{"product_id":"9780955353406","title":"Two Cemeteries from Bristol's Northern Suburbs by Martin Watts","description":"Two reports are published in this volume: excavations in 2004  at Henbury School, Bristol (by Derek Evans, Neil Holbrook and  E.R. McSloy) and excavations in 2005 at Hewlett Packard, Filton,  South Gloucestershire (by Kate Cullen, Neil Holbrook, Martin  Watts, Anwen Caffell and Malin Holst). Excavations in 2004 at Henbury School, Bristol, revealed the  truncated remains of 21 inhumation burials, making a total of 28  burials recorded at the site since 1982. Of these, 24 burials  formed a dispersed cemetery of crouched inhumations, the vast  majority of which were aligned north\/south and lay on their left  sides, with equal numbers of males and females (where sex could  be determined) and only one child. Poor bone survival rendered  radiocarbon dating invalid, and the cemetery is dated by only one  grave good: a finger ring from the mid to late Iron Age. However,  the cemetery clearly pre-dated a later rectangular enclosure of  very late Iron Age (early 1st-century AD) date. Crouched  inhumations from the later Iron Age are known from the region but  usually from pits or scattered, so the presence of this cemetery  at Henbury is significant. Inhumation cemeteries of this date are  rare in Western Britain, although they may have been quite  widespread. Despite the dearth of surviving features within the  subsequent enclosure, the scale of the ditches suggests it was a  farmstead, and environmental evidence hints at both livestock  rearing and cereal cultivation. Subsequent Roman activity was  clearly intensive, and included a further four burials; although  difficult to interpret, it adds to a substantial amount of  evidence for Roman activity to the north-west of Bristol.  Excavations in 2005 at Hewlett Packard, Filton, revealed the  truncated remains of 51 inhumation burials within an isolated  post-Roman cemetery. All of the burials were extended and  east-west aligned, and were arranged in rows and groups. The  tradition of east\/west-aligned graves is a common late Roman and  post-Roman practice, and these were not necessarily Christian.  The largest group comprised 24 burials clustered around a central  grave that contained an unusual skeleton and evidence for a  distinctive burial rite. Overall there were slightly more females  than males (where sex could be determined) and ten children.  Adult stature could only be calculated in a few cases; males were  generally taller that the early medieval average, females  shorter. No grave goods were recovered, but four radiocarbon  dates obtained from human bone suggest a period of use sometime  between the 5th and 7th centuries AD. There was no evidence for  contemporary settlement within the immediate vicinity. Other  post-Roman cemeteries that are culturally distinct from  Anglo-Saxon influenced burials are known from the region. The  absence of Anglo-Saxon cemeteries in South Gloucestershire  suggests this area remained under British control in the 5th and  6th centuries. The abandonment of this cemetery may have been the  result of changes in the religious landscape once the area  finally came under Saxon control in the late 7th century.\u003cbr\u003eBinding: Paperback \/ softback","brand":"Gardners","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":56295485735285,"sku":"9780955353406","price":14.95,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0612\/7193\/3106\/files\/9780955353406.jpg?v=1762768145","url":"https:\/\/backstory.london\/products\/9780955353406","provider":"Backstory","version":"1.0","type":"link"}