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Bogs, Bodies and Burnt Mounds: Visits to the Soar Wetlands in the Neolithic and Bronze Age

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  04 March 2013

Susan Ripper
Affiliation:
University of Leicester Archaeological Services, School of Archaeology and Ancient History, University of Leicester, University Road, Leicester, LE1 7RH
Matthew Beamish
Affiliation:
University of Leicester Archaeological Services, School of Archaeology and Ancient History, University of Leicester, University Road, Leicester, LE1 7RH

Abstract

The recording and analysis of a burnt mound and adjacent palaeochannel deposits on the floodplain of the River Soar in Leicestershire revealed that the burnt mound was in use, possibly for a number of different purposes, at the transition from the Neolithic to the Bronze Age. An extensive radiocarbon dating programme indicated that the site was revisited. Human remains from the palaeochannel comprised the remains of three individuals, two of whom pre-dated the burnt mound by several centuries while the partial remains of a third, dating from the Late Bronze Age, provided evidence that this individual had met a violent death. These finds, along with animal bones dating to the Iron Age, and the remains of a bridge from the early medieval period, suggest that people were drawn to this location over a long period of time.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © The Prehistoric Society 2012

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References

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