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Functional analysis of settlement areas: prospection over a defended enclosure of iron age date at The Bowsings, Guiting Power, Gloucestershire, UK
Author(s) -
Marshall Alistair
Publication year - 2001
Publication title -
archaeological prospection
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.785
H-Index - 38
eISSN - 1099-0763
pISSN - 1075-2196
DOI - 10.1002/1099-0763(200106)8:2<79::aid-arp150>3.0.co;2-w
Subject(s) - prospection , enclosure , archaeology , excavation , geology , settlement (finance) , topsoil , geography , engineering , soil water , soil science , telecommunications , world wide web , computer science , payment
A small, well‐preserved, trapezoidal, ditched enclosure of mid to later Iron Age date at The Bowsings (Guiting Power, Gloucestershire, UK), closely defined in plan by magnetometer and resistivity survey, supplemented by extensive excavation, can be further divided into areas of differing usage by mapping levels of magnetic susceptibility (MS) and inorganic phosphate in basal topsoil over the site. A clear impression of the enclosure, with internal areas for habitation and pit‐based storage, persists as a pattern of MS enhancement in the topsoil, and such survival may be of interest in the detection and analysis of highly eroded sites elsewhere. Although the habitation area showed well as an area of MS enhancement, its relative transparency to gradiometry provided another example of a larger class of such features, and stresses the importance of supplementing gradiometry with MS survey to provide more adequate assessment of sites. Use of MS survey as a method of prospection is discussed, especially in relation to adequacy of resolution. Application to MS survey of a newly developed, ground‐insertable microprobe is briefly introduced as a means of increasing productivity of such surveys. Copyright © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.