SECTION 7.4: KEMPSFORD STUBBS FARM ENVIROMENTAL REPORTS

ANIMAL BONE

CHARRED PLANT REMAINS

Animal Bone by Nicola Scott

A total of 1077 bone fragments was recovered, of which 59 were identified to species and anatomical part. The low rate of identification was due mainly to the highly fragmented nature of the bones and their poor surface condition. The poor preservation may be due to the soil conditions leaching the bones. Ribs and vertebrae were not identified.
If bones could be reassembled then the fragments were counted as one, otherwise small fragments of crushed bone, e.g. skull from context 1630, were all counted individually. Teeth survived better than bone and account for most of the identified fragments.
The bone fragments include cattle, sheep/goat, horse and pig but cow and horse fragments predominate. Two unidentified fragments from contexts 1439 and 1443 respectively show bone callous either caused by disease or injury to the animal.
There is evidence of burning, most notably from context 1060, which probably represents hearth debris.
The poor preservation of the bones prevented the identification of butchery marks.

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Charred plant remains by Mark Robinson

During the excavation of the early Roman settlement at Stubbs Farm, Kempsford, bulk samples were floated from 14 contexts to recover biological remains. Unfortunately, after minimal assessment, the flots were lost. However, some useful results had been obtained from them.
Much charcoal was found from a tree-throw hole of uncertain date. Small quantities of charred remains, probably including cereals, were present in some of the flots of Roman date.
The flots from the primary fills of the Roman ditches on the gravel terrace contained shells of species of stagnant and temporary bodies of water, such as Aplexa hypnorum and Anisus leucostoma, which probably lived in the bottom of these features. Terrestrial species, such as Pupilla muscorum and Vallonia pulchella, probably reflected damp grassland conditions around the edge of the features. In contrast, the upper fills of some of the ditches contained a much wider range of aquatic molluscs including the flowing-water snail, Bithynia sp., which would suggest the impact of floodwaters, perhaps with alluviation, on the deposits. It is likely that this flooding occurred after the end of the settlement on the site although it is uncertain whether the flooding was of late Roman or post Roman date.

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