Multi-period Settlement Research Articles

Magnetic moments in prehistory: integrating magnetic measurements with other archaeological data from the Scatness Multiperiod Settlement

Many types of human activity affect the magnetic properties of the geological materials on which they occur. By integrating measurements of these magnetic properties, such as susceptibility, viscosity, gradiometry and archaeomagnetic data, with other archaeological data, it is possible to answer detailed archaeological questions about such activities. The potential of the close integration of magnetic measurements with ongoing archaeological excavation is illustrated in this paper by discussion of studies during the 1995–1997 excavation of a multiperiod settlement mound at Scatness, Shetland. This site is ideal for an investigation of this nature, as it contains over 4 m of stratified archaeological deposits. These represent an occupational sequence spanning several millennia, from Bronze Age cultivated soils; through the Iron Age, represented by a broch and later wheelhouse complex; to the Pictish and Viking period. This paper focuses on three specific types of context: (i) hearths and burnt areas—using magnetic remanence and susceptibility to determine date and function; (ii) midden deposits—using susceptibility, in combination with chemical and environmental evidence, to determine source material and formation processes; (iii) soils—using susceptibility, in combination with environmental and soil micromorphological evidence, to detect and characterise anthropogenic enhancement of soils. These examples demonstrate that, when combined with other archaeological information, the evidence of human activity retained in magnetic properties can prove a valuable tool for archaeological interpretation. Copyright © 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Scatness, shetland: An integrated survey of a multiperiod settlement mound

Scatness, shetland: An integrated survey of a multiperiod settlement mound

Jakuszowice — a multi-period settlement in southern Poland

The village of Jakuszowice (Kielce Voivodship, Kazimie za Wielka Commune) lies some 50 km northeast of Cracow on a loess upland situated on the left bank of the river Nidzica, tributary of the Vistula. In 1911, during sand extraction, an extremely rich burial was discovered. It contained the bones of a young man and a horse as well as a long sword and several bronze, silver and gold objects (Åberg 1936; Lászlo 1951; Harmatta 1951; Werner 1956; Nosek 1959). The grave is dated to the first half of the 5th century AD, probably before 430 on the basis of artefacts made in the Soesdala-Untersiebenbrunn style. The grave goods show clear affinities with many other ‘chieftain's graves’ which occur in an area stretching from the western part of the Eurasian steppe to western Europe – most densely in the Carpathian Basin, where they are associated with the period of Hunnic domination (Werner 1956: 82–95, map 8). Most noteworthy in this context is the gold-foil covered model of a Central Asiatic reflex bow, considered by certain scholars to be a symbol of authority (Harmatta 1951; Lászlo 1951).

Excavations at Mucking, Essex: A Second Interim Report

SummaryThis second interim report on a multi-period settlement palimpsest being rescued from annihilation by quarrying for gravel demonstrates that crop-marks are site indicators, not site plans. A sample area even as large as 650 × 500 feet square, containing Belgic, Romano-British, and early Saxon settlement features and parts of two cemeteries cannot be understood out of context. Extensive plans emphasize that successive landscapes share a preference for strategic siting on this gravel terrace at the head of the Thames estuary. The validity of presupposing a wholesale transfer of continental settlement types from the known ‘invasion’ of the Migration period is questioned. The archaeological evidence for the two main house types at Mucking—round and sunken—is described.