J Archaeol Sci 28 (10)

Presents new evidence for the seasonal occupation of the site based upon tooth development stages in dentally immature red deer (Cervus elaphus). Radiographs and visual examination of the developing mandibular molars and premolars have been used to provide an accurate indication of age at death by comparing them with modern known age specimens. Knowledge of their age when killed indicates at what time of the year humans were present at the sites. Using this technique the article suggests that there is strong evidence for winter killing of red deer at the site. The winter evidence at Thatcham may indicate presence at the site of hunters during the winter months for the express purposes of killing red deer. Alternatively the site was visited for a variety of economic and social purposes at all times of the year.

An evaluation of a surviving stretch of the Abbot's Way, in the Somerset Levels and Moors, undertaken to assess the consequences of the site's previous management and to inform future management. Considers the condition of the Neolithic timbers and associated palaeoenvironmental record from the site and compares the results with those obtained from the 1974 excavation. Argues that the hydrological consequences of tree planting and colonisation had a detrimental effect on both the condition of the timbers and insect remains, although pollen and plant macrofossils appear to have survived relatively well. A trench was opened outside the scheduled area, where the ground was waterlogged, which revealed similar problems of survival and condition, probably reflecting a period of peat extraction and a fluctuating water table during the 1950s and 1960s. The results of this assessment are compared with those recovered from the Sweet Track (which is said to have been positively managed in terms of hydrology), where it was found that insects and wood survived better than at the Abbot's Way. The article also suggests that insects seem to be a more sensitive indicator of site desiccation than plant remains. Recommends that any programme of management of wetland for archaeology should avoid deliberate tree planting and natural scrub and woodland generation and that it should also take into account past as well as present land use.