Place, presencing and pits in the Neolithic of the Severn-Wye region

Neolithic Farming and Wild Plant Exploitation in Western Britain: Archaeobotanical and Crop Stable Isotope Evidence from Wales (c. 4000–2200 calbc)

“…The range of cereal-types recorded in Early Neolithic Wales is comparable to other evidence from central/southern Britain and Ireland where emmer wheat is the main crop, whilst einkorn is very rare (Straker 1990; Jackson & Ray 2012; Jones & Rowley-Conwy 2007; Bishop et al . 2009; Pelling & Campbell 2013; McClatchie et al .…”

“…The range of cereal-types recorded in Early Neolithic Wales is comparable to other evidence from central/southern Britain and Ireland where emmer wheat is the main crop, whilst einkorn is very rare (Straker 1990;Jackson & Ray 2012;Jones & Rowley-Conwy 2007;Bishop et al 2009;Pelling & Campbell 2013;. Barley, primarily naked barley, is frequently recorded in Britain and Ireland though it appears to have been of secondary importance to emmer wheat (Pelling & Campbell 2013;, except in areas of Scotland (Bishop et al 2009).…”

“…Ethnographic studies highlight the potential role of hunter-gatherers and farmers in actively modifying environments to promote the growth of certain plants/wood species to increase their productivity for food or to facilitate hunting (Smith 2011;Rowley-Conwy & Layton 2011). There is growing recognition that wild plants and woodlands may have been managed or altered in the European Mesolithic and Neolithic (Schulting 2008;Jackson & Ray 2012;Kirleis et al 2012;Colledge & Connolly 2014;Barrett 2014;Antolín & Jacomet 2015;Bishop et al 2014;Warren et al 2014;Jacomet et al 2016). A challenge is identifying how wild plants and woodlands were exploited using archaeobotanical evidence Warren et al 2014).…”

“…Areas of cereal cultivation may also have persisted throughout the later Neolithic, particularly in north-east Scotland and the Scottish Islands (Bishop 2015). In addition, a Late Neolithic deposit of several thousand barley grains (directly dated) was identified at Clifton Quarry in the Welsh Marches (Jackson & Ray 2012) and Late Neolithic cereal-rich deposits are recorded in northern England (Huntley 1996). Consequently, research is an important large-scale narrative, however, it inevitably overlooks subtle and important regional diversity.…”

Modelling Geoarchaeological Resources in Temperate Alluvial Environments: The Capability of Higher Resolution Satellite Remote Sensing Techniques

“…Where investigations have been undertaken within the alluvial corridor, such as at Wellington Quarry, significant and complex multi-period archaeological remains, and organic-rich sediments deposited within palaeochannels have been located (Dinn and Roseff, 1992;Jackson and Miller, 2011). This includes evidence for ritual and funerary activity and widespread seasonal occupation dating to the Neolithic and Bronze Age (Harrison et al, 1999;Jackson, 2007;Jackson and Ray, 2012), Iron Age and Romano-British settlement (Bapty and Preece, 2008;Taylor, 1987), two substantial 8th-century water mill structures (Watts, 2002), and extensive evidence for later medieval and post-medieval water management and cultivation practices. These remains were differentially interspersed within the floodplain alluvial sequences, which can be broadly divided into distinct chronostratigraphic units (Table 1).…”