Enlarging the Past: The Contribution of Wetland Archaeology 0903903113, 9780903903110

The Rhind Lectures for 1994-5. Society of Antiquaries of Scotland, Monograph Series Number 11, and Wetland Archaeology R

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Enlarging the Past: The Contribution of Wetland Archaeology
 0903903113, 9780903903110

Table of contents :
List of illustrations ix
List of colour sections xv
Preface and acknowledgements xvii
1. In at the deep end 1
2. Joining the dots 26
3. The good, the bad and the ugly 53
4. Worth a special journey 77
5. The disappearance of the invisible 104
6 Expect the unexpected 133
References 160
Index 168

Citation preview

ENu\RGING THE PAST JOHN & BRYONY COLES

Co\·er illustrations and design by I\ h ke Rouillard

Thi s book is dedicated to Grahame Clark ( 1907- 1995)

JOHN & BRYONY COLES

ENLARGING THE PAST THE CONTRIBUTION OF WETLAND ARCHAEOLOGY The Rhind Lectures for 1994- 5

SOC IETY OF ANT IQUARIES OF SCOTLAND ," IONOG RAPH SERIES NUMBER I I and WETLAND ARC HAEOLOGY RESEARCH PROJECT (WAR P) OCCAS IONAL PAPER NUMBER 10

SOC I ETY OF A!\:TIQUAH.IES OF SCOTLA :,\!D 1\ 1QNOG RA PII SEH.IES

EDI T OR .

ALEXANDRA SH EPHERD

Thi s volume is published in conjunction with \X' E' I' LAND ARC HAEO[ .OGY RESEARC II PR OJI ~ ( :' I '

T ext © John & Bryony

Hrili~h

l .ibrary

C(l k ~

I )ala . available

Cataloguing- in - Publi e~l1 i o n

t\ c.lla[ogue record for this book

l~

from the British Library.

ISBN 0 903903 11 3 (SAS M onogr Ser) 0 9 5 1911- 3 2 (\X'A RP Occa., Pap)

[SB~

Produced by Short Run Prco;" I.ld. Exeter .

CONTENTS

List of illustrations l .is!

(l(

colour sections

Preface and acknowledgements

xv

xvii

In at the deep end 2 Joining the do ts

26

3 The:- good , the bad and the ugly

53

4

\'{fo rth a special journey

77

5 The disappearance of the invisible

104

6

133

Expect the unexpected

Rcfcrcm:cs

160

Index

168

"'"

Ei':I.A lI.fiI i':( ; Ti ll, I'AST

-----

ILLUSTRAnONS

l\-lap to show location of the European sites described in the text. 2 Chronological c hart of sites referred to in the text. 3 Two 'savages' with an unlikely pig, embarking in a logboat. 4

View of Roben Munro's tre nc h through the crannog at Lochlee, Ayrshire in 1878-79.

5 T wo pioneers of wetland arc haeology: a) Ar thur Hul!cid at the Glastonbury Lake Village 1906 and b) Frank Cushing dressed as a Dakota warrior in the late 19th ccorury.

xviii XIX

2 5

6

6 Three wooden masks with inset shell eyes from the excavations at

Key Marco. 7 The fi rst aerial photograph of a submerged Jake·dwelling, at Cortaillod in La ke Neuchatel, about 1925. 8

7 8

G rahame C lark's 1950 excavations at Star Carr.

10

9 The Star Carr sile and its immediate surroundings.

11

10 Friesack, Germany : a view of the recent excavations.

12

11

Friesack, Germany: an antler axe-head and its wooden haft.

13

12

Friesack, Germany: a) a large piece of knotless netting, made from twisted willow-bast cordage; b) a short length of rope made by plaiting willow- bast strings.

14

13 Chronological c hart illustrating the c hanges in organic malerial c ulture seen at Friesack.

15

14 Aerial view of the T orihama area in Japan.

19

15 Part of one of the occupation horizons in the shell midd en at T orihama, Japan.

20

If:,

22

T he Windnver. I'lorida, burial swamp after excavation.

17 One of the burials from \,\/indcwer, r'lorida , wrapped in a blanket a nd held down in the swamp by stakes dri\'en into the swamp peals.

23

18 Sweet Track, Somerset I.c\'els: uneo\'ering the jadeite axe-blade beside the U'ackway.

27

a~so...: i ated

19

The Sweet Track and its

range of arto.:fan:..

20

f\ \'iew of l-Iautl'ri\T-Champrcwyn::., Switzerland.

29

2 1 a ) Prehi:'lOrie posts exposed un the sho re o f Lake N euc h:hd al Au\'ernier during the winter of 1880; b) a 19th-ccmllry interpretatio n of posts ex posed at Oocr ,\ kilen on the north :.hore of I.akc Zurich. 22 2.1 24 25

PIOI of the posts belonging to th e :-.l'eolithic scnkmcrH at Hallteri\·c-Champrcwyres.

32

The posts of Hauteri\'c-Cham prc\'c}'fes resolved int{) jahlholl/alld exhibition 1990.

PREFACE It was a great honour to be invited to deliver the Rhind Lectures for 1995 to the

Society of Antiquaries of Scotland, and now to prescnt them fo r publication as a Society M onograph , We are, we believe, the first pair of archaeologists to be appointed as joint Rhind Lecturers, hut it is appropriate that we shared the lectures on wetland archaeology as we have sha red the surveys, excavations and analyses fo r 25 years. For the leclures, and for this Monograph, we have selected a number of themes to examine, each of which will show how wetland archaeology has enlarged o ur knowledge about the past. Each of these them es was d iscussed by both of us, in turn, for the lectures and we have followed the sa me practice for the chapters of the book. We hope the joins are not too obvious but in any event what we present here has been thoroughly discussed, time and again, and we are generally in agreement about most aspects of our studies even if we may each have ou r own emphasis and expressions. As it happens, our wetland activities have diverged over the years and so it has been easy to divide up the preparation of this book.

Our individual interests in wetland archaeology began in the Somerset Levels, jMC in 1963 and BJ C in 1970. We jointly directed the Somerset Levels Project from its establishment in 1973 to its self-administered demise in 1989, and other wetland projects have been in operation in the United Kingdom under our supervision since 1981. In bringing our wetland words to Scotland in 1995 we were aware that much was already going on and that even marc was being planned, and we hope the views and comments expressed in this book wi ll help in Ihe furtllerance of Scottish wetland archaeology. We received advi we thought !(l unde rline the power of dendm.:hrlHl010gical ~b\ll1 g by choo:.il1g a site esa1.:lly 1.:lmlemporary \\lIh Ihe Swec! ·1·r:H: k.

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Au\"\:: rnlcr .Jllnll~ Jhe "1Il1,'r ,.f 1XXO. II hen fh e

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lo',,'rnl I'n'"1 EgJolT In COlic, & l .:l\\son 198-

Haulerl\'e-( :ha mpre\'t:-yn:s is ,mc of a numher of large ~ lle.., exeavalcd 111 advance of road I,:on:-.lrunion along 1h..: non hern ..,hore of I.ake N..:uo.:h:lld, The wI)rk has been .:arrinl l'Ut by Beal Arnold a nd n'lk~lgli es undc r the \\\'cra ll dirc ...·li,'n ,'f ,\I i.:hc1 l:g1Ilff. \,\'c \' i~ltcd Ihe uught UUI large trunb that L'ould be \ plit into many pOS1S. or \\ hethL'r they \\ent fir~1 rnr the long straighl poles g row n from the ~tump of a felled tree, l)Ole" which needed httle further pTeparatmn !(lr u~e . l.ike\\i~e, \\e cannOI yet ~a~· \\hclher pL'ople ex ploi ted the fore~t~ do!>e to humL' from chOKe. for example to ITummise the ta~k of tr:lIl~p()rL o r \\h('lher they knew of good ~nurL'e:. of construction wood at a Ji~tanc(" but had no right~ of exploitation in tho~e places. 110\\,e\·er. thc dendmehmlh)logical al1aIYl.. e~ of Il iirnlc I and n('ighbollring senlem enh continuc, and 1l1eSl' argllmenh m:l }' need ITlOdificalion as further details of the palll'rn~ of fo rest cxplult:lt1oll :Ire rel-ealed, At the tIme of writing, hlr exumple, Billamhoi' reports the p\l\~ibi lit y of regular alt ernati on hetwcen a ~h and oak as the main ~pecie:. for hOll S(' C\)f1~Hllction at lliirn k I (peTS comm). The pre!\cJ1t cvidence from thc neighhourhood \)f I I Mn~laad - l-{()rnk I l>eelTlS to indicate slleces... i\·e \·i llages. each one occupied tilT I'lle or l\\O d('c:ldes tm ly. If. lind It is a hig 'ir, therc was but one ,·illage in the nL·ighhllllrhood at anyone time. exploitation of the forest for cOll!;lruction \\ood was proh:lhly gO\,L'fm:d more by cmlcerns mer tr:tn~port t.han hy re~lfJcti o n s on ternroTial rights. Beyond nile or two ki lometre ... , it \\a!> not worth the dl() T\ 10 gil for hc~t huilding wood, and next he!>t closer to home was used imto:ad. In this. is Iho:re a elue to IllC short life of the \'illages. and 10 rheir spacing along the lake ~h\lrL';'

------

JOISIN( , THI'. D OTS

_--'CC

POSTS AN D PEOPLE The three sites di scussed so far . 1h(' Sweet Track, HaUlcri\"c-Champrc\,cy rcs and l-I ornsl3ad- J lo rnlc IA all have well-preserved wood, and the analysis of the wood in conjunctio n with other Stlurc('S of evidence from each site has been remarkably informative. I)~u e, d uralion of usc o r occupatio n, esploitation of territories and relations between groups of people arc all better understood tha nks to the un locking of some of the informatio n held in the posts, a nd there will be mo rc to come as the s(.:icl1ce of dendrochronology dc\·clops. A few general comment s on how the resulls from these sites have affected our own understanding of Neolithi," pcurles m ay be appro priate here. First , there is th e speed of building: in the Som erset l .evels, twO ki lo m etres of in a season, or a month; six substantial houses be\w~e n spring and allnl mll fo r a N~ u ~ h ~il d \'illage; a Bodensee village n.:huilt im med iately fo llo wing a tire and only IWu to three years aft er the seuknwnt was fuunded . How did pcoplc find the tim e fo r felling and trimming and transpo rti ng :md prOi.:essi ng, nOI 10 mention the a ~t ual hui lding, o r was it all much easier than we suppose? tra~kwa y

Secondly, then.' is the heavy consumption of wood, Although M o rgan has ~akulated that seven large oak trees and about four smalle r o nes we re all that were needed 10 supply the Sweet Track planks, which does nOI seem excessh'e, Billamboz reckoned tha t 150 oak stools were necded 10 supply the pos ts fo r the first set o f houses at Ho rnle Ii\. An eq ual quantity of wood, if not from the same species, was 1lI..'Cded for the rebuild ing and more still fo r later additions and repai rs, all within a mere 10 years of the first building - and then people were nIT to start all over again som ewhere else. As hinted aho"e, perhaps it was exhausti{)n of local huilding materials that prompted people to mon:, rather Ihan exha ustio n of the ~n i 1. Indeed, o ne begins to thin k tha t field s may have been a by~produ~t of the pro nigah: usc of timhcr rather than 1"/',c t·CrItl . These people, like th e lhan of Sarawak in lal('r timl's, ~ou ld he dubbed II/Ull.l{l'Urs (Jc bois. Third ly, and al ready discussed to some eXlent , there is the sho rt life of sc tUements. Hauterive-Champrcveyn:s, Ihc onc site of those under dis(';ussion that has been fully excavatcd, epi to mises this: hcgun in 38 10 Be a nd go ne by 3790 Be , if not a little beforehand . Did people shift their farm ed land as read il y as th e ir houses? Perhaps not, if it was timher rather than soil exhaustion lhal prompted the move , allhough the continllal o nslaught o n the fore st mUSt have provided man y new o penings fo r ~ ult i \"at i i\n and plenty of browse fo r canle. Sho rt ~li\"ed set tlement s s u ~ceeding each othl..'r ra pidly within a region: would lhl..'ir separation in time be ~\· iU..:nl from the dryland fel:ord. or indeed thro ugh pollen ana l y~i'i? Proh:l hl y not. Studies \\"hil:h han: used a combination ul" typology and radioca rbon u:lIing to identify contempor:try and adjacent g ro ups of ploopk with small differences in material I:ullure. should perhaps ~ reconsidered in the light uf the dend rochro nological c \·jd..:ncc for settlemenl shift s lO\·..:ry de~a d c or so. The peop\..: may not be contcmpo rary but !o.uc(';essi\'c. the differences in rnat..:rial c u lture may be a renection of lime passi ng a nd no t of the d..:sin:: to he just a linle bit di rrer~ nt

from one's neighhours. but a li ttle bit ditTerent from one\ parcnt .~ . The region as a whole may he kss densely pnpulalctl than previously as)'lIml.:d. If we are 10 use Ihe evidence of the posts \() provide a belter understanding of postholes. wc have also to ask if weIland scttlemelll s wcre typkal or not. It c(Juld he that their location made them partic ula rly shorl-Jived . Ifso. why were they put there in thc first p l ace~ In due coursc. typological smdics of thc c\'olution of artefacts such a)' pottery and flint on wetland sites of known duration may begin 10 gi\"\'.' u), an idea of the duration of dr yland sites with Ihe same artefacts. And , a)' we shaH see later. there arc exceptional dr ylantl ~ites with waterloggcd fe:ltures that may abo contribute to the di scu),~ i on.

SOLV ING AN OL D PUZZ LE T hrough tlle work at Hornstaad- ll orn le and Hau terive-C hilmprC\'cyres w..: sec the fines t and mosl prec ise results of dendrochrono logy - the absolulc dating of the individual components of a scnit'mcnt and a settlement pattcrn . These siles, ant! th..:re arc increasing numbers of such sites, have the adnilltuge of some COI1suuctinn in oak. a fine bui lding material and o ne Ihat i~ Ih..: basis of Europcan dent!rm:hronology. At some ~ites. large oak trec), were being used, with long tree-ring sequences, so l..kndrochronological work is relatively ca),y although il has takcn man y years to bring agreement to the subject on a pan·Europcan basis, Nut all p rchislOric sites ha\'c the ad\':lntages of oaks in lheir constructional phases, and it has wkcn some persistent and imaginative work \0 ext..:nd the concept uf dendmchronulogy into new ant! ... urprising areas. \'.;'e take as an exam pk o f lhis an o ld site Ihal was in effect stuck - exca"aled lo ng ::Igo hut Iflcapable o f a sensihk and balanced Interpretation , Bec.\U.,..: II \\ as. o r hat! h..:cn. a ,cry wet sit..:. thc potemial l.·xistcd for new l.·xpl.·rimental techniquc ... 10 h..: tried. and their success ca n be gauged hy whal follows below. The ~i l": is Alvastra in cent.ral ~oulhcrn Swed..:n, ncar lhe eastern ~ hore ()f Lake Villlcm. It \\'a, ., uh~w ntiaJl y e.xca,';Jtt.'d in lhal rather depre ... wd pl'riod of wetland archa..:olllgy. fmm 1909 t~) 19.10. h~ 0 Frodin. who \\";1'" nllt able to puhlish a full repnrt ( Frodin 1910), Thc )'ite ..:onsisted of a platform of posts and log), cO"cring an area in ..:;..:cc),), of 1000 sq III (illus 27 ). Th..: wood had b..:en laid in a small pl,.'atbog ncar a ~ p r ing with a mudl huger bog stretching :l\\ay \I) the north. The rlatform "a~ positioned well away from the edge (If th..: bog. about 75 m from th..: near\.'St drylant!. and it was c k :uly a ddiherale dccision (\) pial''': Ihe structure in the \'ery w("\ ~pring-fed mirl.'. There were o\"er 100 ltm":~lOne heartllS placet! on the platform. in a relatively ... truclured manner, and the excavalOrs arrempl..:d to wo rk Out [he sequence of hC.lrth-building on 11K' basis o f the tC)rmlltion of peat. and th..: wOllden layers and artcfach of the platform. hut thi ... \\ a, "cry difficult to maintain 1Il Ihe absence of del.:i ... i,·e c hronological lIldicator, . A great t!..:al of d..:hris lay about 011 thc platform. firc-..:rack..:d ~wncs. animal bone. human hone. stone battle ax..:),. pOllery (much of il of high 4uality). and heap~ of ..:c reals. The alllmals broughl 10 the platform included d omC ~ lic cank. sheep and

JOIN ING TI ll; DOTS

pig, and wild animals suc h as deer, elk and pig, and fur·bearin g bear, bea\'er, badger, marten and lynx" Some wild plants were also reco\'ered , including apples and bazeln uts. A woode n trackway led into a nd through the platform from the dry land, and the disposition of thl' many wooden pO SIS or piles on the platform

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Plan of tho: ,,,,,,,len ", ... t< at Al\"aSlra. S" euen. r~"caku b) cart) cx.;~' au.'n~ tlr Fri"hn (ma in ar~a un.;,wcrcd) an,[ .\I ahll