A 3,000-year-old hill-top settlement has been discovered during water mains digging in England. Pottery and flint have been found alongside burnt bones and storage pits at a site near Taplow (Buckinghamshire). The remains are thought to date back to 850 BCE, and are from the late Bronze Age or early Iron Age. A team of archaeologists are now trying to establish whether the settlement was permanent or temporary.
     Claire Cable, senior environmental scientist at the Thames Water, which is working on the site, said: "The site would have been of strategic value, as it occupied the top of a prominent hill with extensive views of the Thames Valley. The area was very densely settled from the Stone Age onwards since it was an important route to the heart of the country."
     Cotswold Archaeology will now register the findings with the Sites and Monuments Records Office. Other archaeologists will then know the location of the settlement and be able to refer to it when they investigate other sites in the area, which include an Iron Age hill fort. The exact location is being kept secret by the water company at the moment because they said they want to protect the site.

Source: The Slough Observer (20 April 2004)