Environ Archaeol 9 (1)

The paper sets out the results of the hydrological monitoring programme conducted during the first phase of gravel extraction at the Hanson Over quarry in Cambridgeshire. Less than two months after the start of gravel extraction and pumping, the groundwater table within the extraction area had dropped to 5m+ below the modern ground surface and has since been maintained at that level. Specific monitoring of a Bronze Age barrow within the extraction area has demonstrated significant dewatering and lowering of soil moisture contents in the mound, ditch and buried soil. The groundwater table downstream and beyond the extraction area gradually dropped to between 2m and 5m below the modern ground surface, at a distance of up to 500m from the quarry face. The author argues that to ensure the future curation of alluviated landscapes that are threatened with water and gravel extraction, groundwater and water quality monitoring programmes should be part of the archaeological brief in response to Policy Planning Guidance 16 (DoE 1990).

The use of plant remains as indicators of seasonality is discussed, especially where they represent the accidental charring of species unlikely to have been deliberately collected and stored. This is illustrated with reference to the early Mesolithic site of Star Carr, North Yorkshire, and discussed in the context of other Mesolithic sites from which assemblages of charred plant remains have been recovered.

Plant and invertebrate remains from a series of fills of an early post-medieval cut feature at a site in Doncaster, South Yorkshire, were studied as part of a site-wide investigation. Some rich and diverse assemblages were recovered whose interpretation was not simple. It is argued that the material represents infill of a feature deliberately dug for water management, probably originally used as a pond for livestock, but latterly also for the dumping of a variety of materials during its life.

The recording system presented here provides a means by which to confront problems of equifinality -- that is, when taphonomic alterations create apparently similar patterns and, therefore, confuse behavioural inferences drawn from them. The method hinges on a standardised representation of the zones on human skeletal elements that allow comparison with those described by Dobney and Rielly (1988) for animal remains. It is anticipated that the anatomical descriptions in combination with the zone drawings presented will aid others to apply the method generally across skeletal assemblages of any date. The author suggests that the system could also be used to aid the curation of museum collections and as a complement to forensic recovery.