Source/Archive record SEM8449 - The context of prehistoric landscapes: Preliminary analysis of sites on Exmoor. Palaeoenvironmental investigation at Great Buscombe - stage 2

In August 2013 a 2.15 m peat sequence was recovered from Great Buscombe, Exmoor, as part of the Historic Environment programme of archaeological and palaeoecological research associated with the Exmoor Mires Project. This report presents the results of that field work, and preliminary palaeoecological research, including dating, on the Great Buscombe sequence. The site lies within an area of moorland rich in Bronze Age archaeology, with recent excavation demonstrating cairns and fragments of field systems dating to the Bronze Age. The dating of the peat indicates that the sequence starts around 2000-1900 cal BC, that is, during the Early Bronze Age. At that time the mire was covered in alder woodland. This woodland appears to have been cleared around the start of the Middle Bronze Age, although the level of resolution, and dating uncertainties related to the limited dating programme undertaken so far, makes precise attribution of clearance to a precise time impossible. Following clearance the landscape is predominantly grassland, suggestive of a pastoral economy. There are hints of changes in the intensity of land management through the later Bronze Age and into the Iron Age, but the same caveats relating to the attribution to period hold true. It is recommended that detailed pollen analysis from the base of the sequence is undertaken, which will provide a record with a 20-25 year temporal resolution. Additional dating is recommended to constrain the timing of key transitions and events within the current sequence, and this will be essential should a more detailed record be developed.