Huntsman’s Quarry, Kemerton: A Late Bronze Age settlement and landscape in Worcestershire

Archaeological investigations at Huntsman’s Quarry, Kemerton, south Worcestershire during 1995-6 recorded significant Late Bronze Age occupation areas and field systems spreading across more than 8 hectares. Limited evidence for Upper Palaeolithic, Mesolithic, Neolithic and Beaker activity was also recovered together with an Early Bronze Age ring-ditch.
Waterholes and associated round-houses, structures and pits were set within landscape of fields and droveways radiocarbon dated to the 12th–11th centuries cal BC. Elements of this field system probably predated the settlement. Substantial artifactual and ecofactual assemblages were recovered from the upper fills of the waterholes and larger pits . The settlement had a predominantly pastoral economy supported by some textile and bronze production. Ceramics included a notable proportion of non-local fabrics demonstrating that the local population enjoyed a wide range of regional contacts. Wider ranging, national exchange networks were also indicated by the presence of shale objects as well as the supply of bronze for metalworking, perhaps indicative of a site of some social status. Together the evidence indicates a small settlement within which occupation of individual areas was short-lived with the focus of the settlement shifting on a regular basis. It is proposed that this occurred on a generational basis, with each generation setting up a new ‘homestead’ with an associated waterhole. The settlement can be compared favorably to those known along the Thames Valley but until now not recognized in this part of the country.
Cropmark evidence and limited other investigations indicate that the fields and droveways recorded represent a small fragment of a widespread system of boundaries established across the gravel terraces lying between Bredon Hill and the Carrant Brook. This managed and organized landscape appears to have been established for the maintenance of an economy primarily based on relatively intensive livestock farming; the trackways facilitating seasonal movement of stock between meadows alongside the Carrant Brook, the adjacent terraces and the higher land on Bredon Hill.

Table of Contents

Contents
List of Figures
List of Tables
Contributors
Summary
Acknowledgements

PART 1: INTRODUCTION
Background
Location, geology and topography
Archaeological and historical background
Project history
Aims
Methodology - Robin Jackson and Mike Napthan

PART 2: DATING AND STRUCTURAL EVIDENCE
Radiocarbon dating - Alex Bayliss, Robin Jackson and Christopher Bronk Ramsey
Earlier prehistoric activity - Robin Jackson and Mike Napthan
The Late Bronze Age activity - Robin Jackson and Mike Napthan

PART 3: ARTEFACTUAL EVIDENCE
Prehistoric pottery - Ann Woodward and Robin Jackson
Petrology - David F Williams
Ceramic weights - Derek Hurst
Stone weight - Derek Hurst
Fired clay - Derek Hurst
The mould fragments and slag - Roger C P Doonan
Worked Flint - Peter Bellamy
Worked timbers - Ian Tyers
Other finds

PART 4: ENVIRONMENTAL EVIDENCE
Animal bone - Stephanie Pinter-Bellows
Human bone - Stephanie Pinter-Bellows
Cremated bone - Stephanie Pinter-Bellows
The plant macrofossils - Elizabeth Pearson
The pollen - James Greig
Molluscs - Andrew Moss
Environmental synthesis - Elizabeth Pearson

PART 5: DISCUSSION AND SYNTHESIS
Upper Palaeolithic and Mesolithic
Neolithic
Beaker
Early Bronze Age
Late Bronze Age

Bibliography

APPENDICES
1Additional pottery tables and figures
2Pottery fabrics - Derek Hurst and Robin Jackson