Archaeology of the Ouse Valley, Sussex, to AD 1500 : a tribute to Dudley Moore and Archaeology at Sussex University CCE / edited by Dudley Moore, Michael J. Allen, David Rudling.

Format:

Book

Contributor:

Moore, Dudley J., editor.

Allen, Michael J., editor.

Rudling, David, 1956- editor.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Sussex (England)--Antiquities.

Sussex (England).

Physical Description:

1 online resource (xxii, 137 pages) : illustrations, maps

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

Oxford : Archaeopress Publishing Ltd, [2016]

Summary:

This is the first review of the archaeology of this important landscape - from Palaeolithic to medieval times by contributors all routed in the archaeology of Sussex.

Contents:

Front Cover

Title Page

Copyright Page

Contents

Contributors

About the Contributors

Acknowledgements

Preface

Dudley John Moore

an appreciation and tribute to 'a life well lived'

Sarah Green

Studying, archaeology, and determination

Friendship and support

Giving back to CCE

Beyond Classical Archaeology

Dudley outside of archaeology

Publication

Teaching

Book Publications:

The Archaeology of the River Ouse

CCE (University of Sussex) and its three Sussex River Ouse Projects: teaching, learning and research

David Rudling

References

Foreword

1. Introduction: studying the Ouse Valley

Dudley Moore†

The Ouse Valley

(by kind permission of the Sussex Archaeological Society)

2. Holocene geoarchaeology and palaeo-environment

setting the scene

Michael J. Allen

Figure 1.1: Mount Caburn near Lewes, by Francis Grose, watercolour on paper, 6th November 1762

Geography and Topography

The Study Area

Palaeo-environmental and Geoarchaeological Studies

in the Ouse valley environ

Palaeo-environmental and geoarchaeological history of the Ouse valley environs

Sedimentation of the valley and its archaeological implications

The valley geoarchaeology

Upper Ouse (Weald)

Lower Ouse

Archaeological Implications

Land-use and vegetation history

1. The Weald

Wealden conclusions

2. The Lower valley and chalklands

A downland land-use history for the Ouse valley

Creation of the Downland

Woodlands of varying sorts

3. The valley floor

Discussion

Man and Environment

Hidden prehistoric landscapes

Human activity and the changing environments.

Removing woodland or living within the woods

Conclusions

Cultural role of the Ouse valley

Figure 2.1: The topography of the Ouse valley showing the location of the key sites. This map is reproduced from Ordnance Survey material with the permission of Ordnance Survey on behalf of the Controller of Her Majesty's Stationary Office © Crown copyrig

Figure 2.2: Profiles of the Ouse valley at Sharpsbridge and The Brooks (after Scaife and Burrin 1983, and Jones 1971)

Table 2.1. Radiocarbon dates from The Brooks and Caburn (from Jones 1971

Thorley 1981, and Waller and Hamilton 2000)

Figure 2.3: Plan and photograph of ard marks in the Beaker soil sealed beneath Bronze Age colluvium at Ashcombe Bottom

(from Allen 1988, fig 6.5

1991, fig. 5.2)

3. Palaeolithic record of the Sussex Ouse Valley

Matt Pope and Jenny Brown

Figure 2.4: Schematic model of chalkland dry valley erosion regimes

lynchet formation and valley fills

Key Sites

The Lewes Area

The Lower Ouse (Seaford to Rodmell)

The Upper Ouse (North of Malling to Uckfield)

Discussion and future work

Figure 3.1: Find spots of handaxes

Figure 3.2: Hand Axe, butt missing, from the Barcombe Roman villa site (drawing Jane Russell)

4. Mesolithic

Diana Jones

Early floodplain development

Sites on the Greensand belt

Rock shelters of the Ouse Catchment

The Upper Ouse

Environmental evidence

Future work

Figure 4.1: A contour map of the Ouse valley of East Sussex, highlighting locations mentioned in the text and areas of superficial geology indicating river terraces and palaeochannels (OS data © Crown copyright 2015.

British Geological Survey © NERC 2015.

Figure 4.2: A Mesolithic tranchet axehead, one of many discovered in the 1980s on the chalk downs at Iford Hill, southwest of Lewes (© Portable Antiquities Scheme)

Figure 4.3: Professor Sir Grahame Clark spent formative years in Sussex collecting flint tools, earning the nickname 'Stones and Bones' at school. His excavation at Selmeston was a prelude to his work at Starr Carr, where, using a multidisciplined scienti

Figure 4.4: Rapid exploratory augering and excavation were carried out at Chiddinglye Wood Rocks in the spring of 2008 beneath the outcrop of Great-Upon-Little. Environmental samples and artefacts were sought further from the rockface than had been standa

(© Marathon, licensed for reuse under a Creative Commons Licence)

Figure 4.5: In the spring of 2011 the East Sussex Archaeology and Museums Partnership (ESAMP) constructed a conjectural Mesolithic hut of reed, hazel and heather at the Ashdown Forest Centre. Macrofossil evidence for phragmites, the common reed, has been

Figure 4.6: A recent excavation in the Rother catchment demonstrated the potential for survival of discrete peat formations containing Mesolithic evidence in the vicinity of Sussex floodplains. Beneath a layer of gyttja mud, a sloping section of artefact-

5. Neolithic

Steve Sutcliffe

Into the Neolithic

The Neolithic Environment

Environmental evidence for Neolithic forest clearance

Environmental evidence for construction and agricultural practices

Structures and the Landscape

Monument location and visibility

Offham Hill Causewayed Enclosure

Evidence for Neolithic settlement sites

Bishopstone

Neolithic flint concentrations and findspots

Neolithic pit depositions at Peacehaven.

A buried Late Neolithic/Early Bronze Age settlement site at Ashcombe Bottom?

Territories in Neolithic Sussex

Pottery evidence for mobility and trade networks

Into the Bronze Age

Sources

Figure 5.1: Oval barrow, 'The Warrior Grave' or Camels Hump' (photo: S. Sutlciffe)

Figure 5.2: Barrow between Cliffe Hill and Malling Hill (photo: S. Sutcliffe)

6. Bronze Age, a north-south divide

Lisa Jayne Fisher

Bronze Age chronology

The emergence of the Bronze Age in the Ouse valley

Current records of Bronze Age activity in the Ouse valley

Early Bronze Age activity in the Ouse valley (2200-1600 BC)

Burial sites

Find spots

Middle Bronze Age activity in the Ouse valley (1600-1000 BC)

Later Bronze Age activity in the Ouse valley (early 1150-800, late 800-600 BC)

Figure 6.1: Bronze Age chronology

Figure 6.2: Burial at Oxteddle Bottom, Lewes (from Horsfield 1824). This burial was actually flexed not extended as represented here

Table 6.1: Grinsell's barrows

Figure 6.3: Map of Grinsell's barrows (after Grinsell 1934)

Figure 6.4: Main map of sites

Table 6.2: Settlement (footprint symbols in Figure 6.4) or field systems (chevrons in Figure 6.4) in the Early Bronze Age and Middle Bronze Age.

Table 6.3: Early Bronze Age find spots numbered (squares on Figure 6.4)

Table 6.4: Early Bronze Age burial sites in the Ouse Valley (hexagons on Fig. 6.4)

Figure 6.5: Early Bronze Age Beaker from Heathy Brow, Rodmell (after Curwen 1932, with addition)

Figure 6.6: Cremation urns from the Lewes area (after Curwen 1954, plate 15), 1. Itford Hill

2 and 4. Winterbourne, Lewes.

3 and 5. Cuckoo Bottom, Lewes, reproduced by permission of Methuen Ltd.

Figure 6.7: Objects from the Oxteddle Bottom barrow, Lewes (from Curwen, 1954, fig. 42),

reproduced by permission of Methuen Ltd.

Figure 6.8: Plan of Itford Hill settlement with probable associated trackways and field boundaries (scale 400m) (after Burstow and Holleyman 1957), © CUP, reproduced from Proceedings of the Prehistoric Society 23, fig. 2

Figure 6.10: Middle Bronze Age Palstave from Sutton Farm, Iford (from Cooper 1879a)

Figure 6.9: Palstave from Lodge Farm, Newhaven (from Curwen 1936b)

Table 6.5: Middle Bronze Age find spots numbered (triangles on Figure 6.4)

Table 6.6: Probable Middle Bronze Age Recorded burial sites and mounds (circles on Figure 6.4)

Figure 6.11: Possible round barrow in Isfield at TQ 4420 1823 (photo by Lisa Fisher, scales 1m)

Table 6.7: LBA hoards, pottery finds and metal find spots (stars on Figure 6.4)

Figure 6.12: Later bronze finds from the Ouse valley (nos 2-4 not to scale). 1. socketed spear from Lewes (after Curwen 1954, fig. 60)

2. bronze awl from Southerham (after Wallis 1993)

3. socketed spear from Lewes (after Grinsell 1931, plate 3)

4. soc

Figure 6.13: Decorated axe from Lewes (from Shiffner 1856, 286)

7. Iron Age

Stuart McGregor

Iron Age Settlements

Barcombe

Beddingham

Malling Down

Ranscombe Ridge, Glynde

Ringmer

Bishopstone, Rookery Hill and Norton

Itford Hill

Kingston

Peacehaven

Rodmell

Wealden Iron

Iron Age Hill Forts

Mount Caburn

Castle Hill, Newhaven

Seaford Head

Aerial Survey for Archaeology

Figure 7.1: Mount Caburn and Ranscombe Ridge from the southeast (photo: Stuart McGregor).

Figure 7.2: Aerial photograph of Mount Caburn with Lewes in the foreground (photo: Stuart McGregor).

Notes:

Description based on print version record.

ISBN:

9781784913786

1784913782