‘The Great Yorkshire Way’: Iron Age and Romano-British Activity Near Rossington, South Yorkshire

Abstract

Between 2012 and 2014 Wessex Archaeology investigated field system remains in advance of the construction of a new road to the south of Doncaster, South Yorkshire. Radiocarbon dates indicate that the field system was established in the late Iron Age with subsequent extension and renewal in the first half of the Romano-British period. The environmental evidence indicates Iron Age clearance and agriculture, followed by possible woodland regeneration. Damp, grazed pasture, with some indication of arable cultivation in the wider area, can be detected during the Romano-British phase, with wetter conditions and an increase in alder fen-carr coinciding with the end of archaeologically visible activity. The site lay close to a Roman town, potteries, and military bases, yet relatively little engagement with Roman material culture can be detected on the part of the indigenous population. Overall, there appears to have been continuity in local land management and farming practices from the Iron Age into the Romano-British period.