Birmingham & Warwickshire Archaeological Society Transactions 112

Reports the results of the palaeoenvironmental analyses of organic rich sediments from a palaeochannel of the river Tame. Radiocarbon dating of the channel-fill suggests that the sedimentary sequence was deposited between the Late Neolithic and Late Romano-British period. It is argued that the model of landscape development suggested for Tameside agrees well with other models developed within the wider midlands region.

Appendix: thin section analysis of the mace head by R A Ixer (20) PP-B

Bone ID by AF Cook for Trench 1 and FL Worley for Trenches 2 and 3. PP-B

A range of evidence was uncovered for the early to late medieval land use of the floodplain of the river Rea, indicating a change during the medieval period from a partly wooded environment with alder and hazel to a cleared floodplain utilized as wet meadowland. Through the medieval period there was a build up of overbank alluvium, attributed to an increase in arable cultivation in the catchment area. The evidence for the medieval landscape has been related to recent research into the landscape history of King's Norton, and has broadened current knowledge. The sequence ended in the mid-sixteenth century. During the eighteenth century settlement and landscape changed as new farmsteads were established in the Longbridge area; parts of two such sites were investigated.

Suggests that Yeates' use of linguistic evidence is often controversial, and that it is lacking in information about the methods used by the author to draw his conclusions. It is also suggested that the work is a simple statement of the basic evidence rather than a critical evaluation of it. PP-B