Elaine L. Morris

Production and Distribution of Pottery and Salt in Iron Age Britain: a Review.

This paper questions whether the current model of hillforts as central places for the control and redistribution of goods in Iron Age Britain is appropriate by reviewing the evidence for the production and distribution of both pottery vessels and salt in ceramic containers. Suitable data found in published reports of excavations from all parts of Britain are considered, if available, and the information is synthesized by defined region and broad phase.

The Collfryn Hillslope Enclosure, Llansantffraid Deuddwr, Powys: Excavations 1980–1982.

The report on partial rescue excavations of the Collfryn enclosure between 1980–82 presents a summary of the first large-scale investigation of one of the numerous semi-defensive cropmark and earthwork enclosure sites in the upper Severn valley in mid-Wales. Earlier prehistoric activity of an ephemeral nature is represented by a scattering of Mesolithic and Late Neolithic or early Bronze Age flintwork, and by a pit containing sherds of several different Beaker vessels. The first enclosed settlement, constructed in about the 3rd century bc probably consisted of three widely-spaced concentric ditches, associated with banks of simple dump construction, having a single gated entranceway on the downhill side. It covered an area of about 2.5 ha and appears to have been of a relatively high social status, and appropriate in size for a single extended-family group. This was subsequently reduced in about the 1st century bc to a double-ditched enclosure, by the recutting of the original inner ditch and the cutting of a new ditch immediately outside it. The habitation area between the 3rd and 1st centuries bc probably focused on timber buildings in the central enclosure of about 0.4 ha, whose gradually evolving pattern appears to have comprised between 3–4 roundhouses and 4–5 four-posters at any one time. Little excavation was undertaken between the outer ditches of the first phase settlement, but these are assumed to have been used as stock enclosures. A mixed farming economy is suggested by cattle, sheep/goat and pig remains, and remains of glume wheats, barley and oats. Industries included small-scale iron and bronze-working. The Iron Age settlement was essentially aceramic, although there are significant quantities of a coarse, oxidized ceramic probably representing salt traded from production centres in the Cheshire Plain. The entranceway was remodelled in about the late 1st or early 2nd, century AD by means of a timber-lined passage linked to a new gate on the line of the inner bank. There is equivocal evidence of continued occupation within the inner enclosure continuing until at least the mid-4th century AD, possibly at a comparatively low social level, associated with domestic structures of uncertain form sited on earlier roundhouse platforms, and including some four-posters and possible six-posters. Drainage ditches were dug across parts of the site during the Medieval and post-Medieval periods, which were associated with various structures, including a corn-drying kiln inserted into the inner enclosure bank in the 15th century.

Ironworking in the bronze age? Evidence from a 10th century BC settlement at hartshill copse, upper bucklebury, West Berkshire

Excavations at Hartshill Copse in 2003 uncovered evidence for Late Bronze Age settlement, securely dated to the 10th century BC, associated with long alignments of closely set posts: prehistoric landscape features with few known parallels. Extensive sampling of the settlement remains yielded quantities of burnt flint and plain Post Deverel-Rimbury potsherds, and, quite unexpectedly, a substantial quantity of iron hammerscale. This paper presents the excavation data, with supporting dating evidence, and the results of detailed analysis of the metallurgical residues. It explores the spatial distribution of artefact types within the settlement, and presents an interpretative model for settlement use. The nature of the settlement, with its carefully planned use of space and close relationship with the post alignments, is then discussed. Together, all this provides conclusive evidence for the earliest ironworking site yet recognised in Britain. The paper concludes with a comprehensive discussion of early ironworking in its British and European context.

Ceramic Petrology and prehistoric pottery in the UK

Initial compilation of a digital record of petrological thin-sections prepared from ceramics found in the United Kingdom, the English Heritage UKTS database, was completed in 1994. This paper was commissioned by English Heritage as one of a series of period studies designed to synthesise and review the contents of the database. From the total of c. 20,000 thin-sections recorded, c. 5500 (28%) relate to prehistoric pottery. Within the prehistoric entries, coverage varies both by period and by region. The main results are summarised by region, and a series of general discussion points are highlighted. The themes of technology, production, and exchange, the movement of pottery in the earlier prehistoric period, and the potential symbolic significance of inclusions such as rock, bone, and grog are all considered. Finally, recommendations for the minimum standardisation of petrological reports on prehistoric ceramics, and for further research, are outlined.

The Wrekin Hillfort Excavations 1973

SUMMARYFour-post buildings were found in the Outer Camp on a 1 in 6 slope, facing north-east. They had been rebuilt several times since their foundation c. 900 B.C. and were burnt c. 420 B.C. The village was then reduced to the Inner Camp but within a hundred years the Outer Camp was probably re-occupied. The hillfort was finally abandoned following a fire at about the time of the Roman advance C.A.D. 50.

A Neolithic and Bronze Age Monument Complex and its Early Medieval Reuse: Excavations at Netherfield Farm, South Petherton, Somerset, 2006

An early Neolithic causewayed enclosure, a middle Neolithic long enclosure and an earlier Bronze Age open enclosure were among a group of prehistoric features discovered and examined by excavation at Netherfield Farm, South Petherton during archaeological mitigation work ahead of the construction of a natural gas pipeline between Ilchester and Barrington, Somerset, in 2006. Of particular interest were burnt deposits within the long enclosure ditches and a possible Bronze Age field system. Assemblages of pottery and flintwork contribute to the understanding of these features and a programme of radiocarbon dating has amplified the chronology of activity on the site. Evidence from a group of burnt and unburnt pits and a partial enclosure reveal the reuse of the site between the fifth and eighth centuries AD.

A Caribbean feasibility—the Nevis Heritage Project

A team of archaeologists organized by the Department of Archaeology at the University of Southampton (UK), in association with the Nevis Historical and Conservation Society, conducted a series of feasibility studies in 1999 to determine whether the prehistoric and historic social landscapes of the Caribbean could be researched from one island, as a case study, in advance of both rapid development and frightening natural destruction. On the tiny island of Nevis, one of the Leewards in the Eastern Caribbean, the airport expansion scheme recently destroyed one of the oldest standing English fortifications in the Caribbean (Figure 1) (Morris et al. 1999), while Hurricane Lenny removed sand and palm trees to reveal two new colonial forts just last year. Torrential rainfall, uncontrolled by centuries of sugar-cane production, erodes prehistoric sites daily (Figure 2). These sandy middens are prime landscaping resources for new golf courses or building materials for hotels and homes.