A Four Stage Approach to Community Archaeology, illustrated with cases studies from Dorset, England

This article presents an approach to guide the planning, development and evaluation of community archaeology. This will assist practitioners of all forms of community archaeology by providing a pathway to ethical practice that will benefit all. The approach focuses attention on four elements that are integral to community archaeology and which should always be considered: Who (the people involved); Why (their motivation); the Archaeology (in the broadest sense, including research questions and research methods); and How (the specific format the community engagement will take). This framework is applied to three case study community archaeology projects in Dorset, England, in order to demonstrate challenging examples of planned and reflexive community archaeology

A Late Bronze Age ring-forst at Bayvil Farm, Pembrokeshire

A 70m-diameter circular ditched enclosure identified as a cropmark in 1996 at Bayvil Farm, Eglwyswrw, north Pembrokeshire, was initially thought to be a segmented-ditched enclosure, an early type of Neolithic henge. Geophysical survey in 2012–13 and partial excavation in 2014 has shown it to be Late Bronze Age ring-fort dating to the eleventh-tenth centuries BC and subsequently occupied during the Early Iron Age. Late Bronze Age circular enclosures of this kind are well known in eastern England but this is the first such ring-fort to be discovered in Wales. A medieval corn-dryer identified by geophysical survey was also excavated which is probably to be associated with the probable traces of the medieval settlement of Bayvil, associated with the redundant St Andrew’s Church which has possible medieval origins

Excavations at Castell Mawr Iron Age hillfort, Pembrokeshire

Castell Mawr is a small hillfort in the community of Eglwyswrw, Pembrokeshire. Thought to have been built on a Late Neolithic henge, it was investigated with four trenches in 2012–13. These excavations revealed that Castell Mawr’s main period of construction and use was in the Earliest/Early Iron Age during the late eighth–late fifth centuries BC with hints of an earlier human presence on the hilltop in the Late Mesolithic and Bronze Age. No definite evidence of any Neolithic activity was found, however, and the earthworks all date to the Iron Age. The hillfort’s Iron Age sequence started with a roundhouse, followed by a pair of concentric timber palisades built during the late eighth–late fifth centuries BC. An enclosing rampart was constructed around the hilltop, followed by a cross-bank. The final activity post-dating the cross-bank dates to the fifth century BC, slightly earlier than or contemporary with initial construction at nearby Castell Henllys. The Castell Mawr/Castell Henllys sequence confirms Murphy and Mytum’s (2012) model for long-term processes of settlement development in west Wales

Subjective and objective assessment of 3D textured and non-textured Cultural Heritage Artefacts

—The core mission of museums and cultural institutions is the preservation, study and presentation of cultural heritage content. As public expectation for more open access to information and innovative digital media increases, this is being met in cultural heritage with the creation of 3D digital artefacts using methods such as non-contact laser scanning. However, many issues need to be addressed including how the visual quality of presented dataset to the public affects their perceptual experience with the artefact. The results presented in this paper demonstrate the importance of the relationship between texture and polygonal resolution and how this can affect the perceived visual experience of a visitor. It also finds that there is an acceptable cost to texture and polygonal resolution to offer the best perceptual experience with 3D digital cultural heritage artefacts

Carn Goedog medieval house and settlement, Pembrokeshire

This report describes the investigation in 2011 and 2015 of two groups of relict houses on an upland common on the north flank of the Preseli hills in North Pembrokeshire. Their locations, along with medieval records, provide strong indications that these were seasonal settlements. Excavation of one subrectangular building (House C) produced finds that included medieval pottery and a spindle whorl with Romanesque decoration. A radiocarbon date of cal. AD 1030–1200 at 95.4% confidence from charcoal in the hearth of this building provides the earliest firm date identified as yet for hafodydd (‘seasonal settlements’) in Wale

Tarrant Launceston: Survey and excavation of a long barrow with secondary burial at Race Down.

In March 2003, it was noted that rabbit burrowing had uncovered possible human remains close to the centre of Race Down long barrow. In order to determine whether the bones were human and/or of forensic interest, the School of Conservation Sciences (now the Department of Archaeology, Anthropology & Forensic Science), Bournemouth University, carried out a limited investigation on behalf of Dorset Police and the landowner, Defence Estates. The spoil heap of the rabbit burrow was excavated and this process revealed other displaced human bones, including long bones. A human osteologist examined the recovered bones and determined that the burial was ancient. Based upon results of the initial investigation, Dorset Police concluded that, although the remains were human, they would not be carrying out a criminal investigation due to the antiquity of the remains. In March 2004, a small excavation team from Bournemouth University returned to the site to fully recover any in situ human remains, together with recording the burial context and stratigraphy. A wider topographic survey of the long barrow was also carried out. This paper reports on the results of this field survey and excavation

Long-distance landscapes: from quarries to monument at Stonehenge.

Stonehenge is famous for the distances moved by its stones, both sarsens and bluestones. In particular, the bluestones have their geological origins in West Wales, 225km away. Recent excavations at two of these bluestone sources – one for rhyolite and one for spotted dolerite – have identified evidence of megalith quarrying around 3000 BC, when Stonehenge’s first stage was constructed. This remarkable movement of bluestones from Wales coincided with a decline in regional cultural distinctions between west and east, suggesting that building Stonehenge may have served to unify the Neolithic populations of Britain

LoCATE - Local Community Archaeological Training & Equipment Project

The Local Community Archaeological Training and Equipment (LoCATE) Project is a partnership between archaeologists at BU and the New Forest National Park Authority (NFNPA). Working with archaeological societies and community groups from across Dorset and Hampshire, the project provides access, training, and support for the use of advanced survey equipment that would otherwise be hard to get access to. LoCATE aims to support the research that local groups already do by extending the range of techniques and skills they can use. Our goal is to enable an even greater contribution to the understanding of the rich archaeological heritage of our region

Beyond the picturesque: analysing the information content of airborne remotely sensed data for understanding prehistoric sites

Although aerial imaging of archaeological sites has been practised for more than a century in Britain, the use of airborne remote sensing has enjoyed a recent resurgence with the increasing availability of lidar data to historic environment professionals. Archaeologists have been keen to exploit the potential of the high resolution, high accuracy digital surface models that lidar can provide and studies to date have focussed on two main research areas; the potential for last-pulse return to r..