Two Late Bronze Age Settlements on the Kennet Gravels: Excavations at Aldermaston Wharf and Knight's Farm, Burghfield, Berkshire

Abstract

One of the major problems of British prehistory has been the contrast between the mass of Late Bronze Age metalwork and the rarity of contemporary settlements. The Berkshire river gravels are one area in which a high proportion of bronze objects is recorded in apparent isolation. With the increasing recognition of Late Bronze Age pottery, however, it has been possible to identify domestic finds of this period among the artefacts from gravel pits around Reading. Part of the gap in the settlement record has also been closed by the excavation of two sites on the Berkshire Downs, the earthwork enclosure at Rams Hill, and an open site at Beedon Manor Farm (Bradley and Ellison 1975; Richards in press). But it was not until 1974 that a Bronze Age settlement on the gravels could be examined in situ, and since the formation of the Berkshire Archaeological Unit a series of five sites have been sampled or more extensively investigated. This paper is concerned with the two most extensive sites, those at Aldermaston Wharf and Knight's Farm, Burghfield, but will make cross reference to the other work where necessary, in particular to a more recently recorded site at Pingewood.It is now clear why this evidence was so difficult to find. The pottery is extremely friable and would not survive on the surface; and the gravel sites contain very few worked flints. The main features are small pits under 50 cm deep, and for this reason the sites cannot be detected from the air; and, even if they could be recognized, there would be nothing to distinguish them from Iron Age open sites, like those in the Upper Thames Basin.

Houses, Lifecycles and Deposition on Middle Bronze Age Settlements in Southern England

“…Within the dynamic and ever-changing households of Middle Bronze Age southern England, there were many worlds of possibility, not just one. (Brown 1988), and Aldermaston Wharf, Berkshire (Bradley et al 1980). This suggests considerable variability in the construction of place and perhaps also in patterns of land tenure during the Late Bronze Age.…”

Pursuing ‘the Pressure of the Past’: British Prehistoric Research, 1980–2010

“…One fieldwork report considers the potential for a site's inhabitants to produce economic surplus, and thus to gain access to exchange networks involving prestige items (Bradley et al 1980). One fieldwork report considers the potential for a site's inhabitants to produce economic surplus, and thus to gain access to exchange networks involving prestige items (Bradley et al 1980).…”

A Late Bronze Age Landscape at South Hornchurch, Essex

“…As today, local drainage conditions clearly affected subsistence strategies. Bradley et al (1980), in a study of the Kennet valley around Reading, showed that sites with access to freely draining soils produced much greater quantities of cereals than those on poorly drained soils or land prone to flooding. Moreover, while loomweights came from all sites, the latter group lacked spindle whorls, which may be indicative of seasonal occupation in the damper areas.…”

“…While many fit the double ring pattern advanced by Guilbert (1981;, the axial symmetry perceived by him at numerous sites is not matched here, even in Structure 1. On the other hand, many other earlier 1st millennium BC buildings are similarly irregular, including those within the ringwork at Mucking North, and at Thames valley sites like Aldermaston Wharf (Bradley et al 1980), Petters Sports Field (cf O'Connell 1986Needham 1993 for the difficulty of interpreting post-holes), and Stanwell, where structures could only be tentatively identified.…”