Development of an Iron Age and Roman Settlement Complex at The Park and Bowsings, near Guiting Power, Gloucestershire: Farmstead and Stronghold

The Development of an Iron Age and Roman Settlement Complex at The Park and Bowsings, near Guiting Power, Gloucestershire outlines the excavation of a small Iron Age and Roman settlement complex near Guiting Power in the Cotswolds. A relatively undefended farmstead of middle Iron Age date was abandoned, to be followed by an adjacent, more substantial, ditched enclosure of the mid to later Iron Age, which appears to have been a stronghold of higher status, with less directly agrarian associations. This latter site became dilapidated or was perhaps slighted during the latest Iron Age or early Roman period, with a Romanised farmstead developing over the traditional habitation area, thus providing evidence for occupation until the late 4th century AD. The sequence of settlement indicates social, economic, and environmental changes occurring in the area from the 'proto-Dobunnic' to late Roman periods. Excavation of pits at the site has provided the basis for experimental investigation of grain storage.