Publications

The majority of reports written by the unit are published through county and period based journals. This is appropriate for much of the small and medium sized work undertaken but a handful of larger projects with greater regional and national significance have generated substantially larger reports, requiring standalone publication. The unit has a number of these projects with proposals for monograph size publications either currently ongoing in the analysis stage or more advanced in their preparation and nearing completion.

Summary of current publication projects (with working titles):

The Archaeological Excavation of a Late Iron Age site and Anglo-Saxon Cemetery at St. Anne’s Road, Eastbourne, East Sussex

Principal Author: Christopher Greatorex

Anglo-Saxon cemetery with cremations and c 200 inhumation graves, many associated graves goods. Cemetery develops between 5th-8th centuries. This is the largest Anglo-Saxon cemetery excavated to date in Sussex. Artefact assemblage is of regional importance including fine examples of ceramics, glass ware and metalwork, some unique. Full analysis undertaken on skeletal remains from inhumations and cremations. Additionally evidence for Late Iron Age settlement activity including silver and gold coinage.

Archaeological Investigations at Damhead Creek Power Station and associated works, Hoo St. Werburgh, Kent

Principal Author: Neil Griffin

An extensive programme of archaeological investigation undertaken prior to construction of a new power station at Damhead Creek, Hoo St. Werburgh, Kent. Early activity is represented by Mesolithic and Neolithic flintwork and Beaker pottery, but it is not until the Middle Bronze Age that evidence of more intensive land use is identified. The landscape continued to be utilised through to the Early Iron Age, with the introduction of a formal agricultural landscape, including a possible droveway, evidence for salt-works and a possible round-house. There is an apparent hiatus in activity until the Late Iron Age, when there is a notable shift southwards and the creation of further ditches, an enclosure and associated structure. During the Romano-British period activity intensifies once more, reaching a peak during the mid 2nd to 3rd centuries when pottery production became prominent and agricultural activities apparently declined.

The West Sussex Coastal Plain

Various Authors

This monograph brings together excavations at 10 sites located within the West Sussex Coastal Plain presenting the development of this landscape from primarily the intensification of agricultural activity in the Mid/Late Bronze Age through to Romano-British period. It is intended to include the Goring Villa and bathhouse excavations as these relate directly to one of the ASE excavated sites on the edge of the Villa complex. Additional funding will be sought in order to include the Goring material.

Synthetic chapters are being commissioned to provide an overview of the data: a review of the Bronze Age evidence including settlement, field systems and metalwork finds; an overview of the Bronze Age pottery and use of foreign stone from this area; overview of the coastal plain in the Roman period.

Archaeological Investigations at Ropetackle, Shoreham-by-Sea, West Sussex

The Ropetackle excavation was the first large-scale archaeological investigation to be undertaken in the historic core of Shoreham-by-Sea. The results from this site offer a unique opportunity to study a variety of evidence for occupation in the town, not only from the medieval and post-medieval periods, but also from prehistoric and Romano-British deposits. Key features are a series of medieval wells and pits that produced rich finds and environmental assemblages, some partially waterlogged and including an almost complete ceramic aquamanile.

Archaeological Investigations at Highstead Farm Quarry (Extraction Area 4, Phases 1 and 2), Chislet, Canterbury, Kent

Greg Priestley-Bell

A programme of archaeological investigations at Brett’s Highstead Farm Quarry revealed remains dating from the Bronze Age to the post-medieval periods. The earliest identified features include a possible barrow, a cremation/pyre deposit cemetery, and possible settlement evidence dated to the Middle and Late Bronze Age. A large quantity of fire-cracked flint associated with features beside a channel may represent the site of a Bronze Age ‘burnt mound’. At least three prehistoric trackways, including a possible droveway were identified. Some Early Iron Age activity was also identified. A small, perhaps Roman, field system was superimposed upon the prehistoric remains. A small 13th- to 14th- century farmstead, consisting of a series of enclosures and associated features, was located on the eastern edge of the site.

Archaeological Excavations at Brisley Farm Ashford, Kent

Jim Stevenson

Large-scale excavation with evidence of a developing landscape. Bronze Age field systems, Late Iron Age field systems, settlement and ritual complex including two warrior burials of national significance, and a medieval farmstead. The warrior burials are accompanied by grave goods of metalwork and ceramics. Two volumes are planned, one for the site narrative and specialist reports, the second a site atlas with phase plans, distribution plots etc.