The excavations led by Margaret and Tom Jones on the Thames gravel terraces at Mucking, Essex, undertaken between 1965 and 1978 are legendary. The largest area excavation ever undertaken in the British Isles, involving around 5000 participants, recorded around 44,000 archaeological features dating from the Beaker to Anglo-Saxon periods and recovered something in the region of 1.7 million finds of Mesolithic to post-medieval date. While various publications have emerged over the intervening years, the death of both directors, insufficient funding, many organizational complications and the sheer volume of material evidence have severely delayed full publication of this extraordinary palimpsest landscape. Lives in Land is the first of two major volumes which bring together all the evidence from Mucking, presenting both the detail of many important structures and assemblages and a comprehensive synthesis of landscape development through the ages: settlement histories, changing land-use, death and burial, industry and craft activities. The long time-gap since completion of the excavations has allowed the authors the unprecedented opportunity to stand back from the density of site data and place the vast sum of Mucking evidence in the wider context of the archaeology of southern England throughout the major periods of occupation and activity. Lives in Land begins with a thorough evaluation of the methods, philosophy and archival status of the Mucking project against the organizational and funding background of its time, and discusses its fascinating and complex history through a period of fundamental change in archaeological practice, legislation, finance, research priorities and theoretical paradigms in British Archaeology. Subsequent chapters deal with the prehistoric landscape, each focusing on the major themes that emerge by major period from analysis and synthesis of the data. The authors draw on archival material including site notebooks and personal accounts from key participants to provide a detailed but lively account of this iconic landscape investigation.

This volume is the first in a series which reports on the multi-period site at Mucking, Essex. The excavations lasted for 13 years, from 1965 to 1978, and covered an area of over 18 hectares. This first part of the publication consists of an atlas of the site, together with a short report. The atlas is presented, at a scale of 1:180, on 25 plans which are unphased and include all investigated features; the reader will be able to join the plans and view larger areas and enclosures. The short text which accompanies the atlas consists of a brief history of the excavation and its aftermath, a series of period summaries, and a number of specialist reports which relate to the site as a whole, eg geology and cropmarks. The site atlas plans form an indispensable source of reference for the individual volumes on the various periods represented at Mucking which will follow.

Folder containing 25 large-scale loose leaf plans, and a short text giving a brief history of the excavations and its aftermath, a series of period summaries, and a number of specialist reports. An indispensable source of reference for the individual volumes that cover the multi-period site.

The Anglo Saxon cemeteries at Mucking, Essex, represent the burials of over 800 individuals from the 5th to early 7th centuries. This text includes detailed illustrated catalogues of the sites, outlining their relation to the excavated settlement evidence and wider context.

The complex multi-period archaeological landscape at Mucking provided the first opportunity, between 1965 and 1978, to excavate an Anglo-Saxon settlement and associated cemeteries simultaneously. With two cemeteries, at least 53 posthole buildings, and over 200 sunken huts (Grubenhäuser), Mucking remains the most extensive Anglo-Saxon settlement excavated to date, and one of the earliest. The distribution of finds and pottery suggests a gradually shifting settlement, beginning in the early fifth century as a relatively dense group of buildings at the southern end of the site, then gradually moving northwards in the course of the sixth and seventh centuries. The latest recognisable phase datable at least to the end of the seventh century, consisted of a number of widely dispersed farmsteads. This report concentrates on the structures and artefacts from the settlement, and gives special consideration to developments in the ceramic assemblage. Specialist contributions examine the environment and technological evidence, for example plant and animal resources and metalworking technology. The discussion focuses on changes in the size and layout of this community, which was situated at the interface of the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of Kent and Essex, its historical and geographical contexts, and its relationship to the preceding Romano-British landscape. This report inlcudes a full inventory of the finds and pottery in their contexts.

The Anglo Saxon cemeteries at Mucking, Essex, represent the burials of over 800 individuals from the 5th to early 7th centuries. This text includes detailed illustrated catalogues of the sites, outlining their relation to the excavated settlement evidence and wider context.