Early Settlement in Berkshire

Four reports from excavations in the Thames and Kennet Valleys (three being developer funded rescue work) are presented, with most of the data on microfiche. Weir Bank Stud Farm, Bray produced traces of Neolithic and Iron Age material but significant evidence for a Middle Bronze Age field system and subsequent round-house. Statistical analysis of flint scatters at Maidenhead Thicket suggested the presence of two extraction areas and one residential site from the Late Neolithic. At Dunston Park an Iron Age round-house was associated with a cluster of finds, while at Cooper's Farm nearby ironsmithing evidence from 7th century BC provides early evidence for this activity. Finally at Park Farm, Binfield a small rural settlement of 1st century BC to 2nd century AD with a large number of loomweights, and Mesolithic flint scatters were surveyed and processed. All worthy work and many will doubtless welcome publication but an opportunity to discuss all these sites in a comparative framework is missed, and without this concluding chapter the book's title appears rather sweeping.