Wilsford shaft : excavation 1960-2 / Paul Ashbee, Martin Bell, and Edwina Proudfoot ; with contributions by A. David ... [et al.].

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Ashbee, Paul

Contributor:

Bell, Martín.

Proudfoot, E V W

Series:

Archaeological Reports

Archaeological Reports ; v.11

Language:

English

Physical Description:

1 online resource (171 p.) ill

Edition:

1st ed.

Other Title:

Wilsford Shaft

Place of Publication:

Liverpool University Press 2014

Summary:

The excavation of the presumed pond barrow, Wilsford 33a, in 1960, led to the baring of a weathering cone and the top of a shaft 6ft (1.8m) in diameter. Subsequent work during 1961 and 1962 revealed that is was of the order of 100ft (30m) in depth. At the bottom of the shaft waterlogging had preserved a range of objects and material in a manner not normally encountered upon the chalklands of Wiltshire.The remains of wooden containers and other wooden objects were discovered, accompanied by quantities of environmental material, domestic animal bones and fibres, small vertebrate remains, roundwood fragments, bud scales, insect remains, molluscs, pollen, seeds, fungi, moss, plant fibres, dung, and pieces of rope. The wide range of environmental evidence from the depths of the shaft provides the most detailed picture that we have at present of the natural history of a Bronze Age site.The conclusion to the report marks the different interpretations that have been reached in the light of the archaeological and environmental evidence.

Contents:

Cover

Half-Title Page

Title Page

Copyright Page

Contents

List of illustrations

List of tables

Microfiche contents

List of contributors

Foreword

Acknowledgements

1. General introduction

The circumstances of the excavation and the discovery of the shaft

Siting, topography, geo]ogy, and aerial photographs

Pond barrows, their nature and incidence

Recording and recovery

The sequel to the shaft's excavation

2. The pond barrow and weathering cone

Introduction

The excavation

Features

The shaft, the iveathering process, and the pond barrow

Discussion

3. The shaft, it infill and character

The infill of the shaft

The form and characteristics of the shaft

Antler-pick usage and axe-dressing

The water and its sources

4. The artefacts from the shaft's infill

The artefact from the 'pond barrow' and weathering cone

The pottery

Report on the pottery

Fabric descriptions

Report on the flints

Animal and human bone

Charcoal

Soils

The artefacts from the shaft's lower infill

The Pottery

The shale ring

The amber beads

The bone pins and other bone artefacts

Flint artefacts and knapping debris

The wooden containers and other pieces of wood

Some conserved wooden artefacts

The pieces of cord

The artefacts from the shaft's infill: comparanda and comment

5. Radiocarbon dating

Radioca rbon accelerator dates

Comnumt upon the radiocarbon dates

6. The environmental material from the shaft's infill

Pollen

Seed and other plant macrofossils

Plant fibres

Cordage

Buds

Leaves

Wood identification

Charcoals

Fungi

Algae

Mosses

Biochemical studies

Insects

Landsnails

Small vertebrates

Large mammals

Possible skin and hair fibre.

Other animal hair

Possible herbivore dung

Plant macrofossil analysis

Parasitological studies

Human bone

Analysis of residue on a pottery sherd

7. General considerations

Environmental conclusions

Archaeological conclusions

Appendix A

Pond barrows in Wiltshire and Dorset

Appendix B

Pond barrow shafts and their silting

Appendix C

Photographs taken on 28 August 1962

Appendix D

Latex impressions

Appendix E

Details of wells and their water-levels in the vicinity

Appendix F

The excavation's plant and its use

Appendix G

The weathering of the shaft

Summary

Résumé

Zusammenfassung

Bibiliography

Index.

Notes:

Description based on publisher supplied metadata and other sources.

OCLC:

1528359509