This volume brings together the results from the excavations at the former Imperial College Sports Ground, RMC Land and Land East of Wall Garden Farm, near the villages of Harlington and Sipson in the London Borough of Hillingdon. The excavations revealed parts of an archaeological landscape with a rich history of development from before 4000 BC to the post-medieval period. The opportunity to investigate two large areas of this landscape provided evidence for possible settlement continuity and shift over a period of 6000 years. Early to Middle Neolithic occupation was represented by a rectangular ditched mortuary enclosure and a large spread of pits, many containing deposits of Peterborough Ware pottery, flint and charred plant remains. A possible dispersed monument complex of three hengiform enclosures was associated with the rare remains of cremation burials radiocarbon dated to the Middle Neolithic. Limited Late Neolithic and Early Bronze Age activity was identified, which is in stark contrast to the Middle to Late Bronze Age when a formalized landscape of extensive rectangular fields, enclosures, wells and pits was established. This major reorganized land division can be traced across the two sites and over large parts of the adjacent Heathrow terraces. A small, Iron Age and Romano-British nucleated settlement was constructed, with associated enclosures flanking a trackway. There were wayside inhumations, cremation burials and middens and more widely dispersed wells and quarries. Two possible sunken-featured buildings of early Saxon date were found. There was also a small cemetery. Subsequently, a middle Saxon and medieval field system of small enclosures and wells was established.

• Cover
• Title Page
• Copyright
• Contents
• List of Figures
• List of Plates
• List of Tables
• Foreword
• Acknowledgements
• Abstract
• Foreign language summaries
• Chapter 1: Introduction
  • Background to the project
    • ICSG
    • RMC Land
    • Land East of Wall Garden Farm
  • Site location, topography and geology
  • Methods
    • Excavation Areas and context numbering
    • Field methods
    • Topographic analysis
  • Archaeological background
    • Pre-Neolithic
    • Neolithic to Early Bronze Age
    • Middle–Late Bronze Age and Iron Age
    • Romano-British to medieval
    • Post-medieval and modern
  • Project research themes
  • Radiocarbon dating
  • Location of archives
• Chapter 2: Hunters, Herders and First Farmers
  • Introduction
    • Environment and landscape
    • Economy
  • Pre-Neolithic
  • Early Neolithic
    • Feature G2004
    • Tree-throw holes
  • Early to Middle Neolithic
    • Introduction
    • Monuments
    • Pits
  • Late Neolithic
  • Beaker and Early Bronze Age
    • Mortuary activity
    • Feature G288
• Chapter 3: Settling the Land: From Monuments to Fields – Middle Bronze Age and Late Bronze Age–Early Iron Age
  • Introduction
    • Environment and landscape
  • Later prehistoric field system
    • Date
    • Orientation
    • Fields – form and structure
    • Trackways
    • Possible enclosure ditch
  • Middle Bronze Age settlement
    • ICSG
    • RMC Land
  • Middle Bronze Age burials
    • Cremation cemetery
    • Other Middle Bronze Age burials
  • Late Bronze Age–Early Iron Age settlement
    • ICSG
    • RMC Land
  • Late Bronze Age–Early Iron Age burials
  • Economy
  • Discussion
• Chapter 4: Open Settlment and Trackside Enclosures: Iron Age and Romano-British
  • Introduction
    • Environment and landscape
  • Middle and Late Iron Age
    • ICSG
    • RMC Land
  • Romano-British
    • ICSG
    • RMC Land
  • Economy
  • Discussion
    • Change in the Iron Age
    • Continuity into the Romano-British period
• Chapter 5: Farmsteads and Fields: The Saxon to Medieval Evidence
  • Introduction
  • The historical background
    • Early Saxon
    • Middle Saxon
    • Late Saxon and early medieval
  • The chronological evidence
    • Pottery
    • Other finds
    • Radiocarbon dating
  • Field system at RMC Land
    • Enclosure 1 (1202)
    • Truncation by east–west ditches (1205–7)
    • Second east–west ditch (1214)
    • Recut of enclosure 1 (1211/4043)
    • Enclosure 2 (1203/1212/1710)
    • Southern droveway ditches
    • Northern droveway ditches
    • Enclosure 3
    • Fields 1–3
    • Eastern section: enclosure 4 and fields 4 and 5
    • Fields 6–9
  • Field system at ICSG
  • Structures
    • Possible sunken-featured buildings (SFBs)
    • Post-built structures
    • Fencelines
  • Pits
    • Pits at RMC Land
    • Pits and postholes at ICSG
  • Waterholes
    • Waterholes at RMC Land
    • Waterholes at ICSG
  • Funerary activity at RMC Land
    • Grave 4662
    • Grave 4707
    • Grave 4720
    • Possible graves 4713 and 4717
    • Other possible graves at RMC Land
  • Other features
  • Late medieval and post-medieval development
  • Discussion
    • Early Saxon settlement
    • Early Saxon funerary evidence
    • Middle Saxon to medieval activity
    • Finds deposition and site formation processes
    • Environment and economy
• Chapter 6: Pottery and Fired Clay
  • Prehistoric pottery
    • Methods
    • Dating
    • Context
    • Pottery by chronological period
    • Appendix 1: Fabric descriptions
  • Later prehistoric and Romano-British pottery
    • Middle to Late Iron Age
    • Latest Iron Age/Romano-British
    • Late Iron Age and early Romano-British
    • Later Romano-British
    • Discussion
  • Post-Roman pottery
    • Introduction
    • Early Saxon
    • Middle Saxon
    • Late Saxon/medieval
    • Chronology
    • Discussion
  • Fired clay
    • Spindle whorl
    • Loomweights
    • Crucible
    • Perforated clay slabs
  • Ceramic building material
• Chapter 7: Worked Flint and Worked Stone
  • Worked Flint
    • Introduction
    • Palaeolithic
    • Mesolithic
    • Neolithic
    • Bronze Age
    • Discussion
  • Worked Stone
    • Querns
    • Smaller grinding stones
    • Rubbers/pounders/grinders
    • Whetstones
    • Hammerstones
    • Slingstone
    • Polishing stones
    • Building stone
    • Other worked stone
    • Pebbles and unworked stone fragments
    • Discussion
• Chapter 8: Other Finds
  • Coins and tokens
    • Roman
    • Saxon
    • Post-medieval and modern
  • Metal objects
    • Silver
    • Copper alloy
    • Iron
  • Metalworking debris
  • Glass and amber beads
    • Beads from Saxon graves
    • Beads from non-mortuary contexts
  • Worked bone
  • Objects of worked wood
    • Structural timbers
    • Bucket
    • Log ladder
    • ?Lid or vessel base
• Chapter 9: Human Bone and Animal Bone
  • Human bone
    • Introduction
    • Methods
    • Results and discussion
  • Animal bone
    • Introduction
    • Taphonomy
    • Prehistoric
    • Late Iron Age/Romano-British
    • Early Saxon
    • Late Saxon/early medieval
• Chapter 10: Environmental Remains
  • Charred and waterlogged plant remains
    • Methods
    • Charred plant remains
    • Waterlogged plant remains
  • Wood charcoal
    • Introduction
    • Methods
    • Notes on identifications
    • Neolithic
    • Bronze Age
    • Romano-British
    • Saxon
    • Saxo-Norman
    • Medieval
    • Conclusion
  • Insect remains
    • Background
    • Methods
    • Results
    • Discussion
    • Conclusions
  • Pollen
    • Introduction
    • Methods
    • Results
    • Interpretation and discussion
    • Conclusion
  • Sediments
    • Ditches
    • Waterholes
    • Wells
• Chapter 11: Chronology and the Radiocarbon Dating Programme
  • Introduction
    • Sample selection
    • Results and calibration
    • Objectives
  • Results
    • Neolithic and Early Bronze Age
    • Early Bronze Age
    • Later Bronze Age and Iron Age
    • Romano-British
    • Saxon and medieval
  • Conclusion
• Chapter 12: Overview
  • Introduction: the long view
  • Neolithic to Early Bronze Age
  • Middle Bronze Age to Romano-British period
  • Saxon and medieval periods
• Bibliography
• Index
• Back Cover