| Abstract: |
Between 1984 and 1990, a series of archaeological investigations was undertaken in the area around Cleveland Farm, Ashton Keynes, Wiltshire, in advance of gravel extraction. Fieldwork revealed evidence for occupation of the site from the Middle/Late Iron Age through to at least the fourth century AD, with some indications of Early/Middle Saxon activity. Iron Age settlement comprised at least six small enclosures in the northern part of the site, interspersed with areas of open settlement. Environmental remains indicate a hedged landscape around the site, with little evidence for agriculture. Small scale iron smithing took place on the site, and two fragments of bronze-working moulds were also found. Local sources of supply predominate amongst the pottery and quernstone assemblages, but in the Late Iron Age more long-distance contacts are attested. There is little indication that the imposition of Roman rule was socially disruptive in the area, and settlement continued, after a shift in location to the south, through the Roman period, with a major restructuring in the third or fourth century AD. A range of structural remains, artefacts and environmental evidence illustrates the nature of the settlement at this period, with significant assemblages of pottery, coins, metalwork and animal bones, and with some preservation of waterlogged material. In contrast to the Iron Age, environmental evidence indicates the cultivation of spelt wheat and barley, both in the immediate vicinity of the site and in the wider landscape; the relatively high number of quernstones from this period could mean that the inhabitants were processing and redistributing cereals. Cattle still dominate the faunal assemblage, although there is some evidence for improvement of breeds, and perhaps the export of hides from the site for processing elsewhere. Textile-working and other craft or industrial activities are only sparsely attested, although the quernstone assemblage includes evidence for ironworking. Coin copying may also have been taking place during the late Roman period, when coins also provide hints of a possible temple on the site. Personal items such as jewellery were common finds, and `luxury' goods like imported pottery and glass suggest that the inhabitants of the site attained a relative level of affluence. A small number of inhumation burials, however, provided the only direct evidence of the population. Includes |
