Did you know? The town of Wincanton is twinned with a place that does not exist. William Gibbs of Tyntesfield House made his fortune by importing bird droppings from Peru. A song by 'Scrumpy and Western' singer Adge Cutler was banned by the BBC for being too raunchy. Nine villages in Somerset are known as the 'Thankful Villages'. From seaside to countryside and villages to towns, Somerset is a county where it's difficult to separate history and mystery. This fast-paced, fact-packed compendium of places, people and trivia reveals all sorts of answers to questions you might have wondered about – and some you didn't. The facts, stats and anecdotes will surprise even those familiar with this beautiful and historic county.

A substantial integrated and interpretative report of the archaeological evidence for the occupation and defense of this impressive multivallate hillfort between the late Bronze Age and the Saxon and early medieval periods. Chapters examine the construction sequence of the castle, largely based on its ceramic sequence, and finds recovered from the `massacre levels' resulting from the Roman violent conquest of the fort during the 1st century AD. Production resources and residues, largely associated with metal and stone working, agricultural features and implements as well as dress accessories and domestic items are also examined in some detail.

'Archaeology of Somerset' covers all periods from the Palaeolithic to the modern. It includes specially commissioned reconstruction drawings, a list of places to visit for each period, further reading, and sources of more detailed information.

Forges innovative connections between monastic archaeology and heritage studies, revealing new perspectives on sacred heritage, identity, medieval healing, magic and memory. This title is available as Open Access.

This volume, the result of an International Conference on Wet Site Archaeology funded by the National Endowment for the Humanities, explores the rewards and responsibilities of recovering unique assemblages from water-saturated deposits. Characteristics common to all archaeological wet sites are identified from Newfoundland to Chile, Polynesia to Florida, and from the Late Pleistocene to the Twentieth Century. Topics include innovative excavation and preservation methods; the need for adequate funding to preserve and analyze the abundant biological and cultural remains recovered only at archaeological wet sites; expanded knowledge of past environments, subsistence, technologies, artistic expressions, skeletal structure, and pathologies; the urgency to inform developers and governmental bodies about the invisible heritage entombed in wetlands that is often destroyed before it can be investigated; a formula for establishing priorities for excavating wet sites; and how to determine when enough of a wet site has been sampled.Many famous sites and discoveries are described in this volume, including Herculaneum, Hoko River, Hontoon Island, Key Marco, Monte Verde, Ozette, Somerset Levels, Windover, bog bodies of Northern Europe, and lake dwellers of Switzerland. Professional and amateur archaeologists, as well as anyone interested in archaeology or the significance of wet site archaeology will find this book fascinating.