A Late Bronze Age Landscape at South Hornchurch, Essex

Abstract

A 2.5 ha open area excavation at South Hornchurch, Essex (London Borough of Havering) has revealed an extensive hate Bronze Age settlement on the Thames terrace gravels. The site is particularly significant because of the association of a circular ditched enclosure or ringwork with a contemporary field system, as well as clusters of enclosed and unenclosed circular structures. Two enclosures were formed by rings of pits or large post-holes. Placed pottery deposits and unurned cremation burials were found, mostly associated with structures and entranceways. Other finds include both plain and decorated Post Deverel-Rinibury pottery, burnt flint, spindle whorls, possible loomweights, perforated clay slabs, and a bivalve clay sword mould. The entire site was subsequently sealed by a buried colluvial ploughsoil which almost certainly represents the final phase of Late Bronze Age activity. The site's spatial structure, environmental context, and regional significance are discussed.

High‐Performance Zeolite Membranes on Inexpensive Large‐Pore Supports: Highly Reproducible Synthesis using a Seed Paste

“…Cattle bones have been found associated with a number of these structures (Carew et al ., 2009), with Meddens (1996) suggesting that one particularly substantial causeway, located at Dagenham, served as a route for animals to cross onto the marshland. On the adjacent dry land an enclosure at Rainham (Meddens, 1996) and a ringwork, field system and droveway at South Hornchurch (Guttmann and Last, 2000) provide further evidence of animal husbandry. By the Late Bronze Age the number of sites on the terrace gravels along the northern edge of the middle Thames estuary had significantly increased, with arable cultivation now also likely to have been a component of the economy of the area (Guttmann and Last, 2000; Yates, 2001).…”

Post‐middenism: Depositional Histories on Later Bronze Age Settlements at Broom, Bedfordshire

“…Such studies have also contributed to a significant increase in the recognition of fragmentary human remains on later prehistoric sites, and influenced the growing identification of placed or token deposits of human remains in such contexts (e.g. Boden 2003; Brossler 2001; Gibson 2004; Guttman 2000; Guttman and Last 2000; Kirk and Williams 2000).…”

“…Rather, it is to highlight that if such concepts are taken as a blueprint for understanding all human remains encountered in settlement contexts of this period (e.g. Guttman and Last 2000), there is a danger of simply imposing our own expectations of significance and meaning onto the archaeological record, without fully considering how it was created. In fact, our analysis of the burnt bone from later Bronze Age settlements at Broom Quarry required us to explore the likelihood that not all fragmentary human remains were deliberately deposited in the contexts that archaeologists excavate, or even necessarily recognized as being of human origin at the time they entered the ground.…”

“…Firstly, it was extremely difficult to establish whether or not the vast majority of burnt bone deposits on this site were indeed human (a common problem on later prehistoric sites, e.g. Waldron in Guttman and Last 2000, 346). Secondly, none of the material that was identified as human was deposited with obvious formality in any particular context.…”

“…Deliberate and placed likewise emphasize the intentionality attributed to such deposits, and, in the case of the latter, their strategic positioning in relation to other features such as structures or boundary ditches (e.g. Bradley 2003; Guttman and Last 2000). Special has been applied to deposits including certain distinctive materials (e.g.…”