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Home > Archaeology Hertfordshire Publications > Archaeology in Hertfordshire
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Archaeology in Hertfordshire

Editor: Kris Lockyear

Price: £20 (free postage)

"

“This is an excellent volume, produced to very high standards and consistently well-written, wearing its undoubted learning lightly. It is pitched at interested members of the public, and many of the contributors propose and develop really interesting ideas, while also providing excellent methodological sections which constitute very good introductions to topics such as geophysical survey, ridge and furrow, and Optically Stimulated Luminescence (OSL) dating for pottery. The text is complemented by a large number of good quality images (enlivened by one of a digger who appears to be naked!). This is... a volume which I really enjoyed reading, whose case studies I found interesting and whose ideas deserve a wide readership.”

-Carenza Lewis,
Medieval Settlement Research

About the book

“This volume is copiously illustrated with line drawings, supplemented by a section of colour plates, and the production is of a very high standard.” Celia Gould, Friends Forum

Hertfordshire has a rich heritage of archaeology and of archaeological research. The Iron Age remains at St Albans, Wheathampstead and Braughing are well-known, as are the Roman town of Verulamium and the villa sites at Lockleys, Dicket Mead and Park Street.

The heritage of other periods is less well-known, although recent research, originally by local groups such as the Welwyn Archaeological Society (WAS) and more recently by professional field units in advance of development, is filling in the gaps.

  • More about the book

    This volume celebrates the close collaboration of professional archaeologists and highly skilled avocational groups that is a hallmark of archaeology in Hertfordshire.

    It grew out of a conference organised by WAS to recognise the achievements of its founder, Tony Rook, on his eightieth birthday.

    The fifteen papers focus on various aspects of the archaeology of Hertfordshire, from the Neolithic to the post-Medieval periods, and include a report on the important excavations at Norton.

    Several chapters focus new attention on the Iron Age and Roman periods, both from a landscape perspective and through detailed studies of artefacts, whilst a discussion of the rare early Saxon material recently excavated at Watton at Stone makes a vital contribution to our knowledge of this little-understood period.

    All of the papers in the volume follow Tony Rook's example by linking a focus on the local scene with an understanding of wider issues in each period.

    Tony Rook and his wife Merle came to Welwyn in 1960, and with a team of dedicated volunteers, they founded the Welwyn Archaeological Society and set to work recording and excavating threatened sites throughout central Hertfordshire, including the Roman bath house at Welwyn – at a time when archaeology had very little statutory protection and even less funding.

    Tony ran the Welwyn Archaeological Society until 2009 and is the author of many books on the county including A History of Hertfordshire.

  • View the table of contents

    Contents


     List of figuresviii
     List of platesxi
     List of tablesxii
     Abbreviationsxiii
     Preface
    Kris Lockyear
    xv
    1Archaeology in Hertfordshire
    Kris Lockyear
    1
    2The Welwyn Archaeological Society 1960–1998: a personal history
    Merle Rook and Kris Lockyear
    18
    3A nice place to live: settlement and landscape in Hertfordshire from 1500 BC to 300 BC
    Stewart Bryant
    41
    4The Baldock Bowl: an exceptional prehistoric landscape on the edge of the Chilterns
    Keith J. Fitzpatrick-Matthews
    68
    5Burials, ditches and deities: defining the boundaries of Iron Age and Romano-British Baldock
    Gil Burleigh
    89
    6When was the Roman conquest in Hertfordshire?
    Isobel Thompson
    117
    7A survey of Roman coin finds from Hertfordshire
    Sam Moorhead
    135
    8Archaeology and the Roman coin hoards of Hertfordshire
    Dave Wythe
    165
    9The Iron Age and Roman site at Broom Hall Farm, Watton-at-Stone: a preliminary report
    Kris Lockyear
    180
    10‘Out of town and on the edge?’: evaluating recent evidence for Romanisation within the Verulamium region
    Simon West
    197
    11Prehistoric pits and an Anglo-Saxon hill-top cremation cemetery at Station Road, Watton-at-Stone
    Peter Boyer, Katie Anderson, Tom Woolhouse, Barry Bishop and Berni Sudds, with contributions from Nina Crummy and Dr Jean-Luc Schwenninger
    222
    12Hertfordshire hundreds: names and places
    John Baker
    253
    13The fields of Hertfordshire: archaeological, documentary and topographic investigations
    Tom Williamson
    275
    14Pollards: living archaeology
    Anne Rowe
    302
    15Dig where we stand
    Sarah Dhanjal, Andrew Flinn, Kris Lockyear and Gabriel Moshenska
    326
     Appendix 1: Roman coin hoards from Hertfordshire
    Sam Moorhead and Dave Wythe
    335
     Appendix 2: Excavation coins and PAS finds from Hertfordshire
    Sam Moorhead
    347
     Index351

  • About the Editor/s:

    Kris Lockyear

    Kris Lockyear is a Senior Lecturer at the Institute of Archaeology, UCL and is the current director of Welwyn Archaeological Society.

ISBN: 978-1-909291-42-3 Format: Paperback, 384pp Published: Sep 2015

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