Nash Waste Water Treatment Works, Areas B & D, Newport, South Wales;
ST 3380 8380 (Mark Beasley & David Dobson); evaluation & excavation; Feb-July 199; Dwr Cymru Welsh Water; NAS98
Excavations revealed a field system dated to the late 1st to late 2nd c AD, comprising
four fields defined by large boundary ditches. This was superseded in the early 3rd c by a
second field system to the west, differing from the first system in its less ordered layout
and ditch design. During this later period the environment appears to have become more
unstable with foraminiferal remains indicating intermittent freshwater flooding events as
well as the regular saltwater inundation. The vegetation in general reflected a salt marsh
environment the land being marginal, possibly inter-tidal. Occupation of the site appears
to have finished towards the end of the 3rd c when flooding rendered use of the land
impossible.
Settlement of the site appears to have been of a very temporary nature, the recorded
post holes indicating fairly ephemeral structures with midden deposits and pottery
apparently representing localised activity on the site. Pollen analysis indicates that
during the first phase of field systems the area was pasture or meadow, with few trees.
Cattle enclosures or pens were evident in both periods of land use. Four juvenile cattle
burials, one skinned prior to deposition, could represent either disposal of naturally
dead animals or ritual burials. Two young adult burials in grave cuts were buried along
the boundary of the south-eastern field, possibly to strengthen the symbolic properties
of this boundary.
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