-year gap c AD 900). A dozen Irish horizontal mills have been dated, many to the period AD 780-880. The Tamworth (Staffs) mill has yielded a tree-ring date of c AD 855 (rather later than the Offan date suggested by 14C), and the vertical mill at Old Windsor one of late 7th century.

Brief summary of recent work: the interrupted-ditch enclosure, after repeated filling and clearance, was replaced by a defensive ditch carefully avoiding the earlier system and backed up by fences and two narrow gates. These new defences were destroyed by fire and there were 400 arrowheads in the destruction levels.

SJ 806624. Excavation at Lower Withington took place in advance of further plough degradation and revealed a primary cremation and two secondary cremations within the unditched mound, a child inhumation immediately outside the mound, and a pollen analysis which may suggest exhausted soil fertility. Two 14C dates, in 15th-14th century bc.

To examine whether metal detectors had any useful function within archaeology, three machines of differing sensitivity were tested over 4000m2 of ploughsoil. In all 1200 metal objects were recovered, mostly undatable nail fragments, and only one of archaeological relevance. The VLF (very low frequency) machine performed better than the two IB (induction balance) models, but even so their value to archaeology remains doubtful, especially as depth penetration was very poor. Moreover, buried Roman features were found only by fieldwalking for pottery scatters.

Gives further details of the burnt stone mounds SE of Birmingham (see 81/8044), and some more ideas as to their possible function.

Extensive excavation in the nave of this redundant church revealed a three-celled structure of 10th century as the earliest on the site. The tower gave access to a western baptistery; the chancel had a timber screen. In the churchyard there appear to be three phases of burial before 11th century, with some distinctive features. The Norman church was a complete rebuild east of the tower. See also G F Bryant's Early history of Barton-upon-Humber: prehistory to the Norman Conquest, Barton Civic Soc & WEA, 1981, 74 pp, figs, refs, price unknown.

Outline sketch of the town's Saxon development, with a series of maps. The RB settlement at Duston was succeeded (how directly cannot yet be shown) by a loosely arranged settlement a mile away at a route crossing. This grew to 25 acres, but it appears that the impetus to fully urban organization was Danish of 10th century.

A wide section across the southern earthwork produced evidence of five phases, of which the middle three relate to the Anglo-Saxon defences of AD 921. This tends to confirm the identification with 'Cledemutha' of the 30 hectare enclosure, a foundation of Edward the Elder. Several 14C dates for pre-earthwork camp fires fit well with such a date.

Work in the NW sector of the basilica has revealed the existence of two main phases, thus solving a puzzle from the 1892 excavations. Late Roman division into small workshops for ironworking looks like civitas-directed organization, perhaps for greater profit than administrative offices could provide. The amphitheatre was re-used in 12th century for a ?castle ringwork. See also 82/8997.