Hidden husbandry: disentangling a disturbed profile at Beckery Chapel, a medieval ecclesiastical site near Glastonbury (UK)

Banerjea, R. Y. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1786-357X, Morandi, L. F., Williams, K. and Brunning, R. (2021) Hidden husbandry: disentangling a disturbed profile at Beckery Chapel, a medieval ecclesiastical site near Glastonbury (UK). Environmental Archaeology: The Journal of Human Palaeoecology, 26 (4). pp. 367-387. ISSN 1461-4103 doi: 10.1080/14614103.2020.1768333

Abstract/Summary

Beckery Chapel, near Glastonbury, is the site which has the earliest scientific dating evidence for monastic life in the UK, and later in the medieval period became a Chapel that played a significant role as a destination for pilgrims, as part of the Glastonbury Abbey estate. The site was previously excavated in the 1880s and the 1960s, and in 2016 the South West Heritage Trust excavated a building, that proved to be an outbuilding used when the medieval chapel was in operation. Soil micromorphological analysis was conducted first to understand the sediments within the profile from this building, which appeared fairly homogenous and bioturbated in the field. It untangled the bioturbation processes and revealed a rare northern European, geoarchaeological example of a livestock enclosure from a dryland context in this temperate environment. The results of our innovative multi-proxy approach highlight the potential and methodological considerations for future studies to integrate micromorphology, palaeoparasitology and mycology to examine animal management on dryland archaeological sites. They increase the knowledge of the economic activities of the ecclesiastical occupation at Beckery, contributing to an enhanced understanding of the Chapel site, its wider landscape and its role as part of the Glastonbury Abbey estate.

Item Type	Article
URI	https://reading-clone.eprints-hosting.org/id/eprint/92572
Identification Number/DOI	10.1080/14614103.2020.1768333
Refereed	Yes
Divisions	Science > School of Archaeology, Geography and Environmental Science > Human Environments Science > School of Archaeology, Geography and Environmental Science > Scientific Archaeology Science > School of Archaeology, Geography and Environmental Science > Department of Archaeology
Publisher	Taylor & Francis
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