PREHISTORIC INTERTIDAL ARCHAEOLOGY AND ENVIRONMENTS IN THE SEVERN ESTUARY, WALES

Estuaries, the interface between riverine systems and coastal environm ents, have great archaeological potential for interdisciplinary resear ch. Extensive survey of 25km of coast in the Severn Estuary, Wales, da tabased using Autocad and GIS, is combined with more detailed investig ation of 3km at Goldcliff. This demonstrates that coastal wetlands can preserve a diverse range of site types which contrasts with both terr estrial dryland contexts and other wetlands, such as the nearby Somers et Levels. Rectangular Bronze and Iron Age buildings, unique in Britai n, trackways and other post settings are exposed on intertidal peat sh elves. Activity on these former wetlands was particularly concentrated at the interface with marine flooding in the later Bronze Age and Iro n Age, periods of major environmental change in both estuarine and riv erine environments of the Severn. Activity seems to have been essentia lly opportunistic and seasonal, with evidence for cattle grazing and p erhaps fishing. Marine inundation in the Iron Age was followed by Roma no-British reclamation.