Hey, G., ed. (2004). Yarnton: Saxon and medieval settlement and landscape.. Oxford: Oxford Archaeology.

Title:

Yarnton: Saxon and medieval settlement and landscape.

Subtitle:

Results of excavations 1990--96

Series:

Thames Valley Landscapes Monographs

Volume:

Number of Pages:

456

Publication Type:

Monograph Chapter (in Series)

Abstract:

Between 1990 and 1996 the Oxford Archaeological Unit examined sites and landscape features dating from the fifth century AD to the post-medieval period in the ARC (now Hanson Aggregates) gravel extraction pit between Yarnton and Cassington, Oxfordshire. The work formed part of the larger Yarnton-Cassington Archaeological Project. Early Saxon settlement was identified on the edge of an Iron Age and Roman occupation site at Yarnton. Subsequent work revealed the presence of a Middle Saxon settlement immediately to the east. Investigations further afield uncovered evidence for Early and Middle Saxon settlement adjacent to the neighbouring modern hamlet of Worton, and Middle Saxon buildings were uncovered among Iron Age pits and postholes at Cresswell Field. The wider landscape context of these settlements was investigated by fieldwalking, geophysical survey and trenched evaluation, revealing manuring scatters, field boundaries, ploughsoils and trackways. Former river channels on the floodplain provided sources of information for reconstructing the landscape and changes in agricultural practices over time, particularly the presence of pollen and waterlogged macrobotanical and invertebrate remains. Romano-British settlements are present at both Yarnton and Worton. Within this context it has been possible to study the period of transition from the late Roman to the Early Saxon periods. Early Saxon buildings appear to have respected late Roman features, although no obvious traces of sub-Roman activity were recovered and the character of settlement is strikingly different to that of the Roman period. A similar pattern of contiguous but discontinuous occupation emerges from a survey of the sites in the immediate area. Despite the paucity of evidence for habitation through the fifth century the environmental indicators suggest that the land continued to be farmed, though by less intensive methods than those employed in the Roman period. In the Middle Saxon period the character of settlement became less dispersed, with more organised and intensive use of space on habitation sites and a greater diversity of building forms, including timber halls. At the same time, there is evidence of agricultural intensification in the form of increased quantities of charred cereals, a change in crops grown, including new varieties, the presence of horticulture and the importance of flax production. It is suggested that the Middle Saxon evidence represents indications of settlement nucleation and embryonic village development, and the origins of the open field farming system in this area. The dating evidence suggests that these changes began in the eighth century but gathered pace in the ninth. The record of Yarnton can be seen within a trajectory of over five millennia of human activity in the area, the settlement having shifted gradually eastwards from its Iron Age location to that of the Middle Saxon period, then northeastwards towards the medieval village, then further north in the post-medieval period. Contains French and German summaries, and separately authored reports including

Author:

Gill Hey

Editor:

Gill Hey

Issue Editor:

Philippa J Bradley
Wendy Sherlock

Publisher:

Oxford Archaeology

Year of Publication:

2004

ISBN:

0947816704

Source:

BIAB (The British & Irish Archaeological Bibliography (BIAB))

Relations:

URI:	http://www.oxfordarch.co.uk/html_pages/bookshop.htm

Created Date:

09 Jun 2006

Please click on an Article link to go to the Article Details.

Chapter Title	Author / Editor	Page Start/End
The documentary evidence	J T Munby	22 - 23
Chapter 2: settlement and landscape	Gill Hey Mark Robinson J T Munby Paul Booth	27 - 57
Burial rite and status on the Yarnton middle Saxon settlement	Angela Boyle	75 - 76
General health	Angela Boyle	76
Saxon pottery production and use	Paul W Blinkhorn	77 - 78
Plant cultivation	Chris J Stevens Mark Robinson	81 - 83
Food consumption: cereal and other plant food consumption	Chris J Stevens	83 - 84
Chapter 5: Yarnton: the Early Saxon settlement (Phase 1)	Gill Hey Philippa J Bradley	95 - 103
Chapter 6: Yarnton: the Middle Saxon settlement (Phase 2)	Gill Hey Philippa J Bradley	105 - 137
Chapter 7: Yarnton: the Middle Saxon settlement (Phase 3)	Gill Hey Philippa J Bradley	139 - 165
Chapter 8: Yarnton: the Late Saxon settlement (Phase 4)	Gill Hey Philippa J Bradley	167 - 176
Chapter 9: Cresswell Field: Saxon settlement	Christopher Bell	177 - 187
Air photographic survey: RCHME cropmark plot	Carolyn Dyer Roger Featherstone	199 - 201
Evaluation and excavation in the wider landscape: fields and ploughsoils: Cresswell Field	Christopher Bell	208 - 211
Investigation of the wider landscape: historical study	J T Munby	216 - 223
Investigation of the wider landscape: the hedges	Alison W McDonald	223 - 228
Chapter 12: geophysical survey	Neil T Linford	229 - 251
Chapter 13: scientific dating	Alex Bayliss Gill Hey	255 - 266
Early and Middle Saxon pottery	Paul W Blinkhorn	267 - 273
Late Saxon, medieval and post-medieval pottery	Paul W Blinkhorn	273 - 274
Iron Age and Roman pottery from Saxon features	Paul Booth	274 - 276
Yarnton: objects of copper alloy, iron, bone and glass	Leigh Allen Anne J Dodd Angela Boyle Cecily Cropper Brian J J Gilmour Gabor Thomas Susan M Youngs	277 - 288
The unstratified strap ends	Gabor Thomas	282
The seax	Brian J J Gilmour	282 - 283
The enamelled stud	Susan M Youngs	286 - 287
The equal-armed bow brooch	Anne J Dodd	286 - 288
Yarnton: fired clay	Alistair Barclay	288 - 292
Yarnton: worked stone	Fiona E S Roe	292 - 295
Yarnton: wooden object	Maisie Taylor	294 - 297
Yarnton: leather objects	Margaret Brooks Glynis Edwards	295
Cresswell Field: objects of iron and bone	Anne J Dodd	297 - 299
Cresswell Field: fired clay	Alistair Barclay	299 - 304
Cresswell Field: worked stone	Fiona E S Roe	304 - 305
Worton: objects of iron and bone	Leigh Allen	305
Worton: worked stone	Fiona E S Roe	305
Worton: fired clay	Alistair Barclay	305
Ferrous metalworking debris	C J Salter	307 - 311
Non-ferrous metalworking debris	Justine Bayley C J Salter	311
The metallurgy of the seax	Brian J J Gilmour	311 - 316
Chapter 17: the human burials	Angela Boyle	317 - 323
Chapter 18; animal bone	Jacqui Mulville Kathryn Ayres	325 - 350
Chapter 19; environmental evidence	J R A Greig Ruth Pelling Mark Robinson Chris J Stevens	351 - 409
Yarnton: charred plant remains	Chris J Stevens	351 - 364
Yarnton: wood charcoal	Ruth Pelling	364 - 365
Yarnton: waterlogged plant and invertebrate remains	Mark Robinson	365 - 367
Yarnton: mollusca and evidence for the extent of flooding	Mark Robinson	367
Cresswell Field: charred plant remains and charcoal	Ruth Pelling	367 - 368
Worton: charred plant remains	Mark Robinson	368 - 369
Wider landscape: pollen from the Yarnton floodplain	J R A Greig	369 - 379
Wider landscape: waterlogged plant and invertebrate remains and mol...	Mark Robinson	379 - 409