David Score

Edward Biddulph

Andrew Simmonds

Sharon Cook

Archaeological investigations at Jennett's Park, Bracknell, Berkshire, revealed episodes of occupation spanning several thousand years. The earliest activity was a small, temporary camp, which belonged to a band of Mesolithic hunter-gatherers. After a hiatus, activity recommenced in the middle Bronze Age. Features of this date comprised three burnt mounds, two waterholes, two trough-like pits and a possible cremation burial. Jennett's Park was first used for permanent settlement during the middle Iron Age, when a small farmstead was established. The settlement was occupied into the late Iron Age, but was abandoned and replaced by an agricultural landscape defined by a complex of field boundary ditches. The field system continued in use into the Roman period until the early 2nd century AD. Evidence was found at the northern end of the investigations for 11th/12th-century curvilinear stock enclosures, which were superseded by a system of fields and enclosures that were in use until the mid 14th century. Their abandonment in the 14th century was possibly associated with the creation of Easthampstead Park. A kiln, probably for limeburning, may have supplied lime for the construction of the first Easthampstead Park House in the 17th century.

Excavations at Jennett's Park, Bracknell, Berkshire

Archaeology in the Park

Louise Loe

Angela Boyle

Helen Webb

This volume describes one of the most exciting and unexpected archaeological discoveries to have been made in Britain in recent years, that of a rare mass grave of executed Vikings on Ridgeway Hill, Dorset. The skeletons, around 50 in total, were predominantly of young adult males all of whom had been decapitated: heads had been deposited in a pile at the southern edge of the grave, while the beheaded bodies had been apparently thrown in with little care. Since their recovery experts have undertaken forensic studies of the bones and have applied cutting edge techniques to elicit the most information possible, in order to understand who the individuals were and what circumstances led to their demise. It reveals an extraordinary story of the discovery of what is arguably the most dramatic physical evidence for violence in early medieval Britain ever encountered by archaeologists.

A Viking Age Mass Grave on Ridgeway Hill, Weymouth

'Given to the Ground'

David Score

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