Archaeology in the Severn Estuary 5

The geoarchaeology of Magor Pill on the shores of the Caldicot Level between Chepstow and Newport is described.

The fifth season of fieldwork at Goldcliff concentrated on Iron Age Structure 6 and the Mesolithic site. Structure 6 was fully excavated due to an imminent threat of erosion and preliminary analyses are presented. An adjacent palaeochannel was also sampled. The Mesolithic site is also actively eroding and a trench at right angles to the eroding face was excavated in 1994. Finds distributions and the presence of features indicate an occupation area; post-excavation analysis is on-going. All currently visible intertidal sites and structures have now been surveyed. Recording or small scale strategic excavation also took place at 16 further sites or structures, results including the first evidence for Romano-British activity and drainage on the Caldicot levels.

Evidence for two former duck decoys at Nash and Whitson is placed in the historical context of the construction and use of the features across England and Wales.

Nayling (1993) included a brief note on the finding of a late Roman timber and stone structure with an associated vessel. This paper reviews this piece of fieldwork and integrates results of ongoing post-excavation studies.

A 19th-century hulk has been surveyed and investigated in advance of it potentially being permanently inundated by the Cardiff Bay development. The vessel could well be the 780 gross ton wooden ship Louisa, built on Prince Edward Island, Canada in 1851.

Topographical and aerial photographic survey of a known area of Roman activity at Kenn Moor established the extent of palaeochannels, field systems and an earthwork mound known to contain the remains of a corn drier. Six small trenches were subsequently excavated, in part aiming to evaluate suitable methodologies for larger interventions but also to assess the nature of the archaeology and to retrieve environmental data. Preliminary results of these excavations are presented.

Preserved within the unconsolidated sediments at Caldicot Pill is a valuable record of local and regional changes in sea-level and shoreline position dating from the mid-Holocene. This paper examines this record, by comparing radiocarbon dates collected from Caldicot Pill with a previously published sea-level curve for the Bristol Channel (Heyworth and Kidson 1982).