Humanities

The Great Storm of October 1987 caused major destruction to the trees at Chanctonbury Ring, an important prehistoric and Romano-British archaeological site. Subsequent proposals to replant the destroyed trees led to a series of trial excavations within the Ring in order both to assess the archaeological remains to be affected by the proposed replanting scheme, and to relocate the two main Roman masonry buildings discovered during tree-planting works in 1909. Along with the results of the archaeological investigations of 1987-91 the findings of earlier investigations, including those associated with a major programme of tree-planting in 1977, have been reassessed. This fresh analysis suggests an earlier, Late Bronze Age, date for the construction of the hillfort, and identifies the 'ancillary' Romano-British masonry building as a polygonal temple with a rectangular entrance chamber. Large quantities of pigs' teeth and skull fragments found in the vicinity of this temple indicate that it may have been associated with a cult of the boar.

This paper revisits some of the Roman-period discoveries made on Bullock Down, near Eastbourne, East Sussex. It aims to re-assess some of these discoveries and to update interpretations made in the past. As an example, this paper considers the unexpected signs of wealth  recovered from one of the two farmstead sites.

A watching brief and rescue excavations during the construction of the A259 Rustington Bypass revealed finds and features of the prehistoric and Roman periods. A concentration of Roman remains at the northern end of Penfold Lane was of particular importance. These included a number of Roman quernstones and millstones, nearby undated waterlogged timbers and, given the proximity of a watercourse (the 'Black Ditch'), these may indicate a connection with watermilling.

In the lst century AD the favourable economic and political climates of the client kingdom of Togodubnus led to the construction of a relatively large number of elaborate early villas in Sussex,  some of which (e.g. Fishbourne and Southwick) incorporated major elements of Mediterranean architecture and decoration. By the 2nd century the owners of these early villas may have faced growing competition from a large number of other rural settlements, and at certain of these farms there are increasing signs of romanization, including the building of houses which show a significant degree of the Roman style of life. During the later 3rd and 4th centuries the development of villas began to decline in certain areas, especially the coastal plain. In other areas, and to the west in Hampshire, villas continued to develop, and at Bignor the relatively humble 3rd-century winged corridor villa grew into a very large and luxurious courtyard villa. Little information is available about the nature and dating of the final phases of villa life in Sussex, but at Beddingham parts of the site may have been occupied by Saxons during either the late 4th or early 5th century.

The Great Storm of October 1987 caused major destruction to the trees at Chanctonbury Ring, an important prehistoric and Romano-British archaeological site. Subsequent proposals to replant the destroyed trees led to a series of trial excavations within the Ring in order both to assess the archaeological remains to be affected by the proposed replanting scheme, and to relocate the two main Roman masonry buildings discovered during treeplanting works in 1909. Along with the results of the archaeological investigations of 1987-91 the findings of earlier investigations, including those associated with a major programme of tree-planting in 1977, have been reassessed. This fresh analysis suggests an earlier, Late Bronze Age, date for the construction of the hillfort, and identifies the 'ancillary' Romano-British masonry building as a polygonal temple with a rectangular entrance chamber. Large quantities of pigs' teeth and skull fragments found in the vicinity of this temple indicate that it may have been associated with a cult of the boar.

Excavations at Bignor Roman villa between 1985 and 1990, in association with a programme of conservation and repair, investigated various parts of the site including the main baths, the north-east corner of the villa, and the boundaries of both the domestic and farmyard areas.
Investigations undertaken on the site of the main baths in 1985, 1987 and 1988 (Part 1 of this report) revealed evidence for occupation prior to the construction of the baths, including the masonry footings for half-timbered and masonry structures, and a sequence of constructional phases not only for the heated rooms and cold plunge bath, but also for the development of the courtyard villa itself As a consequence of the excavations the remains of the cold plunge were restored for display (Appendix 1).

Plough-damage assessment excavations in 1985, 1986, 1987 and 1990
(Part 2 of this report) re-established the line of the surrounding wall of the villa, and confirmed that the villa had developed in the 4th century AD from a winged-corridor structure, through a phase where two long lines of rooms flanked the approach to the earlier west wing, to a courtyard building with adjoining outer farmyard.

Studies of finds from the 1985-1990 excavations provide additional
information about both the economy and material culture of the site. This section of the report also includes a brief study of brick and tile found at Bignor before 1985 (Part 3 of this report).

A simple method is described for measuring the depth of the sciatic notch in fetal ilia. In the pilot study presented, both morphological and molecular analyses were undertaken separately to determine the sexes of six Romano-British infant burials from the Roman villa at ...

Bird remains that are difficult to identify taxonomically using morphological methods, are common in the palaeontological record. Other types of challenging avian material include artefacts and food items from endangered taxa, as well as remains from aircraft strikes. We here present a DNA-based method that enables taxonomic identification of bird remains, even from material where the DNA is heavily degraded. The method is based on the amplification and sequencing of two short variable parts of the 16S region in the mitochondrial genome. To demonstrate the applicability of this approach, we evaluated the method on a set of Holocene and Late Pleistocene postcranial bird bones from several palaeontological and archaeological sites in Europe with good success.

A simple method is described for measuring the depth of the sciatic notch in fetal ilia. In the pilot study presented, both morphological and molecular analyses were undertaken separately to determine the sexes of six RomanoBritish infant burials from the Roman villa at Beddingham, East Sussex and one from the villa at Bignor, West Sussex. We have attempted to establish a discriminant criterion by relating morphological findings to the sex as determined by amelogenin PCR. Simple geometrical analysis of the sciatic notch indicated that of the six infant burials at Beddingham, three were female and three were male. Using the same criteria, the sex of the Bignor baby was determined as female. Amelogenin PCR was in agreement in four cases from Beddingham (three males and one female), but owing to poor quality of DNA, comparison was excluded in two remaining burials judged as female on morphological criteria. Similarly, owing to poor DNA preservation, PCR was negative with bone extracts ...

The Great Storm of October 1987 caused major destruction to the trees at Chanctonbury Ring, an important prehistoric and Romano-British archaeological site. Subsequent proposals to replant the destroyed trees led to a series of trial excavations within the Ring in order both to assess the archaeological remains to be affected by the proposed replanting scheme, and to re-locate the two main Roman masonry buildings discovered during treeplanting works in 1909. Along with the results of the archaeological investigations of 1987–91 the findings of earlier investigations, including those associated with a major programme of tree-planting in 1977, have been reassessed. This fresh analysis suggests an earlier, Late Bronze Age, date for the construction of the hillfort, and identifies the ‘ancillary’ Romano-British masonry building as a polygonal temple with a rectangular entrance chamber. Large quantities of pigs’ teeth and skull fragments found in the vicinity of this temple indicate that...

This report presents the results of recent excavation and a field-walking survey at Redfolds Farm and Beedings Castle, near Nutbourne, Pulborough. It also publishes for the first time material from this site retained by the late Con Ainsworth. Late Iron Age and early Roman finds of pottery, including imported Dressel 1 amphorae and ‘Pulborough’ samian, coins and ceramic building material, are reported and discussed. Through the fieldwork and archive reassessment undertaken as part of the Beedings survey, Beedings Hill can now be confirmed as a site with significant high-status Late Iron Age and RomanoBritish activity. Strong evidence has been identified for trading contacts with the continent in the form of wine amphorae, other ceramics and Late Iron Age coinage. Insights are gained into Iron Age decorated pottery groups and the local production of samian in the 2nd century AD. The significance of this evidence in understanding the distribution of political power in Late Iron Age We...

Two farmsteads, one of late Iron Age (second-first centuries BC) date and the other dating to the early Romano-British period (first-second centuries AD), were excavated at Copse Farm, Oving. The site is situated within the Chichester dykes on the Sussex/Hampshire Coastal Plain. The Iron Age farmstead produced pottery spanning ‘saucepan’ and ‘Aylesford-Swarling’ traditions, a transition in ceramic production which is poorly understood in Sussex. Information on the agricultural economy and small-scale industries (principally metalworking) practised at this site give an insight into the way the Coastal Plain was settled and exploited at the end of the first millennium BC.

The excavation was undertaken to obtain further information about the medieval occupation of the site prior to redevelopment and to try to establish a medieval pottery sequense for the Hastings area. Similar groups of pottery of types centred on the fourteenth century werfe found in four pits cut into the natural clay. Other features discovered included two post holes, the possible north-west corner of a late medieval / early post-medieval building, and eighteent and nineteenth century pits and cottage foundations.