Downland Settlement and Land-use: The Archaeology of the Brighton Bypass

Between 1989 and 1991 a programme of archaeological rescue excavations was undertaken by the University College London Field Archaeology Unit on the route of the new A27 Brighton Bypass, East Sussex. The archaeological works were designed within a research framework to investigate chalk downland settlement and land-use, from the Mesolithic to the present day. The resulting publication builds on, consolidates and brings to a more synthetic framework a long history of archaeological work, professional and amateur in the Brighton area. As an integrated study of settlements, field systems and colluvial sequences it provides a significant advance in our understanding of the prehistory of the South Downs, and has much wider implications for the areas beyond Sussex. In particular, the extent of Later Bronze Age activity is very important with regard to our understanding of landscape and social change during this period. The Project's extensive investigation of lynchets and colluvium also helps us to develop our understanding of the character and date of 'Celtic fields', which were the subject of pioneer fieldwork by earlier archaeologists in the Brighton area.