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This paper examines the prehistoric pottery recovered from the excavation of a multi-period site in Weston Wood, Albury, between 1961 and 1965. Two areas, which are here referred to as areas 1 and 2, were investigated as a rescue excavation in advance of the destruction of the site by sand extraction.
The earliest ceramic evidence is represented by a small, but important, group of sherds of Peterborough Ware in the Mortlake style, some of which are decorated with twisted and plaited cord impressions, shallow incisions and finger-pinched impressions.
The main importance of the site, however, lies in the discovery of a series of pits, hearths and at least two hut structures in association with pottery, flint and copper artefacts of Late Bronze Age date. Two huts, defined by a ring of post-holes with a central post setting, a number of hearths and several pits were found on area 1. A pit, which lay on the periphery of a large flattened rectangular feature interpreted by the excavator as a working area, contained most of a large coarseware jar that held the remains of charred barley and emmer wheat which gave a radiocarbon date of 510±110 bc (Q-760). The pottery assemblage from this area includes coarseware jars, fineware bowls, and cups. About half of the identifiable vessels carry decoration either on their rims or shoulders. Two copper ingots and an awl were also recovered.
Area 2, some 30m south of area 1, provided a large number of pits and hearths and a few post-holes, but unfortunately no structures could be inferred. Prolonged activity is suggested by the superposition of several pits, and the stratigraphic sequence in, and evidence for recutting or cleaning out of, other pits. A large assemblage of pottery was recovered which includes a similar range of vessels to that found on area 1, but lacks, most notably, the tripartite bowl form and the range and frequency of decoration observed there. Indeed, very few vessels on area 2 carry any form of decoration. Biconical spindle-whorls and cylindrical loom weights are also represented.
The ceramic evidence strongly suggests a chronological division of the two areas. Area 2 is characterised by what Barrett has defined as 'plainware' assemblage, which finds its closest parallels at Green Lane, Farnham, Aldermaston Wharf, Queen Mary's Hospital, Carshalton and certain vessels at Runnymede Bridge, probably indicating a date in the 10th or 9th centuries BC. A development of this assemblage is suggested by the pottery from area 1, which is characterised by the introduction of new forms, finer, sandy and organic tempered fabrics, and a markedly high incidence of decoration. Such an assemblage would appear to lie probably at the beginning of Barrett's so-called `decorated' series and finds affinity with certain material from Runnymede Bridge, though not strictly a 'decorated' assemblage, Petters Sports Field and Knight's Farm. By analogy a date probably in the 8th-7th centuries BC is suggested, which accords with the single radiocarbon date of 510±110 bc taken at two standard deviations.
Apart from several ditches and two rectangular areas comprising parallel spade-dug furrows of unknown, but presumably recent, date, and part of a Late Iron Age bowl, the site appears to have remained unoccupied since the Late Bronze Age.