An Early Neolithic Grave and Occupation, and an Early Bronze Age Hearth on the Thames Foreshore at Yabsley Street, Blackwall, London

Abstract

Excavation on the Thames floodplain in London revealed traces of Early Neolithic occupation and burial on a sand and gravel bar beneath alluvium. A large expanse of peat also buried by alluvium was recorded between these finds and the modern river Thames suggesting that the occupation was situated on or close to the foreshore. A single grave cut into the natural sand contained a poorly preserved crouched inhumation, possibly of a woman. The burial was accompanied by a fragment of carinated bowl, a flint knife, and other struck flints. A radiocarbon date from an oak retaining plank within the grave of 5252±28 BP (4220–3970 cal BC: KIA20157) makes this burial one of the earliest from the British Isles and the earliest known for London. A scatter of struck flint and pottery predominantly of Early Neolithic date was recovered from adjacent areas of the sand. A nearby hearth contained fragments of Early Bronze Age pottery pointing to later prehistoric activity nearby. Charred plant remains indicate both the collection of wild plant foods and cultivated cereals in the Early Neolithic. Radiocarbon dating of the adjacent peat deposits indicated their rapid growth within the Middle Bronze Age with a marked decline in woodland cover at the start of the sequence and a rise in grassland and herb species. Cereal pollen then briefly became a significant component of the sequence before declining to more modest levels.

Dates, Diet, and Dismemberment: Evidence from the Coldrum Megalithic Monument, Kent

“…Other robustly dated examples of early Neolithic practices in the Thames Estuary include the Yabsley inhumation (in which bowl pottery was deposited) in 4230–3980 cal bc (95% confidence; or 4060–3990 cal bc (68% confidence; KIA-20157; 5252 ± 28 bp ; Coles et al 2008); and the first activity at the post-and-slot structure at White Horse Stone (Hayden & Stafford 2006; Garwood 2011) in 4115–3825 cal bc ( 95% probable ) or 4065–3940 cal bc ( 68% probable ; build WHS ; Bayliss et al 2011a, 379; fig. 7.26).…”

Early Neolithic Trackways in the Thames Floodplain at Belmarsh, London Borough of Greenwich

“…The evidence for cereals at sites such as Yablsey Street, or Movers Lane (Coles et al . 2008: Stafford et al . 2012), or the evidence for cultivation apparent in pollen sequences from sites such as Union Street (Sidell et al .…”

“…2011, 738). Certainly, the burial at Yabsley Street, dated to 4230–3980 cal bc and associated with Early Neolithic Carinated Bowl pottery and struck flint, demonstrates that such early Neolithic activity was present in proximity to the floodplain (Cole et al 2008). On the face of it, the sum of the evidence supports the contention made by Thomas and others (Thomas 1999) that abrupt changes in material culture were underpinned by much slower rates of transition in subsistence regimes, in the lower Thames floodplain at least.…”

“…Other notable finds of Neolithic date in the region include the exceptional Early Neolithic burial and associated occupation evidence at Yablsey Street, Blackwall, radiocarbon dated to 4230–3980 cal bc (5252±28 bp , KIA-20157; Coles et al . 2008) and the famous Dagenham Idol, radiocarbon dated to 2470–2030 cal bc (3800±70 bp , OxA-1721; Coles 1990). Further upstream to the west, finds include a human femur recovered from Chelsea Harbour, radiocarbon dated to 2910–2770 cal bc (4243±30 bp , OxA-20589) and a wooden ‘beater’ or club, recovered from the Thames foreshore at Chelsea and radiocarbon dated to 3630–3350 cal bc (4660±50 bp , Beta-117088, Lewis 2000).…”

Making connections: a fresh analysis of an early neolithic pit and its contents

“…, 757–8) in southern England, such as The Sweet Track (Coles and Coles ; Bond ), Rowden (Woodward ), Hazleton North (Saville ) and Yabsley Street (Coles et al . ). In Sussex, findspots with Carinated Bowls in Early Neolithic contexts are limited, amounting to no more than one or two sites (see below).…”