Margetts, A; (2019) On the verge of Wessex? A prehistoric landscape at Oldlands Farm, Bognor Regis, West Sussex. Sussex Archaeological Collections , 157 pp. 47-81.

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Abstract

Archaeological investigations at Oldlands Farm revealed many rare and new categories of features and finds for prehistoric Sussex, encouraging comparison with neighbouring parts of Wessex. During both the neolithic period and the Bronze Age the site was located close to an estuary or embayment associated with the Lidsey and Aldingbourne Rifes. This location, with its rich pastures and saltmarsh habitats, may have acted as a draw to people throughout prehistory. During the late neolithic period the area seems to have been used, perhaps on a seasonal basis, for feasting and possibly the production and consumption of alcohol. Associated with this phase was Grooved Ware pottery, a ritualised pit, the earliest known burnt mound from south-east England and a pit cluster. The latter two classes of monument may have acted as beacons in the landscape for transient local groups. During the subsequent Bronze Age the area was used for agriculture, settlement and funerary practice. Two phases of regular, possibly coaxial, field systems were located, as well as a significant L-shaped and later circular enclosure, reminiscent of the ringworks of eastern England. The latter phase of this enclosure was proximate to a significant waterhole, which not only provided the first example of a log ladder found in Sussex, but also a rare and important pollen sequence for the Coastal Plain.

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