Archaeologia Aeliana Series 5

In the past 30 years, fieldwork in the Milfield Basin has revealed increasing evidence for Neolithic activity. This paper draws together all the available radiocarbon dates associated with Neolithic and Beaker period ceramics, together with a new analysis of the Neolithic and Beaker period pottery of the region. The findings provide the beginnings of a dated ceramic sequence for the area between Yorkshire and Scotland, whilst also tying in the ceramic chronology with the wider national picture. In addition the paper highlights the identification of Beaker period ceramics derived from preceding indigenous Neolithic forms, but that are not Beaker pottery. There ceramics have been termed 'Neolithic derivative' and are viewed as fill the gap, providing the typological link, between later Neolithic ceramics and Early Bronze Age ceramics such as Food Vessels and Urns.

Excavations at Harehaugh hillfort in Coquetdale, Northumberland, were carried out in 2002 as part of a wider project to determine the rate at which the monument was being damaged by erosion and how this was impacting upon significant archaeological remains. The results of the excavations and an associated 10-year programme of erosion-scar monitoring indicate that erosion is having a very significant impact upon archaeological remains, some of which remain well preserved with the potential to reveal important information. The excavations are described, and the article finishes with some comments on the significance and potential of the hillfort and its environs, and an attempt is made to place it in the context of regional Iron Age studies, particularly in the light of recent contextual surveys of hillforts in upland Northumberland and discoveries of large lowland sites to the south.

An archaeological excavation undertaken ahead of the redevelopment of Trinity School, Benwell, on the eastern side of the extra-mural area of Benwell Roman fort, revealed several phases of activity dating from the Roman period onwards. The earliest feature, a metalled hollow-way, may represent part of a Roman track leading down the valley side to the River Tyne. The limited artefactual assemblage suggests that the boundary ditches enclosed an area utilised for agricultural purposes. The small pottery assemblage suggests that the activity dated principally from the second century AD with limited activity into the late third century. Later phases of archaeological activity at the site relate to medieval and post-medieval agricultural use of the land.

The burgage patterns in three north of England boroughs, Alnwick, Berwick-upon-Tweed and Cockermouth, have been examined. Plot widths and the positions of the access paths to the plot backlands were studied cartographically, using early Ordnance Survey Town plans. The north of England patterns were found to have a great deal in common with those in a number of Scottish burghs. The similarities are reviewed and discussed. Plot patterns in the north of England exhibit characteristics differing significantly from those in the Midlands and further south.