Site Report for the 2011 excavation at 13 West Town Lane Brislington Bristol

by

Ken Taylor

book front cover


Published by Brislington Community Archaeology Project
Publication date February 2012
Booklet 297x200mm
Illustrated - 5 pages colour photographs, 5 maps
39 pages




It has been said that wherever you sink a spade in Brislington, you strike archaeology. This dig is a case in point. It was organised as a simple test excavation to determine what - if anything - was at the site, but what the team discovered was a remarkable legacy from a lost industrial past.

The site contained a large quantity of roasted Pennant sandstone, including one piece that still contained iron ore. The rest of the roasted ore was destined for the bloomery furnace, whose diagnostic metallic 'tap slag' was excavated in abundance. There was very little dating evidence for this feature, but there was one piece of pottery - and it caused some excitement at the local museum as the closest comparison sherd was Iron Age. It seems that this speculative test excavation had the remarkable fortune to produce the first Iron Age artefact from this part of Bristol.

This report was written by the Site Director, who was also at that time the chair of the Brislington Community Archaeology Project.




Contents include...

Introduction
Site location
Historical background
Previous work on the site
Methodology & excavation narrative
Finds
Interpretation of the excavation
Conclusion
Proposals for future work
Ideas for improving methodology
Appendix 1 – maps
Appendix 2 – excavation plans, drawings & photographs
Appendix 3 – photos of finds
Appendix 4 – catalogue of finds
Appendix 5 – analysis of ironworking finds
Bibliography






Text © Ken Taylor 2012 - 2013


WaveWrights' logo