Mesolithic to Neolithic and medieval coastal environmental change: intertidal survey at Woolaston, Gloucestershire

Brown, A. D., Bell, M., Timpany, S. and Nayling, N. (2006) Mesolithic to Neolithic and medieval coastal environmental change: intertidal survey at Woolaston, Gloucestershire. Archaeology in the Severn Estuary, 16. pp. 67-83.

Abstract/Summary

At Woolaston on the western shores of the middle Severn Estuary c. 7 km upstream of Chepstow intertidal Holocene sediment exposures have been surveyed and the stratigraphic sequence established by coring and limited excavation. There are two main peats each with a submerged forest. An existing dendrochronological sequence for the Upper Submerged Forest has been extended and the preliminary results of pollen analysis from the peat sequence are summarised. A few flint flakes were found but were not stratified in the mid-Holocene sequence. There is evidence for late Mesolithic / early Neolithic burning episodes which may relate to human activity. Evidence is reported for Medieval activity and the extensive modification of drainage in this period is suggested.