Mapping Domesday Book using GIS

Medieval Archaeology, 2002

CUIUlENT understanding qf archaeological siles ojlen relies upQn jJlrms com/liled before the advenl rifmodem arc/wtological techniques. Such plans wtrt oflen created with a specific purpose in mind that might be less helpfulfor modtm slu4Y. In this paper, the polmtial ofapplYing new approadltS to prospection, using CPS and CIS technologies, is examined with relation /0 Wallon Priory, East Yorkshire. The results ofthis slut[y demonstrate how the praJious plan ofthe sile is spatiallY limited, withfiaturts extending inw J1u wida landscape. Furlhmnort, it apINars that some ofthe interpretations ofthe site based u/KJn this tarlin' plan might hi incorrect due [0 thut. It is concluded that the re-appraisal ofsiles is cmeial prior to the cons/rut/ion qfnmJ interpretations.

2005

The new annual award in memory of John Hurst The Medieval Settlement Research Group is dedicated to enhancing our understanding of the rural landscape and its settlement in the period c. AD 400-1600. The laIc John Hurs! was a major figure in the development of the Group and in his honour, and to encourage new and young scholars, an alUlUal prize of £200 is offered for the best Masters dissertation on any theme in the field of medieval settlement and landscape exploitation in Britain and Ireland. MA directors in Archaeology, Engl ish Local History, Landscape Studies or relatcd fields are encouraged to submit high quality eomplcte dissertations by students in the academic year 2005-6 to the Secretary of the MSRG by 31 st December 2006. A panel will judge the entries and an award made at the end of March 2007. A summary of the winning entry may also be published in the Group's Annual Repon. CONFERENCES The MSRG Spr ing 2007 Confe rence The MSRG Spring Weekend Conference 2007 will take place in Manchester over 2 days. A flier with furthe r dctai ls and an application fonn is included with this repon. RESEARCH GRANTS The group can make grants up to a maximum of £500 annually for the support of research by members of the Group within its field of interest. Preference will nonnal!y be given to field survey, documentary research and preparation of graphics rather than to excavation and the preparation of reports for publication. A summary report of the work will be required within a year and, subject to editorial consideration, may be published in the Annual Report. Applicants should reply by letter (4 copies) summarising the proposed research and the costs involved. Mention should be made of other applications for funding. The names of two referees should be included. Letters should be addressed to the Treasurer (Dr. R. E. Glasscock, St John's College, Cambridge. CB2 ITP). To be received by I st December in the year preceding that in which work will be carried out. Applicants will nonnally be notified of the outcome in the following March. Recent research grants have been awarded to: Or Helen Hamerow-£500 towards dmwing work on materials from the Saxon cemetery at Wallingford, Oxfordshire. Or Howard Williams-£494 towards survey work at the shrunken medieval village site at Stokenham, Devon.

The Antiquaries Journal, 1977

2011

Over-Arching Research Themes and Strategy Chronologies and processes of change 84 Landscape and environment 84 Wetland 85 Urban 87 Methodologies 88 Dissemination and outreach 89 Bibliography Index, by Sue Vaughan Reconstruction drawing courtesy of the Ancient History of Britain Project / John Sibbick The archaeological survey of mineral extraction sites around the Thames Estuary (Essex County Council and Kent County Council 2004) included extant and former mineral sites in the Thurrock/Dartford area. The outputs of this project included a range of GIS layers, incorporating the results of specialist studies (including geology, Palaeolithic archaeology and industrial archaeology). The survey considers the importance and potential of the resource in and around the extraction sites. Lower and Middle Palaeolithic At the internationally important site of Pakefield Cliff in Gisleham, Suffolk, excavation of interglacial deposits revealed struck flints, plant and animal fossils in the Cromer Forest-bed Formation, which comprise the earliest evidence for human activity in northern Europe (c. 700,000 BP). The Happisburgh project, Norfolk, was set up after flint artefacts (including a handaxe) and butchered bone were discovered in the organic muds that underlie the rapidly eroding coastal cliffs. In 2004 Happisburgh I was excavated, revealing flint tools, bone, wood and other plant materials, which lay at the marshy edges of a large river. The discovery of the extinct water vole (Arvicola cantiana) suggests that this site dates to between 500,000 and 600,000 years ago. Two further sites were discovered, Happisburgh II and III. At the latter a gravel river channel also revealed flint tools, bone and plant materials, this has been dated to at least 700,000 years BP. If it is older than this date, then it would be the earliest human site in northern Europe. The evidence from Happisburgh III has huge implications for our understanding of the earliest colonization of Europe and the types of environment in which early humans could survive. Research and Archaeology Revisited: 4 PROJECT LOCATION AUTHORITY TYPE COMMENTS Wash Rivers ALSF Cambs and DBA with HER This ALSF project aimed to characterise the archaeological project P'boro enhancement materials and potential from the gravels of the Washland Rivers of Cambridgeshire-Cam, Nene, Granta and Ouse. The National Ice Age project and the Ancient Human Occupation of Britain project have done sterling work in collating and furthering the study of the Pleistocene and the Palaeolithic in Britain. Progress has been made on many of the broad research topics identified by the original Research Agenda and Strategy. In particular the English Rivers Palaeolithic Survey, together with the Middle Thames Northern Tributaries project, the Medway Valley project, the Wash Rivers and Over Landscapes projects, and the survey of mineral extraction sites around the Thames Estuary, have all provided both quantitative and qualitative assessments of the resource. The next stage is to place these surveys within the wider regional landscape and to utilise the predictive models to target fieldwork/test predictions.

Archaeological Landscapes of East London: six multi-period sites excavated in advance of gravel quarrying in the London Borough of Havering, 2011

Six archaeological sites investigated in advance of gravel extraction in the London Borough of Havering, between 1963 and 1997, form the basis of a landscape history of the locality. Significant monuments include an Early Neolithic ring ditch. The Bronze Age and Iron Age were periods of woodland clearance followed by intensive landscape utilization and settlement. Two fortified enclosures date from the period of the Roman conquest. A number of Roman farmsteads were occupied until the late 4th century; some of these sites were also inhabited during the Early Saxon period. Significant medieval remains included a farmstead and a manorial enclosure. A full digital resource of excavated samples is available for researchers via Archaeology Data Service. Monograph Series 54 MOLA 2011. ISBN 978-1-907586. Hb 144pp. 99 bw & col ills. Reviews "This book will be of interest to anyone who wishes to understand the changing landscape of the region over time, and is a must-have for those involved in fieldwork in east London and Essex, especially for the book’s extensive bibliography." Alistair Ainsworth in London Archaeologists 2013 "…it does summarise the fieldwork nicely, placing what can be relatively sparse evidence into a well rounded narrative and should be useful to anyone interested in the archaeology of the Thames area." John Naylor in Journal of the Medieval Settlement Research Group 2012 "This important publication is the result of a project funded by the Aggregates Levy Sustainability Fund. It rescues a large amount of archaeological information from obscurity but also places it in context to give a well-researched and well-presented story." David Bird in Transactions of London and Middlesex Archaeology Society 2011 "Local history is, in effect, at its most expansive an inter-disciplinary approach to every aspect of the historic local landscape. Archaeological reports, such as this from Museum of London Archaeology, readily inform such an inter-disciplinary approach. The science which archaeologists apply is now giving immeasurable insights into the lives of people who lived where we live but who, unlike us, have left no written records. We now know something of their lifestyle and even their diets, and this gives us greater insight into the degree to which people had already made their mark on the landscape, well before the Roman occupation. Such reports as this should become part of the reference repertoire of local historians." Trevor James in Local History Magazine 2011

Why are villages more common in some parts of England than others? This paper examines the relationships between regional variation in historic (medieval and later) settlement in England on the one hand and a range of environmental data on the other. I use a novel form of polygon boundary overlap analysis to test for associations or match patterns in variables like soils, precipitation and topography to see how they influenced the ways people chose to organize the places in which they lived.