Animal bone: [contribution to the article 'Roman settlement evidence at Tewkesbury hospital: Excavations in 2012-14' by T. Havard, and M. Alexander]

Excavation and watching briefs at Tewkesbury Hospital revealed evidence for Roman activity dating from the late 1st/early 2nd to the 4th century AD. Part of a small Roman enclosure at the north end of the excavated area contained pits and postholes. Finds from this area suggest the enclosure is adjacent to settlement. An infant burial with two pottery vessels was located to the south of the enclosure. Two bones from another infant burial and a single adult human bone were found in ditches. The enclosure was superseded by a trackway leading towards the River Swilgate, and elements of a later Roman field system. The finds, which include Roman brick and tile from a hypocaust system and an assemblage of Gaulish samian ware, support the interpretation of Tewkesbury as a rural Roman settlement, but with some higher-status buildings. A large medieval ditch, an associated ditch defining a trackway and several shallow ditches, probably derived from agricultural activity, were also recorded.