The 1988 excavation of the area in Newark included the Saxon defences provided an important hance for finding well-dated remains from this period. The rampart would seal the old ground surface, and any environmental material preserved there could well be important. The first possibility was for information from pollen preserved in the old soil layers, if the sands and gravel had not become too neutral from urban deposits containing mortar. The second possibilty was shown by the initial samples which showed that some charred remains were present as well. Ramparts can be very useful agents for preserving ancient land surfaces complete with features. The Newark material despite the early promise of finds contained very few plant remains. This is not really surprising, because even on a buried land surface one would be lucky to be able to find concentrations of preserved plant remains such as camp fireplaces, and nothing of the kind could be seen during the excavations at Newark. What they have, then, is a small glimpse of some Anglo-Saxon crops and environment, which certainly advances knowledge, if not as much as might have been hoped. Pollen from ramparts and associated land surfaces has usefully been studied at Chester (Roman rampart) and Worcester (Saxon rampart). At theses sites the pollen has been abundant and fairly well-preserved, in contrast to that found at Newark. The relative lack of pollen at Newark may be partly due to less suitable preservation conditions, and maybe the old soil surface was either removed, or it contained less pollen than at the other two sies mentioned. The bulk of rampart material would not to be expected to contain a lot of pollen, if it was made up from subsoil, and there was no sign that it had been made up with turves.