Occupation Sites on a Chiltern Ridge: Excavations at Puddlehill and Sites Near Dunstable, Bedfordshire. Pt. I Neolithic Bronze Age and Early Iron Age 9780904531329, 9781407319339

Table of contents :
Cover
Copyright
Contents
LIST OF FIGURES
LIST OF PLATES
FOREWORD AND SUMMARY
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
THE NEOLITHIC OCCUPATION
THE BRONZE AGE
THE EARLY IRON AGE
EARLY IRON AGE 'C' - BELGIC PERIOD
GEOLOGY OF THE PTJDDLEHILL SITE
DISCUSSION OF THE PREHISTORIC SETTLEMENT OF THE RIDGE
PLATES

Citation preview

Occupation Sites on a Chiltern Ridge Excavations at Puddlehill and Sites near Dunstable, Bedfordshire Part I: Neolithic, Bronze Age and Early Iron Age · C. L. Matthews for The Manshead Archaeological Society of Dunstable with Foreword&__ Summary by C. F. C. Hawkes

British Archaeological Reports 2 9

1976

British Archaeological Reports 122

Banbury Road, Oxford OX2 7BP, England GENERAL EDITORS

A.C.C. Brodribb, M.A. Mrs. Y.M. Hands

A.R. Hands, B.Sc., M.A., D.Phll. D.R. Walker, B.A. ADVISORY EDITORS

Neil Cossons, M.A., F.S.A., F.M.A. C.B. Burgess, M.A. Professor B.W. Cunliffe, M.A., Ph.D., F.S.A. Sonia Chadwick Hawkes, B.A., M.A., F .S.A. Professor G.D.B. Jones, M.A., D.Phil., F.S.A. Frances Lynch, M.A., F.S.A. P.A. Mellars, M.A., Ph.D. P.A. Rahtz, M.A., F.S.A.

B.A.R. 29, 1976: "Occupation Sites on a Chiltern Rid ge: Excavations at Pud d lehill and sites near Dunstable, Bed ford shire. Part I: Neolithic, Bronze Age and Early Iron Age" © C.L.Matthews, 1976

The author’s moral rights under the 1988 UK Copyright, Designs and Patents Act are hereby expressly asserted. All rights reserved. No part of this work may be copied, reproduced, stored, sold, distributed, scanned, saved in any form of digital format or transmitted in any form digitally, without the written permission of the Publisher. ISBN 9780904531329 paperback ISBN 9781407319339 e-book DOI https://doi.org/10.30861/9780904531329 A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library This book is available at www.barpublishing.com

OCCUPATION

SITES

ON

A

CHILTERN

R IDGE

CONTENTS Page List of text

f igures

List of plates Foreword and

Summary

by Professor C .

F .

C .

Hawkes

Acknowledgements

Xiv

The Area 1 .

1

THE NEOLITHIC

PERIOD

Maiden Bower Causewayed Camp

1

Neolithic

3

P its

1 to

1 1

Pottery discussion

by Dr.

I sobel

Smith

Neolithic polished axes Animal

bones

f rom Pit

Beaker grave Beaker

6 by Dr.

Caroline Grigson

1 1 1 9

f inds

skeletal

by Dr.

David Clarke

by Dr.

D .

R .

Brothwell

and Dr.

E .

V .

Jones

remains

2 1

2 2

THE BRONZE AGE Ring Ditches

1 to

7

2 5

Occupation S ite

3 6

Summary of the Occupation 3 .

9 1 1

Beaker burial

2 .

i

S ite

4 2

THE EARLY IRON AGE a )

Puddlehill

44

I ntroduction

44

Group 1 .

Huts

1 to

3

Hearth Pit

Group

2 .

3 .

1

Discussion

5 6

Hut 4

60

Storage

Group

48

Pit

1

Discussion

64

Huts

6 7

5 and 6

Storage

Pits

Hearth Pits

2 to 2 to

18 8

Ditch A Discussion

89

Page Group 4 .

Storage

P its

19

to

9 4

2 7

S ilo Pit A Enclosure

1 Ditch

Discussion Group 5 .

Huts

8 ,

Storage

1 11

9 and Pits

Enclosure

1 15

1 0 2 8

to

3 1

2 Ditch 1 24

Discussion Group 6 .

Storage

Pits

3 2

to

1 26

3 4

Ditch C Enclosure

3 Ditch 1 32

Discussion Group 7 .

Enclosure

1 34

4 Ditch

1 38

Discussion

b )

Puddlehill

I ron Age pottery

Puddlehill

I ron Age animal bones

Other

Iron Age

1 50

Sites

Totternhoe Enclosure

1 53

ite A Occupation S

1 54

ite Occupation S

B

1 55

ite Occupation S

C ,

Maiden Bower Early 4 .

140

su mm ary

THE BELGIC PERIOD

Features

1 ,

2 and

I ron Age

( IRON AGE C )

3

1 56 1 60 1 63 1 67

The Cremations Occupation S ite

1

1 70

Occupation S ite

2

1 75

Pottery

1 79

s ummary

193

Animal bones Geology of Puddlehill Discussion of the Plates

Prehistoric

1 94 Settlements

1 95 1 99

LIST OF FIGURES

F ig.

No.

Page

1

Distribution Map

2

2

Neolithic

4 f inds

4

3

Neolithic Pit

6 and

6

4

Neolithic

1 1

5

Beaker burial.

6

R ing Ditch

3 .

Beaker

7

R ing Ditch

7 .

P lan and

8

R ing Ditch

7 f inds

9

Bronze Age Occupation

S ite

3 7

10

Bronze Age Occupation

S ite pottery

41

11

Puddlehill

S ite

1 2

Puddlehill

Early

1 3

Hut

1 .

14

Hut

1 f inds

50

1 5

Hut

2 .

5 1

16

Huts

17

Hut

18

Hearth

1 pottery

19

Hut 4 .

Plan and

20

Hut 4 pottery

62

21

Storage

P it

1

63

22

S torage

P it

1 f inds

64

23

Hut

5 .

P lan and

24

Hut

5 f inds

69

2 5

Hut

6 f inds

7 0

26

Hut

7 vessel

7 0

2 7

Storage

P it

3

7 1

2 8

Storage

P it

3 f inds

7 1

29

Storage

P it

4

7 3

3 0

Storage

P it

4 f inds

7 3

3 1

Storage

P it

5 f inds

74

3 2

Storage

P it

6 f inds

7 5

Pit

Pit

pottery

8

P lan and

s ection

and

collared urn

s ections

2 0 2 6 2 8 3 3

P lan I ron Age

45 S ite

P lan and conjectural

reconstructions

Plan

2 and 3 .

f inds

3 pottery

47 48

53

Plan

54 5 5 s ection

conjectural

60

reconstruction

67

F ig.

No.

Page

3 3

Storage

P it

1 1

7 5

3 4

Storage

P it

1 1

f inds

7 6

3 5

Storage

P it

1 2

f inds

7 6

3 6

Storage

P it

1 3

3 7

Storage

P it

1 3

3 8

Storage

Pit

1 7

3 9

Storage

Pit

1 7

40

Storage

Pit

1 8

41

Storage

Pit

1 8

4 2

Hearth

P it

2

8 3

4 3

Hearth

P it

2 f inds

8 4

44

Hearth

P it

3 f inds

8 5

4 5

Hearth

P it 4 f inds

8 6

46

Hearth

P it 8 f inds

8 7

4 7

Ditch A .

48

Ditch A f inds

8 9

49

Storage

P it

1 9

9 4

5 0

Storage

P it

1 9

5 1

Storage

Pit

20

5 2

Storage

Pit

20.

5 3

Storage

P it

2 1

54

Storage

Pit

2 1

5 5

S torage

Pit

2 2

5 6

Storage

Pit

2 2

5 7

Storage

P it

2 3

5 8

Storage

Pit

2 3

5 9

Storage

P it

2 4

60

Storage

Pit

24

61

Storage

Pit

2 5

62

Storage

Pit

2 5

63

Storage

P it

2 6

64

Storage

P it

2 6

6 5

Storage

P it

2 7

6 6

Storage

P it

2 7

6 7

S ilo Pit A

1 07

68

S ilo

1 08

7 7 f inds

7 8 7 9

f inds

8 0 8 1

f inds

S ection

8 2

8 8

f inds

9 5 9 6

Bone toggle

9 7 9 7

f inds

9 8 9 9

f inds

9 9 1 00

f inds

1 01 1 01

f inds

1 02 1 03

f ind

1 03 1 04

f inds

1 04 1 05

f inds

P it A f inds

1 05

Fig.

No.

Page

69

Enclosure

1 Ditch

70

Enclosure

1 Ditch

f inds

1 10

7 1

Enclosure

2 and associated Huts

1 15

7 2

Hut 9 f inds

1 16

7 3

Hut

1 17

74

Storage

P it

2 8

7 5

Storage

P it

2 8

7 6

Storage

P it

2 9

7 7

Storage

P it

2 9

78

Storage

Pit

3 0

120

7 9

Storage

Pit

3 1

1 21

80

Storage

P it

3 1

81

Enclosure

2 Ditch

section

1 23

82

Enclosure

2 Ditch

f inds

1 24

83

Storage

Pit

3 2

84

Storage

P it

3 2

85

Storage

P it

3 3

86

Storage

P it

3 3

87

Storage Pit

3 4

88

Storage

3 4

89

Ditch C section

130

90

Ditch C f inds

1 30

91

Enclosure

3 Ditch

section

1 31

92

Enclosure

3 Ditch

f inds

1 32

93

Enclosure

4 Ditch

sections

134

94

Enclosure

4 Ditch

f inds

1 36

9 5

Group 1 pottery

1 41

96

Group 2 pottery

142

97

Group

3 pottery

1 43

98

Group

3 pottery continued

144

99

Group 4 pottery

145

100

Group 5 pottery

146

101

Group 6 pottery

148

102

Group 7 pottery

149

103

Early

1 0

1 09

f inds

P it

1 19 f inds

1 19 120

f inds

1 20

f inds

1 22

126 f inds

127 1 28

f ind

128 1 29

f inds

I ron Age Enclosure,

1 29

Totternhoe

1 52

Fig.

No.

Page

1 04

Occupation Site A pottery

1 54

105

S ite

Pit

1 55

106

S ite C Feature

1 p ot

1 56

1 07

Site C Feature

2 pottery

1 57

1 08

S ite C Feature

3 pottery

1 58

1 09

Maiden Bower Ditch

1 10

Maiden Bower.

ill

Belgic Occupation

1 12

Belgic

1 13

Belgic Ditch

1 14

Enclosure

1 15

Belgic

Hut

1 .

1 16

Belgic

Hut

2 over Enclosure

1 17

Plan of Belgic

1 18

Belgic Occupation

1 19

Belgic pottery,

Types

1 and

1 20

Belgic pottery,

Types

3 ,

4 and

5

183

121

Belgic pottery,

Types

6 ,

7 and 8

186

1 22

Belgic pottery,

Types

9 , ,

10 and

1 88

1 23

Belgic pottery,

Types

1 2,

B Storage

section

Skeletons S ite

cremation urns 2 .

1 60

in ditch

1

1 64

and brooches

Plan and

s ection

2 Ditch with child's

and other types

Plan and

Site

1 61

grave

s ection

1 68 1 71 1 72 1 73

4 Ditch

2

1 74 1 76

small

f inds

1 78

2

13,

1 81

1 1

14 191

LIST OF

PLATES

Page P late

I

Aerial photograph of Maiden Bower

P late

I I

Maiden Bower beneath

the

2 01

showing Neolithic ditch Early

P late

I II

Beaker burial

P late

IV

Interior of

I ron Age

grave

Storage

P its

rampart

201

group

2 03

P it

205

3 1

P late V

Storage

8 and 9 on quarry

f ace

P late VI

Rim fragments

P late VII

Ceramic

P late VIII

Carbonised Early

I ron Age bread

P late IX

Skeleton of girl

in Enclosure

205

of s houldered bowls

207

l id with curvilinear decoration

207

loaf

4 Ditch

209

209

FOREWORD AND

SUMMARY

Christopher Hawkes

This report brings to its readers the work of a team, a devoted society: the Manshead S ociety of Dunstable. In and around that ancient Bedfordshire town on the Romans' Watling Street, the society' s operations in archaeology have been incessant, now with a history of almost thirty years. An even e arlier start by its l eader, then j ointly heading a Rover S cout Crew , got important results f rom a Late Bronze s ite n ear Totternhoe, notice below; the Antiquaries Journal published the f inds, and the f inders became my f riends. Mr. Leslie Matthews, marked thus already by his energy in pre-war years, is the present report' s main author, collectively backed by the whole society. To f oster its post-war growth as a team came an Extra-Mural Tutor, Dr. Morris ( Oxford and true s on of Wales), from London University. John Morris, animating all with his brisk tuition and resourceful discipline, showed men and equally women the rigours of the game along with its j oys. And the Dunstable country was certainly an opportune f ield f or it. In the ' Five Knolls' Bronze 2 Age barrows on the Downs ( where the Wheelers dug in 1929), and Maiden Bower - Neolithic camp and Iron Age f ort -

prehistory had visible remains. about, was lying i nvisible?

S o how much

else,

round

What dominates the Dunstable country i s the steep e scarpment of the Chiltern Hills. Watling Street, heading to north-north-west, cuts through them; along them to eastnorth-east runs the I cknield Way , prehistoric and timeless. Their scarp , jutting out to Totternhoe and east of it f lanking the Puddlehill ridge, i s quarried on a very great scale, by the cement industry, f or chalk. Such a quarry's cleared-back edge will disclose any f eatures in the rockchalk surface, and permit, before its destruction, archaeological diggings by hand. That was how the Totternhoe discoveries by the Rover Crew came about. But where quarrying bites into ancient areas very much greater in s ize, the value of the work can be more than proportionate if only it i s kept on long enough, as the areas' clearance advances the f ront, to exhaust their entire potential. And of this big order of s ize was the complex of s ites on the Puddlehill r idge. To exhaust its main potential, besides digging also f arther afield, and covering everywhere Roman and Anglo-Saxon as well as prehistoric, has taken the s ociety 2 4 years, 1951 to 1975. This is labourof-love work, never-mind-the-weather work, week-end and holiday and any-spare-time work,

1

steadily maintained year

:n year out. It stands f or an output of effort and patience, skill and goodwill in the Dunstable team, which I have never known equalled elsewhere, or hardly approached, in voluntary British archaeology. Methods s uch as theirs may have r isks. Yet the report shows a very high measure of success. S o I will pass to a quick-run summary, touching main points that I think stand out. The Neolithic f eatures, 3 f urther to the ditches of the camp at Maiden Bower, c onsist of pits, one actually in it but all the rest strung out from it eastwards, e ight on the Puddlehill ridge in three locations, and two between. With the c areful statistic of their f inds of f lint and stone and organic materials, specialist reports include Dr. Caroline Grigson' s on animal bones, and Dr. I sobel Smith's discussing the pottery: Late Neolithic Grooved Ware. Three styles being represented, possibly the users were distinct communities. Yet if pottery was made 4 by women, might we not think of differential exogamy? As f or chronology, I sobel Smith g ives radiocarbon dates, but without calibration f rom radiocarbon to approximate solar years; thus her early 2nd-millennium f igures may be raised, well into the 3 rd. The s ame applies to the Beaker dates adduced by Dr. David Clarke, in his comment on the beaker and pin f rom the grave f ound f arther to west, near Sewell. It i s a Wessex/Middle-Rhine-group beaker, and the f oreign affinity i s matched by the pin, both in its 5 bronze-composition and the type ( twin-spiral) of its head But the dating by Clarke i s too low, at c . 1 800-1750, once we use the calibration to approximate solar years. So this Beaker group' s r elation to graves with ' Wessex-culture' f eatures, l ater by a number of centuries, i s made more tenuous. The relation certainly exists, but the interval allows of additional f actors, datable nearer to the ' Wessex' f eatures themselves. .

We are thus brought on into the Bronze Aqe. Between the Downs with their s ky-line ' Five Knolls' barrows and the S ewell-Totternhoe s carp , the s ociety has excavated f ive r inq-ditches, with original cremations in three. Of the other two, one l acked traceable interment; the second ( No. 7 ) lacked traceable primary, but after its original ditch had been re-cut, and the re-cut d itch had f illed with s ilt, this had an intrusive cremation grave dug into it. The primary ditch cut a portion of a previous baked-clay f loor, with s take-hole bordering. The f inds from them all, as a whole, display a commixture of native characters cremation, ring-ditches, knife-dagger, mace-head, etc., and s ome collared-urn pottery with the f lint-gritted pottery that marks henceforward our Middle and Later Bronze Age, but cannot to-day be denied a beginning in the Early. And the Bronze Age occupation s ite, disclosed near r ing-ditch 3 , with its s everal pits and its post-hole plans f or circular house and f or drying-racks, has pottery that offers a l ink with the r ing-ditch s eries; f lint-gritted almost all, with some -

-

ii

sherds f ine but most of them coarse, it also had two quite certainly f rom collared urns. These alone, moreover, prevented the excavators dating the s ite to the Iron Age s o a like are the f lint-gritted f abrics and f orms and f inger-tip impressions in the two. There was thus a continuity here, it s eems, into Iron Age times from Bronze Age; not of l and-use only, in the area as a whole, but in tradition of material culture, with the f lint-gritted ware at f irst competing with and then s uperseding the c ollared-urn, perhaps quite early in Middle Bronze Age t imes. -

Nonetheless, as s o often in Britain, the continuity was less than total. This appears f rom the Late Bronze Age occupation-site noticed above ( with Note 1 ); the Rover Crew explored it in 1 936-38, in f our portions at the edge of the quarry north-east of Totternhoe Castle. I t could even be c alled transitional between Late Bronze and Early I ron Age, but when quarrying was re-commenced, which happened in 1 968, and the level ground on the top of the ridge was s tripped, pottery suggesting f urther transition was recovered f rom the f irst two f eatures observed, while the third, a store-pit, had distinctive s herds but recalled Puddlehill Group 3 ( see below). More distant, in a lower-lying f old of the ground, were f lint-gritted sherds at a probably l ater D-shaped enclosure, while a f urther i solated s ite had s herds l ike those from Ivinghoe Beacon standing away beyond, but to be noticed now directly as the region's clearest l ink between the periods. With organised digging f orbidden in the Totternhoe area f or some years past, l ittle more than surface-observing can here be recorded. Yet events in its phase of transition do s eem to have s cattered into various patches what had before been a concentration at the Rovers' s ite. Puddlehill will be a different story. Now f or this Late Bronze s ite itself. Of the f our portions explored, No. 3 was important f or a s tratified s equence. Beneath the occupation, and traced running -

f ar on west, was a l inear ditch. Resembling s uch ditches ( for example) in Wessex a s are typical already in Middle Bronze times though with Late Bronze, even s ome Iron Age cases it was 8 f eet deep, with narrow f lat bottom, and -

-

s ides splayed 1 0 f eet apart at the top. Most of its depth showed the s ides s till f resh, against a f illing of lumpy clean chalk; over this s agged a ' turf-line', more or less decalcified, and on it was the hearth or occupation-layer with pottery, along with a bronze dresspin, in type Continental. ' Small vase-head' pins of bronze, l ike this, f rom the Alps north-west and northward, start commonly sooner and are hardly later than around 7 00 B .C. ( This one was only called later on the ground of my beliefs at the time of publication). From the area No. 2 came a p ot full of carbonised wheat: an older f orm of Triticum vuiqare ( said Professor John Percival) than that most common i n Britain in the Early Iron Age. The pottery from all the areas dug, f lint-gritted indeed as

i ii

before, . i s hard, often thin, f lattish-rimmed, s urfaceworked with f ingers or tool, never f inger-tip impressed, and s lightly or quite high-shouldered. In these respects it changes the tradition. And Professor S . S . Frere, when he noticed it afresh, distinguished it also from the pottery next to be noticed: that f ound in the excavations of the 1 960's on Ivinqhoe Beacon, 3 ½ miles south-southwest of Totternhoe. He thought this l ater. Ivinghoe Beacon, as remarked here already, is the region's clearest l ink between the Late Bronze and Iron Age. 6 Among its f inds were Late Bronze Age bronzes, including razor and end-winged axe. Its pottery, f lint-gritted, i s yet distinct f rom Totternhoe's ( the Rovers' s ite) in its including f inger-tip ornament and other native-traditional f eatures. I t nevertheless combines these with stronger high shoulders, and f laring everted r ims, which are evident novelties. Once again, then, an instalment of novel characters has appeared, adopted here more fully into the tradition of our Bronze Age potting. With it are biconical spindle-whorls, and wedge-shaped weights f or looms, which stand f or a textile industry, novel again. And the pottery all, with this, to-day must share the approximate date the century around 7 00 valid f or the bronzes. Its abundance, and s ome of i ts details, are novel, as of course i s the f ortification, and the advent of post-hole plans for houses not only round, but rectangular. -

-

Group 1 of the Puddlehill Iron Aqe sequence, s eeming to f ollow ( it has now no bronzes), has a t erminal date-limit not much after 5 00, because of what f ollows. Its initial l imit, if it follows on Ivinghoe, i s somewhat before 600. I ts l ikeliest range will be the 6th century in any case. Besides the date, one must also consider the topography. The Iron Age s equence i s all located on the Puddlehill ridge itself, with bounds that s eldom shifted f ar, on the east of the l ine of Watling Street. The Bronze Age s ite was away to west, j ust over 2 km off; there too was the Totternhoe Late Bronze s ite and the s catter to the Iron Age minor ones; but the Puddlehill Iron Age concentration, here, i s topographically new. So its location, kept from now into Roman times and -

empty only once was a di slocation at the start. Occupation was drawn or driven to what r ises as a hill on the crest of the ridge, distant f rom the nearest water in the valley to north by nearly 1 km , but overlooking the I cknield Way ( to-day much narrowed f rom its ancient -

sprawling), and all around with easy visibility and access. If its start was also the start of Maiden Bower as an Iron Age f ort, or as a central s ite that grew to be a fort, the commanding f eature of the district, the power that e stablished this could be the power that affected the whole dislocation, deserting a Bronze f or an I ron Age pattern in the wider ambience of l and-use. At present, while the claims of Maiden Bower f or a modern excavation are dormant, the s uggestion ( I think regrettably) cannot

iv

be tested. Meanwhile Puddlehill's Group 1 , with its pottery throughout as its unifying f actor, gives us a round house 3 0 f eet across ( unhappily the quarry had destroyed any porch), with main posts twice renewed, and store-pit inside but none elsewhere. Working-hollows a lso were absent; 7 0 yards from the house was a hearthpit; and nearer i t and f arther were the s ites of two rectangular post-built structures, of the kind seen often elsewhere to-day a s house, no longer as ' granary '. -

Groups 2 and 3 may be taken together: the distinction i s a matter of pottery. Assigned t o 2 are a distant storepit in its f illing was a punishment-burial ( young -

woman) and ' Hut 4 ', l ike a working-hollow , but postholed f or roof ( with a l ateral store-pit), up in the north of the site. Both have pottery nearly all coarse, and s till including s ome Group 1 shapes, but otherwise l ike Group 3 , tempered with s and, and with f lint less prominent. Group 3 had hearth-pit 8 ( near ' Hut 4 '), two store-pits and then f our more, all placed in a southward succession towards two f urther couples of store-pits, and a couple of hearth-pits, approaching the group's two houses at the s ite's south edge one ( 5) with s tore-pit internal, one ( 6) with external and f our more hearth-pits. Some 1 20 yards away north-east was a smaller house ( 7) with its own f ive store-pits. None of these houses was built l ike the normal round house s een in Group 1 ; their r ing was a penannular wall-trench, cut for a wall of contiguous -

-

-

uprights

-

internally

( 5)

3 8

feet across,

( 6)

3 2

f eet,

( 7) 1 5½ feet with entrance lacking any porch, and wide: in 5 ( facing to east) 1 8 f eet, in 6 ( to west) 1 5 f eet, and in 7 ( to south) some 1 0 feet. The roofing-traces ( escaping l ater disturbance only in 5 ) have allowed of a reconstruction; it i s worth close s tudy. Round though -

they are, these Group 3 houses are novel; and so i s the pottery. While Group 2 gives a l ower-grade s ample, dominantly coarse and with some e choes of 1 , it includes coarse renderings of Group 3 shapes which themselves may be coarse ( some with shell instead of f lint), or f ine, and are tempered with sand (rare ly c ha ff) . And the -

shapes

that dominate

the

f ine,

and re-appear among the

coarse, are angular shapes: such ; i s were brought to the Upper Thames, and t o Chil tern s ites l ike Chinnor above 7 it, in what to-day i s quite cert ainly the 5th century B .C. The best black-burnished pieces here are as f ine as any in Britain; notable also i s the l inear ornament, incised after primary f iring. The Occasional f inds in iron include a r ing-headed pin as at Chinnor. The whole extends to an overlap in t ime with the pottery from Pitstone, f ive miles off to west, which to conform with the 8 modern Upper Thames chronology s hould run f rom around 400 But continuance at all much longer, as evidenced there, was here cut short. The s ole unfinished Group 3 f eature i s the start of a ditch ( Ditch A ), meant perhaps f or an enclosure to protect the s ite, but quickly .

abandoned. In the rapidly-fallen chalk at its bottom , many pebbles were probably s lingstones. An interval V

f ollowed,

obliterating even the

important

f eatures

on the

ground. Group 4 is what ends the interval. It brings f resh novelty. Its store-pits, 10 of them , are all together in the middle of a ditched enclosure, quadrilateral with opposite entrances; one very broad ( for movable hurdling?) the other narrow, with gate-post holes ( one dug through a Group 3 hearth-pit). The sub-rectangular ' Pit A ', within it, of doubtful use ( just possibly a s ilo), was the only other internal f eature recognised. I f there were dwellings f or which the enclosure, three-quarters of an acre, had plenty of room it remains to ask why none -

-

could in f act be traced. The excavators thought of s kincovered shanties or tents. Yet the s ite was bleak. And at Danebury, on Hampshire chalk, Professor Cunliffe lately has shown how houses, with circular wall built thick between f acings of thin but close-set stakes, can be f ound where an overlying deposit has shielded their remains from weathering, yet on ground l eft open, and trodden on, vanish with minimal traces or none. With the walling-substance removed, and the s takes, their holes still clean disappear, unlike the holes of solid-wood posts which excavators normally recognise. Such houses are thus a possibility here. The alternative -

-

would not be dwellings, or

( likelier?)

but be hurdled pens

f or

cattle

sheep.

Group 4 's distinction f rom 3 , and the interval between them , are both important. That the Group 3 f eatures all had vanished f rom the surface, when 4 came in, appears from the gate-post s et i n the f illing of the Group 3 hearth-pit 3 requiring unexpectedly a packing of assorted stones f or its hole and the digging of storepits twice ( 21 and 2 6) into Group 3 pit-fills. And a s iting only a l ittle f arther aside, for the whole enclosure, would have kept it away from these and from several Group 3 f eatures besides, which its bank ( inside -

-

the ditch, as the ditch-fill showed) will have run right over. The excavators' e stimate of time for the interval, a century or not much l ess of the order of 8 0 or 7 0 years? has f air comparative support. And when Group 4 comes to an end, there are three more groups to allow f or -

-

still, the l ast being f ixed towards or around the midf irst century B .C. So if the early 4th takes the end of Group 3 , Group 4 can have a start quite near 3 00. However loose-dated, it anyhow brought very definite cultural changes. The houses of Group 3 type have gone, whatever may have c ome in their stead. ' Pit A ' is unique. The ditched enclosure itself i s novel to the s ite. That the s ite' s identity was kept and resumed, when the interval was past, i s s uggestive: of a land-use still kept static plough farther off i s ascertained, so pasture would be near. But the pottery now has the -

f eatures of a quite new style and mode of production. Flint appears at most in f inely-ground temper; the old

vi

f lint

gritting has disappeared;

shell grit

is rare;

m tan here ifest is. still Surf s an aces d ,tem op ft er en , b sut triat the ed ch when ange they in tex are ture r ough is 10 may be smoother, or f ine; on a quarter of the total of s herds they are highly burnished. The r ims on the coarse, when f lat, may be indented as though with the f inger-nail; f inger-tip marking i s otherwise nearly extinct though the f latness cf rim , at t imes pronounced , may still be British in tradition. The normal f orms of body make a total change f rom the angular profiles, or any -

that are high in the s houlder, that mark Group 3 . Fine or coarse, irrespective of s ize, they are barrel-shaped. Their rims may have outward l ip, even a neck; and s ome are explicitly bead-rims. These shapes, the f abric and the burnish, speak f ar l ess of the past than the future; their potters' craft now i s ' Iron Age B ', well forward in the British fringe of La Tène. And the Celtic culture that bears that name was known to the potters in its art. ( On this at Hunsbury too, by Northampton, see remarks in Note 10, above s ignalled). Group 4 ' s best examples are the bead-rim j ar F ig. 5 0, No. 1 , with its spiral s croll, and the l id No. 3 with a dotted design that is almost a spiral triskele. Professor Jope when he saw i t gave the l id a provisional date in the early 3 rd century B . C. 1 ' This f its the chronology guessed f or Group 4 j ust now on independent grounds. All these traditions now l ived on. A f urther one brought in loomweights of clay , triangular and bored through the corners obliquely , no longer through the top transversely. Those f ound had been spoilt in the boring and rejected. The type must indicate f urther advance in the use of the warp-weighted loom, though spindle-whorls all were simpler ( rounded or f lattish). For carpentry advance, there is a well-set iron saw. Yet grinding was still done only , i t seems, on saddle querns. Group 5 in p ottery continues on from Group 4 . Burnished sherds, some again with decoration, now exceeded onethird of its total. What chiefly distinguished Group 5 was its change or l ay-out, f rom the previous group' s enclosure to one much smaller, Enclosure 2 , located a l ittle to the north. The ditch of this l acked an entrance-gap ( though a ' tail' ran off at one corner), s o presumably was crossed by bridge to the houses within. These, three small huts ( 8 10), had been r ound, and built with posts; each had a hearth and the middle one also a store-pit. Eighty yards east ( by a barren l ittle ditch), three store-pits had s imilar material. I ron and worked bone implements occurred l ess seldom; triangular -

loomweights again a s in Group 4 . For grinding grain there had now come rotary querns. This great alleviat ion of toil for women reached Britain during ' Iron Age B '. Hunsbury has many; the type at Puddlehill s eems similar. I n the ditch of this Enclosure 2 were -

-

f ound 62 pebbles, apparently s lingstones. the change to Group 6 i s an open question.

vii

What

caused

Group 6 , besides one i solated ditch, on a curve cut through Group 4 's, had its ditched Enclosure 3 ( a l ittle l arger than 2 ) placed over to the west; pentagonal, and uninterrupted again, it enclosed i ts own f our store-pits, l eaving room f or one or two houses, though none were traceable. Of the pottery, burnished s herds made up now nearly three-quarters of the total; ornament recurs on some, and the s hapes maintain Group 5 's traditions. But around one j ar i s comb-decoration, often matched e lsewhere among ' Belgic'; one burnished r im-necks houlder sherd, hand-made l ike the rest , s hows attempt at a c ordon; and two further pieces s how a f lat-based pedestal f oot. These hint that Group 6 should have anyhow i ts end well within the i st century B .C. the f irst likely t ime f or s uch adoptions here f rom pottery of a L ate La Tène s omewhere near. -

Group 7 f ollowed , probably at once, with its own further change of l ay-out. Its Enclosure 4 , r ather l arger, had a d itch cut partly along Group 4 's, and the rest of it stretching to south, where the quarry cut across it. T he bank , never revetted, had been inside, and was backf illed i nto i t. I n plan i t was s ub-rectangular, with one of i ts corners gapped f or an entrance; in the middle of this had been a blocking of chalk, with a convex frontal r evetment. This could be planned f rom its p ostholes. Also, the ditch was unfinished. Though started with c are ( for example when it cut into the f illing of a Group 3 p it), it was in part left s hallow; in its deepest part were the remains of a child of e ight, probably girl. Interruption by capture, after measures of defence had been belatedly begun, s eems implied; the pottery was thus not much but i t offers a date. Mostly it recalls Group 6 , in surfaces f rom burnished to rough, with s ome decorated j ar-sherds; bases and most of the rest are s herds f rom bowls s till rounded or bulbous, with everted r im or bead-rim or rim still f lat; though the f ingernailed f lat r im and vertical s coring now occur on burnished bowls that are shallow, the novelty a ltogether r emains quite s light. But one s ubstantial piece ( Fig. 9 5, No. 8 ) c arries the ' Belgic' influence guessed at in Group 6 t o a f uller extent: hand-made, but in f ine f abric highly burnished and surfaced black, with l attice-pattern on body and grooved-off shoulder and neck and l ip. The grooving is uneven, yet gives a cordoned effect; this j ar was a copy by a potter with no f ast wheel as yet of a wheel-made Late La Tène one. That implies, here 1 2 north of the Thames, a mid-first century date at earliest. The time , with wars j ust prior to and doubtless after the i nvasion by Caesar, whose ntagonist Cassivellaunus has to be located not f ar off ,-' 3 does s uit the s uggestion of violence advanced f rom the excavated part of the enclosure. And this recalls, i n Totternhoe parish, the low-lying s ite having f lint-gritted sherds Early I ron, if not Late Bronze ( see above) at a D-shaped enclosure conjectured t o be later. I n i ts ditch was back-filled chalk, and -

-

-

-

-

viii

the sherds were in the open ' turf-line' over; bulldozer damage to the inner occupation made the s ite's full story unknowable. Yet j ust as here in Enclosure 4 , the ditch was unfinished and shallow at the back; at the entrance it was f inished and f ive feet deep, but across the inside of the entry was a trench, f or a blocking palisade between a pair of narrow adits, which Enclosure 4 's blocking had as well. That s ite was over to the west of Maiden Bower, but its l ikeness to this one are still s uggestive. -

Maiden Bower itself i s of course the district's capital s ite: at f irst a Neolithic causewayed camp and thereafter an Iron Age f ort. Its description by Worthington Smith ( see Note 3 ), with all f inds, prehistoric and Roman, to 1 914 from 1 860 at least, deserves fresh study. Near two contracted burials some 2 00 yards off north-west of it, discoveries included a pit, 4 f eet square and 6 f eet deep, containing broken-up human bones, re-buried. In a deep grave closer to the f ort, n ear Roman cremations, was an old man's skeleton, extended, with head to east ( found 1 899). But the digging by the owner-farmer, Mr. Dan Cook, together with Smith, in January 1 913, again disclosed a re-burial pit. I t was central to the f ort's main south-east entrance, which in an e arlier f orm had a revetment-trench, interspersed with large post-holes, f ound extending inward on the west. The re-burial pit truncated the inward end of this, and was a rounded oblong, 14 f eet by 7 , straight-sided and 10 to 1 1 f eet deep; over the human bones that f illed it, and under a s andstone s lab packed round with pebbles, was a chalkblock cist with three broken human leg-bones. The re-buried mass beneath, of bones and skulls and of human teeth, lay with animal and bird remains, stone and bronze and some burnt wood fragments, s ome iron nails, and ' a f ew pieces of red and buff tiles, thin and thick, one with f inger-marks'. Of the more than 5 0 persons represented, most were young or middle-aged. Some of their bones were seared with black burnt patches. 14 Both this and the pit-ful outside the f or l ike the mass grave in Dorset at Spettisbury Camp, t s suggest disposal of corpses buried at f irst in haste ( when at all), after s laughter in battle or as prisoners ( some s eared with hot irons or partly cremated)? Moreover with this deposit, and the cist on the top, in the middle of the entrance, the f ort would scarcely have been meant t o remain in use. And now Mr. Matthews here con r ibutes his personal record, begun two dozen years later. 10 He f ound, where the ditch of the fort had been cut by a quarry-face, afterwards eroded, a human s keleton buried contracted, and over it three beheaded, with a baby ' s and two more children' s too. The ditch, its bottom f ull of s lingstones, had been at the time still newly cut; this belonged, f urthermore, to the second of the fortification's periods, with rampart of dump or glacis type, while the f irst had had a wall with f acing-posts. 17 H is visits in the 40 years s ince

ix

ascertaining this, have g iven not much pottery: perhaps of the f irst of the periods. The s econd, with the s laughter, remains undated. For the remaining I ron Age s ites here reported on, from partial excavation or f rom f eatures observed, the sole frame of reference thus is the Puddlehill sequence itself. As long as Maiden Bower i s withheld from excavation, this state of affairs will stand. ' Belgic' pottery i s s cattered there, and one stretch of rampart and ditch i s enlarged appearing s o, anyhow, as though ref ortification had there been started, but was never carried any f arther. How that might f it the r e-burial pits, i s a matter f or guessing; but the s econd-phase rampart, when its ditch took the burials that Matthews recorded, whatever may be its date, was anyhow new. So I return now to the definitive Iron Age s equence, at P uddlehill. -

What follows Puddlehill Group 7 i s explicitly ' Beiqic'. The report uses ' Belgic' l ike S ir Mortimer Wheeler, in his Hertfordshire work on the f ortress at Wheathampstead, and then in Prae Wood overlooking Verulamium , south-east of Dunstable and 1 2 miles away. ( For these, s ee my note 1 2, with perhaps 1 3.) The material culture and f uneral r ite are the same at Puddlehill: the pottery i s wheel-made, there are no more st1 e-pits, and the s tandard funeral custom i s cremation. There are nine cremation burials here: not all in pots, nor all with brooches, but the typerange of both is clear. There i s the post-hole plan of a structure apparently a house, the ' Belgic Hut 2 ', and a hollowed emplacement, ' Hut 1 '. And there are ditches or gullies that offer ideas quite new in British archaeology. One, on S ite 1 , attested in part of its main Ditch 2 , i s shown beyond any doubt to have been an ox-roast. The other, on S ite 2 , some 600 yards to the east, i s a complex more than 2 50 f eet in length, of gullies and basins, interpreted I think most strikingly a s a tannery. To me this interpretation appears to deserve the widest notice, among all who may have to deal with what are supposed all ditches f or drainage, whether f or s lops or rain or storm-water often with vague or no explanation. Such are f eatures well known on s ites of this same late period. Mr. Matthews moreover brings both these and the ox-roast into a context of intensive r anching of cattle, that suits the period here and the people. Beside the old mixed-farming tradition , there comes a particular cattle-economy a charact of ' Belgic culture' asking f or special consideration. The whole start here in the second half of the 1 st century . B.C.; intensifies towards its end, when the pottery adopts the butt-beaker -

-

-

-

( see note 1 2); and l asts through the t ime of Cunobelin's coins into that of the invading Romans. Throughout, Puddlehill has been a rural s ite with a broad continuity of land-use. This i s not, however, to say that its people were never affected f rom without. After Group 1 , Group 3 in the 5 th, Group 4 f rom the early 3rd century or near it, each have had novelty to s how us,

x

even intruders.

From 4 to

7 continuity

i s

close.

But

what of the ' Belgic culture' ? Its barons and kings will have l ived e lsewhere. Yet they certainly left their mark here. This foreword/summary of mine i s pre-Roman only. On Romano-Britons and Anglo-Saxons, reporting i s still to f ollow. i t will s how, j ust l ike the pre-Roman here, that the Manshead Society has given, through the l eadership and the authorship above all of Lesli 0 Matthews, a contribution to archaeology from every member. The conclusions that I have run through here are f ounded on f irst-rate digging, and on patient processing of very many kinds of material. The report should be a pleasure to study and then keep handy on the working shelf. -

CHRISTOPHER HAWXES.

NOTES

Antiq.

Journ.

XX

( 1940),

487-91,

by the

Crew

( the

3 0th

Bedfordshire; l eaders H . Wingfield, L . Matthews) and the present writer; f inds are in Luton Museum. S ee 5th paragraph below , directly preceding the Early I ron Age. 2

Archaeo.

Jou ' :n.

LXXXVIII

f or

1 931

( 1932),

1 93

ff.

3

Worthington G . S mith in Proceedjnqs S oc. Antiq. London xxvii ( 1914-15), 143 ff., 1 50; S . P iggott, Neolithic Cultures of the British I sles ( 1954 and recent reprint), 2 1, 47, 7 2, 8 3, 3 82, advancing on Archaeo. Journ. ( as note 2 ), 90-2, 1 34.

4

I ventured on t his ' exogamy model', f or British Neolithi c, f irst in Antiq. Journ. XLVII ( 1967), 2 04, with notes 3 6 and 3 7 ( 207). Exchange of women over distance s eems to me still a n eglected question.

5

One other, from ' a barrow in Dorset' may not have been analysed.

6

M . A . Cotton and S . S . Frere, Ivinghoe Beacon Excavations 1 963-65', R ecords of Buckinqhamg j XVIII, 3 ( 1968), 1 87-260; D . Britton on the bronzes, 2 04-17; Helen Waugh describing the pottery, 2 19-33; Frere discussing it, 2 00-3 and 2 33-4, and distinguishing

( British Museum),

the Totternhoe pottery and pin, 201. In 1974 B . Cunl iffe had both i n his ' Ivinghoe-Sandy group' ( Iron Aqe Communities in B ritain, 3 5; pottery, 3 20 f ig. A :5; Sandy i s E . of B edford: map, 3 2), offering date from ' about 6 50' but s kipping the distinction in pottery and bronze between the Ivinghoe and the Totternhoe ( Rovers') s ite. For Pitstone Hill ( Helen Waugh) see below with note 8 . 7

In Celtic Art in Ancient Europe ( edd. Duval and Hawkes, London 1 976), 4 -11 with notes at 1 7-20, I have stated xi

this f rom the primary work of H . N . Savory, Oxoniensia I I ( 1937), 8 ff.; K . M . Richardson and A . Young, Antiq. Journal XXXI ( 1951), 1 32 f f., Chinnor; and E . M . Jope, Proc. Prehist. Soc. XXVII ( 1961), 3 07 ff.; a ll as amplified by D . W . Harding, The I ron Age in the Upper Thames Basin ( 1972), 86-96, with The Iron Age in Lowland Britain ( 1974), by Continental work.

1 57

ff.,

and as

f urther adjusted

8

For Miss Waugh on the pottery f rom P itstone see Cotton and Frere as cited note 6 , 2 35-49; f or its overlap with Puddlehill s ee the present r eport below on Group 3 .

9

For Barry Cunliffe's showing me I am cordially grateful.

1 0

At Eqqin(q)ton, 3 ¼ miles WNW of Puddlehill, off the chalk and on glacial s and, two exactly s imilar pots were f ound in October 1932, at the head and f eet of a skeleton ( middle-aged male), lying on its back but with legs bent s ideways, in a well-cut oblong grave ( other sherds in its f illing): F . G . Gurney and Haw ices ( with A . J . E . Cave) in Antiq. Journ.XX ( 1940), 2 30-44; British Museum. The Hunsbury hilifort, 2 7 miles f arther on to NNW , by Northampton, has plenty of such amongst its coarse ware: s ee C lare Fell in Archaeo. Journ. XCII f or 1935 ( 1936), 7 8-91; details thence in my paper on the Eggington pots ( 237, note 8 ). My dating, from late 3rd century, now s hould be raised by Puddlehill Group 4 ; Hunsbury's f ine wares, f amed f or their La T ne-like style of decoration, have a Group 4 counterpart too ( to be noticed here next). But the Cholesbury hillfort pottery, which in my

this himself,

on

s ite,

paper I also compared ( from Journ. Brit. Archaeo. Assoc. n .s. XCII ( 1933-4), 187-212), must be seen now as later, more resembling Puddlehill Group 6 . 11

His Early Celtic Art

in the

later Paul Jacobsthal) wrote these words.

was

British still

I sles

b eing

( with the

awaited when

I

12

Ann l 3 irchall, ' The Problem of the Belgae re-considered', Proc. Prehist. Soc. XXXI ( 1965), 2 41 ff.; 2 55, graves in Bedfordshire are l ate; 2 86-90, the ' Belgic' s ite thus earliest north of the Thames, namely Wheathampstead ( Hertfordshire), i s datable only perhaps from the Caesar period ( at 54 B .C.), and i s l inked with her ' Middle' Group south of t he Thames in Kent, 50/30 to 10 B .C. This supersedes S ir Mortimer Wheeler's start f or Wheathampstead in years prior to Caesar. His start f or Prae Wood at Verulamium, however ( St. Albans, Hertfordshire), r emains a s he gave it, f ollowing after Wheatha rnpstead f rom circa 1 0 B .C.

1 3

In my ' Britain and Julius Caesar' ( British Academy Mortimer Wheeler Lecture, December 1 975) I reviewed these matters again; publ. Oxford Univ. Press from the Academy' s Proceedings LXXXII ( forthcoming 1976).

. .

.

xii

14

Proceedinqs S oc. Antiq. London XXVII ( 1914-15), 143-60. My s ummary only departs f rom this in interpreting the ' passage' and its ' pits', at the entrance ( 155-6), as a revetment-trench and post-holes.

1 5

C . A . Gresham in Archaeo. Journ. XCVI f or 1 939 ( 1940), 1 14-31; add XCVII f or 1940 ( 1941), 1 12-14, Haw lces.

1 6

Antiq.

1 7

The s equence i s f amiliar; s ee conspectus by Michael Avery, Proc. Prehist. Soc. XXXIII ( 1967), 247-55, occasioned by Rainsborough Camp, Northamptonshire ( 207 ff.); f urther D . W . Harding in his two books cited here above, note 2 , f or Blewburton Hill ( now Oxfordshire, previously Berkshire): in the Upper Thames book, 47-52 with p1. 1 8 ( cross-section), and thence in the Lowland Britain book, 5 7-60, with f ig. 1 5 ( same s ection), and 64.

1 8

More of it awaits presenting from the large Prae Wood cremation-cemetery, overlooking St. Albans from along that s ite's running earthwork, to be published by Dr.

Journ.

XX as

cited here

note

1 ,

487.

I . M . Stead with its 463 individual cremations; see his summary in Antiquity XLIII ( 1969, March), 4 5-52, whence Cunliffe as cited here note 6 , 7 7 with plan. 1 9

Was this ranching introduced here out of the Midlands f arther north? Coinage f rom there gave the prototypes f or our region's ' Whaddon Chase' gold coins, which bespeak a new power hereabouts after Caesar had gone. S ee p. 109 of the later Derek Allen's ' Re-appraisal' treatise, in Problems of the Iron Aqe in S outhern Britain ( ed. S . S . Frere), Univ. London Inst. of Arch., 1 961. The power that ordained these coins could have brought the ranching.

2 0

Radiocarbon determinations and calibrations of their age f rom tree-rings ( see at start, on Drs. I sobel Smith and David Clarke) are indeed here wanting; one must await f uture comparisons dated in the pattern they are going to bring. For a sample of Wessex Iron Age s ites thus treated with the newest calibration curve, s ee Antiquity 1 ( 1976, March), 3 2-9, with 61-3 and Dr. Malcolm Clark in XLIX ( 1975, Dec.). 2 52-72. When the Iron Age in eastern Britain ( Channel to Humber) gets its turn, the Chiltern neighbourhood will now stand high f or a priority.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

This report i s the result of f ieldwork and rescue archaeology carried out by amateurs in the strictest s ense of the word. Dunstable i s about 40 miles f rom the nearest academic centre. This i s j ust f ar enough to be outside of the ' centre of interest' f or students and professional people engaged in archaeology and yet i t i s the centre of Lowland Britain, on dry chalk land and an obvious area in which to f ind a complex mixture of early cultural groups of people. It i s also an area that has been subjected during the l ast f our decades to extensive development by building and chalk quarrying. During this period mechanical grabs and bulldozers have been ravenously devouring evidence of man's past history and the only people to record the story have been a group of amateurs with no academic qualifications or experience. This report i s a story of their

efforts.

Digging was carried out s ummer and winter, non-stop, f or 1 7 years on Puddlehill. Why did people do this? What prompted Len Ru xnbold, after he had f inished a hard day 's work, to cycle to the hill-top and s lave until past sundown clearing spoil heaps with a heavy wooden barrow? He even cleared a mountain pushed up by a bulldozer and yet he never handled a trowel or ever excavated a piece of pot. I can still hear him reciting his own poetry and swearing at his wobbly wheelbarrow: " Empirical shafts, medallion l ights glare from an angle in that s ky. Get up, you b What brought Harry Parry with his delicate skill in handling a trowel, borne from his trade as an expert clockmaker, on to the hill-top on a Sunday morning in midwinter when the wind f roze the .

„

marrow in your bones? Why on a Sunday morning with an icy wind blowing frozen snow into drifts, could I follow cycle tracks up the hill to be greeted by a young man without coat or gloves who told me that I was 1 0 minutes late? Why do people do this? Why not , stay at home and look at i cicles hanging by the wall f rom the comfort of the f ireside? I s it a s ense of duty we have to these f aceless, nameless people who have gone before us and, by handling their pottery, looking again at the holes they dug, making them l ive again in memory? Perhaps s aying thank you for giving us the chance to hear the larks s inging, to watch the plover weaving in the sky, or to glory in the colour of wonderful sunsets and to s it on the hill after a hot s ummer's day and watch the ragWorts begin to walk in the deepening dusk. They experienced these same things in this same s pot and no doubt they gave them the s ame pleasure. xiv

I wish that I could name all of my friends who kept company on the hill-top. This report i s dedicated to them. Only by their efforts and enthusiastic hard labour has it been possible to r ecord this knowledge. Alas; that it could not be better presented. Thank you to John Bailey who used the f irm hand of an architectural draughtsman to produce the hut reconstructions, sections and plans. To Maureen Parry, the Society' s Hon. Sec., for her many hours at the typewriter producing records, draft s cripts innumerable, and f inally the comleted report. P articular thanks to Joan S chneider who has produced with meticulous care to detail nearly all of the illustrations and by her carping criticism , of my spelling, grammar and atrocious use of the English language as a means of expression, has delayed publication by months. If t his document can be understood, thanks are to Joan. The people I should n ar r te are endless. Our Chairman, Ron Fowler, who worked s o long with a team sorting and studying Belgic and Roman pottery , Ron and Frances Turley who catalogued the f inds, the ' fun' of the late Terry White who was the ' life and soul' of Puddlehill, Eric Michell, permanent n ight worker, who spent so many lonely daytime hours excavating on the hill, Eric Bishop, Ernie Hawes, Phil Pratt, Dr. E . V . Jones, Karl Plummer and so on. The l ist could go on and on. But although thanks are due to Society members, their true reward has been the pleasure of excavation, the s atisf action of adding a l ittle knowledge to our understanding of past people and the present f riendship of people we would otherwise n ever have met, were it not f or the shared common interest of archaeology. I must add a personal thank you to my wife Kathleen f or allowing me so much time to pursue this ' hobby'. But after spending the last three Sunday mornings at home, the f irst in 3 9 years of married l ife, I have serious doubts whether this i s really due: my efforts, as an explanning engineer, in the organisation of kitchen chores, do not seem to be welcome. The true acknowledgements must be to people who have devoted time to a ssist the Society with none of the pers onal rewards. To Dr. I sobel Smith, who many years ago tried to teach us the rudiments of archaeology and who has always been prepared to help us with her wide academi c knowledge. To Dr. John Morris, who for more years than I care to remember s trove to instil into us an obj ective approach to the s tudy of prehistory. To Dr. D . Brothwell, Dr. D . Clarke of Cambridge, to Dr. Caroljn Grigson f or all of their kindness and help. To Dr. I an Longworth of the British Museum who s upplied the photgraphs of the Beaker group and who also helped by s uggestions, given many years ago on the f irst draft of the Puddlehill Iron Age. To all of the other people who have given unstinted help and f inally to the management and quarry-face workers of the Associated Portland Cement Co., and the Rugby Cement Co. xv

The quarry-face workers of the Associated Cement Co., at Puddlehill, knew us f or 1 7 years and became part of the team , avoiding where they could the destruction of f eatures until they had been excavated. The haunting whine of the digger, carried on a north wind into my bedroom on a winter's night lost part of its menace when I knew that ' Stan' was in the driver' s seat. The f inal acknowledgement is to that great man of archaeology Professor C . F . C . Hawkes. He has been an inspiration f or many years to us ' bungling amateurs', never s o busy that he could not help, a lways r eady with his clear understanding to give advice and encouragement. His contribution to this manuscript i s the evidence of his ' common touch' of greatness.

C .

xvi

L .

MATTHEWS

OCCUPATION S ITES ON A CHILTERN R IDGE THE AREA

( Fig.

1 )

The Puddlehill s ite l ies on the e scarpment that f orms a plateau

edge of a chalk reaching out from the

main range of the Chiltern Hills. To the north the s ite overlooks the valley of the Ousel, a tributary of the River Ouse that i s f ed by many springs rising from the hillside. S outhwards the ground follows the gently s loping plateau to meet the main Chiltern s carp s ome mile and a half away. The l ie of the l and can be l ikened to a c lenched f ist with the f orefinger extended. The main Chiltern range ( Dunstable Downs) rises at the wrist to a height of 800 f t. ( 244 m ) O .D. The metacarpals of the hand are represented by the plateau rising at the knuckles to high points ( 152.5 m O .D.) The Totternhoe Ridge reaches out f or almost another mile l ike an extended f orefinger. Men

chose

the

crest of the

s econdary

s carp as

a place

to

l ive. I t was a good choice. The dry roll of downland with adjacent springs on e ither s ide of them and the stretch of open grassland to the s outh was admirably s uited f or hunting, s tock raising or agriculture. At the foot of the s lope to the north would be a mile wide reach of f enland backed by woodlands of the greensand. The valley opens out into the Vale of Aylesbury giving wide views f rom the hill-top. Many acres of the r idge have been quarried away in chalk winning, at Totternhoe to the west, at Sewell by Maiden Bower and at Puddlehill in the parish of Houghton Regis. This plateau has also been subject to extensive industrial and housing development. Vast areas of this land have been watched and excavated during these activities.

THE NEOLITHIC OCCUPATION CAUSEWAYED CAMP

-

MAIDEN BOWER(Plates

I & I I)

The f irst Neolithic visitors built a causewayed camp on the edge of the r idge. The ditches of this camp were first discovered early this century by the l ate Worthington G . Smith who carried out an investigation following their appearance during the Sewell chalk quarrying.

I n

f ive ditches,

1

interpreted as

those of a

2

causewayed camp, he f ound animal bones that included Bos Primigenius and an antler weaving comb typical of the Neolithic period.(Plate 1 ). During the last decade natural erosion of the quarry edge has exposed two more ditch sections beneath the fossilized turf l ine that l ies beneath the rampart of the Early Iron Age f ort of Maiden Bower. The l argest of these i s at the western edge of Maiden Bower. The Smith ditches were f ound to the west and north-west of the f ort. This westerly ditch i s more than 2 0 metres long and its maximum depth i s 3 .66 m . The f loor is irregular but erosion i s still taking place and a new shape appears with every year. ( Plate 1 1). During the period of observation two barbed and tanged arrow heads have been f ound in the upper levels but only the smallest fragments of pottery and bone have been f ound in the ditch f ill. The s econd ditch i s 2 7.5 m to the east and at present appears as a squared pit 2 .14 m deep and 3 .55 m wide. It i s probably being viewed end on as each year it retains the shape but gets deeper. No material remains have been f ound in this ditch. The f illing of both of these ditches is strata of a rain wash loam and chalk. The dark bands of occupational l oam usually found in s ilted pits and ditches are missing. In the lower l evels of the ditches are many s hells of the snail Pomatias Elegans. Puddlehill l ies half a mile to the east of Maiden Bower and along the ridge between the two s ites the f ields are l ittered with f lint artifacts. As an example, a recent walk over the f reshly ploughed interior of Maiden Bower produced numerous f lakes and 9 good s crapers. A s imilar walk along the ridge produced 1 2 s crapers and innumerable f lakes. W . G . Smith records that he f ound hundreds of artifacts by walking this ridgeway. NEOLITHIC

PITS

Eleven shallow pits have been recorded along the r idge. Eight were found on Puddlehill, two others when a pipeline was dug along the ridge between the S ewell and the Puddlehill quarries and one appeared beneath the rampart of Maiden Bower. All of these pits except the latter contained Grooved Ware sherds. Three of the Puddlehill pits herewith s ummarised:

have been published

P it

1 .

Round bowl deep.

P it

2 .

Oval bowl-shaped depression. deep.

P it

3 .

Steep-sided roundish bowl. 4 5 cm deep.

1 P . P.S.

Vol.

shape.

XXX 1 964.

Diameter

C .

L .

Dr.

3

I .

1 .46 m sunk 9 6 96

Matthews F .

but are 83

cm

cm x 70 x 2 8

cm x 7 5

and

Smith.

cm x

The above pits were f ound j ust below the crest of the ridge on the north-facing s lope and on the west s ide of an ancient water course now traceable a s a rounded f old in the hillside. The water course could be s een on the quarry f ace as l ayers of dark humus and snail shell s ome 3 .65 m below the present l and s urface and over-lying a deep s car containing rolled pebbles and chalk mud that represents a f ormer r iver bed. This was probably still a spring r ise in Neolithic times, f or f lint s crapers, fragments of animal bone and potsherds s imilar to those f ound within the pits were f ound 3 .65 m below the present s urface. P its 4 ,

5 ,

6 and

7

P its 4 and 5 were approximately 3 48 m e ast of the previous pits, on the other s ide of the spring rise ravine. They were 5 .5 m apart. P its 6 and 7 were another 91 m to the e ast of P its 4 and 5 . These were 3 m apart. All were j ust below the crest of the hill on t he north-facing s ide. P it 4 S lightly oval and bowl-shaped. 64 cm long and 5 6 cm wide, s unk 1 8 cm deep into the chalk. The f ill was a dark greasy l oam with f ragments of charcoal at the bottom. Potsherds, f lint f lakes, carbonised hazel nut s hells and a f ew animal bone f ragments were s cattered throughout the f illing. A bone p oint was found 5 cm below the natural chalk l evel within the pit. The Pottery ( Fig. 2 ). approximately 1 0 pots,

The pit contained sherds from s ome of which are i llustrated below.

41

• 1 .

11 ' 1

t 1 0 F ig. No.

1 .

2 .

I

N eolithic P it 4 F inds

1 1

1 3

( ¼ )

Base of a bowl in f ine s andy ware, well f ired black paste f ired red inside and out. The outer surface i s smooth and hard, the inside surface decorated before f iring with a chequered pattern. Alternate squares are f illed with oblique s cored patterns , ,

4

No.

2 .

Sherd probably to No. 1 .

from the

No.

3 .

R im sherd as pot.

No.

4 .

Black s andy paste with a f ew fragments of shell grits, black inside , red outside. Decorated with horizontal incisions across a vertical cordon.

No.

5 .

Coarse pot, smooth black paste with a l ittle shell grit, black inside, red/brown outside. Decorated with pronounced vertical cordons.

No.

6 .

S andy black paste f ired brick red outside , black inside. Smooth hard surface with vertical cordons applied to pot.

No.

7 .

Coarse pot with large shell grit decorated with horizontal and vertical cordons.

No.

8 .

Coarse bowl, black throughout with s cattered shell grits. Decorated with opposed groups of diagonal lines of cord impressions.

The

Flints

1 and

Total f lint Cores S crapers

2 .

same or

s imilar pot

Probably

f lakes

-

-

-

from the

s ame

3 5 3 4

One of the scrapers was a good specimen ( Fig. 2 , No. 10) the others were probably discards during manufacture. There is l ittle doubt that f lint implements were made on s ite. S everal of the f lakes were apparently struck from a s ingle nodule of f lint. S everal had been in contact with f ire. No. 9 was a f ire crackled scraper and numbers 1 1 and 1 2 were probable discards. Bone Point ( Fig. 2 , No. 1 3). This was found in the upper levels of the pit. It was very eroded but originally it had been highly polished and traces of the gloss still s urvived. It i s 5 cm long and triangular in s ection. Animal Bones of pig, ox and

These were f ew and fragmentary. sheep or goat have been identified.

Teeth

Hazel Nut Shells Small fragments of carbonised hazel nut shells were f ound in the lower level of the pit. P it

5

This was s imilar to Pit 4 . It was bowl-shaped and slightly oval measuring 6 5 cm long and 49 cm wide, sunk 2 1 cm into the chalk. The f ill was a dark loam with charcoal fragments, a f ew carbonised hazel nut shells in the lower f ill and animal bones and f lint f lakes scattered throughout. Only a quadrant of this pit had been excavated when it was destroyed by vandalism. The pit had

a 10 cm deep step on one

s ide.

5

Two

small

fragments

of shell-gritted grooved ware were excavated. Pits

6 and

f ound

in the portion

7

These were s ited 90 m to the east of P its 4 and 5 . Both were exposed on the chalk quarry f ace while members of the Society were observing. Pit 7 was above a deep under-cut of the quarry f ace and could not be excavated but it was a small oval-shaped pit approximately 3 8 cm deep and f illed with a dark loam. Animal bones were observed in the f ill and a small fragment of shell-grit pottery s erved to identify the date of the pit. Pit 6 ( Fig.

3 )

Although exposed by the mechanical navvy the greater part of the pit survived f or excavation. This was a round f ish bowl-shaped pit with under-cut s ides. I t had a diameter of 9 2 cm and a maximum depth of 67 cm. The f ill consisted of an upper l ayer of clay-like dark loam above a darker loam. I t contained two distinct layers of refuse that included potsherds, animal bone and the tine of a deer antler. A broken bone pin was f ound in the upper 3 1 cm and f lint f lakes were scattered throughout the f ill. The Pottery. Fifty sherds were found within the pit from at l east 7 pots. All of these were heavily shellgritted and all with decoration of grooves and stab marks.

q ua rry e dge

I

/ HI T T II1 TI c (oyey l oom I .

O t te ry : 1

F ' • . med b' ,e

I j J Jt Lf t

Fig.

3 .

Neolithic

P it 6 and Finds

6

( ¼ )

2

I

No.

1 .

Bowl with internally bevelled r im ornamented with a wavy cordon s et in a broad groove. Exterior decorated with grooved motifs arranged in zones. Heavily s hell gritted.

No.

2 .

R im sherd decorated with wavy cordon s et in a broad groove in the internal bevel as No. 1 . Shell-gritted.

No.

3 .

Pit with shell grits, f ired brown. decorated with close s et stab marks.

No.

4 .

Coarse pot heavily gritted with fragments. Black paste f ired with a pattern of deep grooves stabbed marks.

No.

5 .

Body

l arge

shell

red. Decorated f illed with large

Fragment of a vessel heavily shell s imilar decoration to No. 4 .

gritted with

The f lints. A total of 1 29 f lakes were f ound, 1 8 f irebroken f lints, 2 poor s crapers ( Fig. 3 , Nos. 7 and 8 ) and one possible arrow head ( No. 6 ). S andstone pebbles. The pit contained 68 pebbles of varying density. These are f oreign to the chalk down and had been transported to the s ite f or some unknown purpose. Most had been split by f ire. Two had f lat s urfaces and may have been used as honing or polishing s tones. One i s i llustrated ( No. 9 ). One very hard pebble had slight bruising at each end ( No. 1 0) and had probably been used as

a ham m er

stone.

Hazel nut shells. Many carbonised nut in the bottom of the pit.

shells were

f ound

B one pin. 1 This had been broken in antiquity and the pointed end survived, 2 .54 cm long. I t was s imilar to the pin f ound in P it 4 . P it 8 This was an isolated pit some 1 84.5 r n to the west of P its 1 , 2 and 3 . I t was bowl-shaped measuring 46 cm across and 2 3 cm deep. The f ill was a dark loam containing a f ew sherds, the t ine of a deer antler and s everal f lint f lakes. P its

9 and

10

These pits were observed in a pipe l ine trench some 7 00 m t o the west of the above pits. They were both shallow bowl shapes f illed with dark loam containing grooved s herds. These pits were not excavated due to lack of t ime. The pipe l ine trench was dug j ust below the crest 1

The Animal Bones f rom Pit 6 are described by Dr. Grigson on Page 11.

7

of the ridge through a s imilar area to that where the pits were f ound on Puddlehill. They are mentioned in the report to i llustrate the density of the occupation and the probability of many other s uch pits along this crest of down. Pit

1 1

This pit was

observed beneath the

f ossilized turf

line

that l ies under the Early I ron Age chalk rampart of Maiden Bower. I t was 9 2 cm long and 4 6 cm deep and f illed with dark loam. The half of the pit that remained s howed that it was round and bowl-shaped. The P ottery ( Fig. 4 ). from a possible 8 pots.

The half pit contained 94 sherds All were heavily f lint-gritted

except one r im sherd that contained shell. Two sherds came f rom a pot with a zone of triangular stabbing and three sherds from a pot with faintly incised vertical l ines.

t

i r Fig.

4 .

2 and

Neolithic 3 .

P it

1 1

Pottery

Rim fragments. Fired red.

-

4

1 -

( ¼ )

No.

1 ,

No.

4 .

R im fragment. Heavily shell-gritted. Rounded r im with pronounced outward roll.

No.

5 .

Fine vessel f ired red. Decorated with a zone of triangular stab marks.

No.

6 .

Well made pot f lint grits.

No.

7 .

Body

Flint-gritted.

f ired r ed.

sherd with

Flint-gritted. Decorated with s cratches.

8

s light

Large

shoulder.

Fired brown. f aint vertical

POTTERY DISCUSSION by DR. Maiden Bower:

P it

I .

F .

SMITH

1 1

The Neolithic sherds described and i llustrated are closely comparable with those s alvaged from Maiden Bowej by Worthington G . Smith, published by Professor P iggott and now in Luton Museum. The zone of triangular s tab marks on No. 5 , Fig. 4 i s matched by Piggott's Nos. 4 , 10 and 1 1, and the sherds with f aintly incised vertical l ines No. 7 , also by his No. 4 . Taken together, the two groups of f inds display the f ormal and decorative traits appropriate to the round-bottomed bowls in the Abingdon style of the Upper Thames Valley and in the Mildenhall style of East Anglia. The two radiocarbon dates available f or the Mildenhall style 2 suggest that it may have been current before 3 000 B .C. A series of datei f rom Abingdon ranges f rom c . 3 100 B .C. to c . 2 500 B .C. Puddlehill:

Pits

4 and 6

The pottery from both pits, l ike that of P its 1 -3 4 belongs to the Late Neolithic class now known as Grooved Ware ( formerly R inyo-Clacton Ware), but the individual assemblages can be attributed to three distinct substyles within this tradition, named respectively after type-sites at Clacton, Essex, and at Durrington Walls and Woodlands, W 1tshire, s ee G . J . Wainwright with I . H . Longworth. P it 6 , Fiq. 3 : Clacton style Each of the f ive vessels or fragments i llustrated carries one or more of the s ix decorative f eatures considered by Wainwright and Longworth ( op. cit. 2 37) to be characteristic of the Clacton style: 2 .

Complex plastic decoration on the bevel: Nos. 1 and 2 .

3 .

Dot-filled grooved triangles or and perhaps No. 5 .

lozenges:

4 .

Multiple

1 ( lower zone).

6 .

Staggered or evenly arranged oval

All the

these f eatures are readily matcheg type-site at Lion Point, Clacton.

1 2 3 4

Archaeological Journal, LXXXVIII ( 1931), 90-2, Fig. 6 . Archaeological Journal, 1 30 ( 1973), 9 . Radiocarbon, 1 3 ( 1971), 1 70-71. Proceedings of the Prehistoric Society, XXX ( 1964), 3 63. Durrington Walls: Excavations 1966-1968 ( 1971), 2 36-

5 6

grooved chevrons:

242. British Museum Quarterly, xxxviii. 9

No.

XXXV

internal

rim No.

impressions:

4

No.

in the pottery

( 1970),

pls.

3 .

from

xxxiii-

P it 4 , F iq. 2 : Durrinqton Walls Style. All s ix of the sherds i llustrated display f eatures s elected as characteri stic of the Durrington Walls style ( Wainwright with Longworth, op. c it. 2 42). 2 .

Internal incised decoration beneath the rim: Nos. 1 and 2 .

4 .

Vertical plain or decorated cordons to divide the body surface into panels: No. 4 ( decorated with transverse impressions) and Nos. 5 7 ( plain). No. 7 also retains part of a horizontal cordon, a device commonly employed to s ubdivide the vessel into two unequal parts. -

7 .

Twisted cord: No. groups of diagonal

8 ( the motif may be opposed l ines or f illed triangles).

No. 1 i s e specially noteworthy a s one of a l imited number of examples of thin-walled vessels with complex incised decoration covering the internal s urface. Eleven f ragments f rom Durrington Walls come f rom the upper parts of s uch vessels( Wainwright with Longworth, op. r ' it., F ig. 5 8: p 4 52 p 461) and a f urther e leven occur amongst the pottery in the Durrington Walls s tyle from Tye F ield, Lawford, Essex ( publication f orthcoming). On s everal of the Lawford sherds the ornament extends, a s on the piece f rom Puddlehill, over the inner surface of the base. A precise parallel f or the Puddlehill sherd i s afforded by a more complete bowl r ecovered during the recent excavations at Grimes Graves ( now in the British Museum), where the chequer pattern covers the whole of the interior. The l atter and two f urther restored bowls f rom Grimes Graves with s imilar decoration take the f orm indicated by the profile of the Puddlehill s herd comparatively shallow , open bowls in which the rim diameter equals or exceeds the height. -

-

The Woodlands S tyle i s already published f rom ( No. 3 ) which displays s tyle ( Wainwright with 2 .

represented apongst the pottery P its 1 and 3 by a wall sherd a f eature characteristic of the Longworth, op. c it., 2 39):

S lashed horizontal . .. cordons . .. pinched up external s urface.

from the

The remaining sherds from these pits l ack f eatures distinctive enough to permit s tylistic c lassification. Radiocarbon determination 3 f or Grooved Ware f rom Wessex and f rom Northamptonshire indicate that the pottery 1

Proceedings of the Prehistoric 3 63, F ig. 6 .

S ociety XXX

2

Proceedings of the Prehistoric ( 1972), 395_96, 4 00-04.

S ociety,

3

Current Archaeology ,

4 6

( 1975),

1 0

3 34-35.

( 1964),

XXXVIII

2

tradition f lourished between 2 000 B .C. and 1 800 B .C. These dates relate to pottery in the Durrington Walls style, but there i s no f irm evidence to suggest any chronological distinction between this and the Clacton and Woodlands s tyles. The f inding at Puddlehill of pottery attributable to three distinct sub-styles in three s eparate groups of pits within a radius of j ust over a quarter of a mile raises s ome interesting questions about the s ignificance of the styles in terms of the human communities they represent and their interrelationships. I t i s noticeable that the contents of P its 4 and 6 , s ituated 9 1 m apart, comprise sherds exclusively in the Durrington Walls and Clacton styles respectively. The pottery from Pits 1 3 , 3 40 m distant from P it 4 , may be l ess homogeneous but at any rate the Woodlands style occurs only in this assemblage. This spatial distribution may suggest that each group of pits testifies to s ettlement by a s eparate, but related, com m unity; much more evidence i s needed to substantiate this tentative hypothesis. -

NEOLITHIC

POLISHED AXES

Pit 3 ( above) produced one f lake from a polished f lint axe and W . G . Smith records ta celt' in this area on his map of Dunstable and district. The only other recorded axes to be found on this plateau were a broken polished f lint specimen f ound during the excavation of the Marina Drive S axon Cemetery (Ring Ditch No. 4 ) and part of a greenstone axe f ound in the Ring Ditch No. 7 ( below). This latter was examined by Mr. R . V . Davis of the Implement Petrology Committee but the rock could not be attributed to a known source. The report shows:( a)

Macroscopic

Pale green f ine grained with f aint whitish specks

( b)

Microscopic

Fine ground mass of K-feldspars with completely altered larger crystals. A grey wacke.

THE ANIMAL BONES FROM NEOLITHIC

P IT 6 by CAROLINE GRIGSON , Ph . D

Puddlehill Pit 6 i s a late Neolithic storage pit, cut into chalk and containing Rinyo-Clactonian and grooved ware pottery. I t contained 241 fragments of animal bone of which 83 are unidentifiable and include 5 5 fragments of long bone shaft, 19 that appear to have come from skulls, one piece of pelvis and 8 fragments of rib ( probably pig and sheep or goat).

1

W . G . Smith, 1 904, Surroundings.

Dunstable,

11

I ts

History and

The animals identified and horncores were:

f rom their bones,

teeth,

Aurochs ( Bos primiqenius) Domestic cattle ( Bos taurus), i den -: ification uncertain. Wild pig ( Sus s crofa f erus) Domestic pig ( Sus s crofa s cr ofa ) S heep or goat ( Ovies aries or Capra hirca) Red deer ( Cervus elaphus)

antlers

s lightly

CATTLE Wild and domestic cattle have had to be dealt with together because it has not been possible to distinguish with certainty between them on s ome of the bones. A careful examination of the age, s ize and s ex of the cattle bones and teeth shows that at l east f our, and possibly f ive, animals are represented. The critical bones are two lower third deciduous molars, both f rom the r ight s ide; one i s s lightly worn ( suggesting a very approximate age of 1 year) and the other i s a l ittle more worn ( approximate age 1 ½ years); a l ower s econd premolar represents a third animal quite a lot older than the eruption time of 2 ½ years; a distal end of a metacarpal with the epiphysis f used, but with a l ight, porous texture represents an animal of about 212 years of age, three phalanges may represent a f ifth animal, the epiphysis of the proximal phalanx i s f used, and that of the middle phalanx i s unfused giving an age of 1 ½ years, this set of bones could belong to the same individual as one of the deciduous molars, but they may belong to different species as they are very small, and the teeth are very l arge. This i s discussed f urther below. There are many s kull f ragments, which all have a l igh t-. and porous texture and, where present, unfused s utur ' s, they all look as though they come f rom the same ox s kull, probably one of the two r epresented by the I nwer third deciduous molars. Among them i s a piece of the base of a right horncore attached to a small part of the f rontal bone. Although it i s not measurable I have compared its s ize with the equivalent parts of an adult aurochs bull ( the s kull f rom Kirkcudbrightshire in the Osteology Room of the British Museum, Natural History) and it i s only a l ittle smaller it almost certainly comes f rom a young aurochs bull. The Puddlehill Pit 6 bones also include a l arge piece of mandibular ramus which could come f rom an aurochs. -

Very f ew of the cattle bones were complete enough f or measurement, those that were are l isted below; all measurements are in millimetres.

1 2

Bone

fragments

f ound in P it 6 at Puddlehill

Bone

hyoid horncore/antler horncore + skull skull f ragment mandible upper teeth lower teeth atlas other cerv.vert. thoracic vert. lumbar vert. uncertain vert. s capula

humerus, shaft humerus, distal radius, proximal radius, s haft ulna m .carpal, distal prox. phalanx middle phalanx term. phalanx pelvis femur, proximal femur, s haft tibia, proximal + s haft tibia, s haft + distal calcaneu in p ost. navicular m . tarsal, shaft metapodials rib fragments long bone frags. TOTALS:

Cattle

Dom. P ig

Wild P ig

Sheep/ Goat

1

R ed deer

4

1 ( Bp) 1 2 2 ( 1 Bp) 4 ( Bp) 1 2 2 2 1 6 ( same bone)

3 6

2

1 1

2 1 ( 1)

( 1)

1 4 ( 1) 2

6 1 2

1 ( Bp) 1

1 1

1 1 1 1 2 1 2

1

( Bp) ( Bt) ( Bt) ( Bt) ( 1) 2

1 1 2 1

1 ( 1)

1 3

3 0 ( 2) 7 4

( 5)

3 6

1 3

7

9

8

Measurements of Cattle Bones m4 ( scarcely worn), B . primiqenius

f rom P it 6 Puddlehill

maximum l ength of crown:

40.0.

( slightly worn), primiqenius

maximum l ength of crown:

c .

1 9.7.

*m 3 ( scarcely worn), B . primiqenius

maximum length of crown:

c .

2 0.0.

*m3 B .

*p2 B .

( worn), maximum length of crown: primiqenius

1 3.2.

Radius, prox. epiphysis f used, breadth prox. s urface: c . 8 7 B . primiqenius c 3 ' *m etacarpal, distal B . primiqenius

epiphysis

proximal phalanx, epiphyses outer length: 54.1. *middle phalanx, breadth: 2 8.5.

f used,

d istal breadth: proximal breadth:

e .65 2 6.8

prox. epiphysis unfused, proximal B . taurus? Outer l ength: 3 3.7.

terminal phalanx, *bones

f used,

articular

maximum length:

5 5.8.

f rom different individuals.

All the lower deciduous molars are probably from Bos primiqenius. The l ength of 4 0.0 mm f or the fourth molar compares with 3 8 mm f or the s ame tooth from the Danish Maglemosian s ite of Svaerdborg, and with 3 5 mm f or an unworn Chillingham tooth ( Chillingham cattle are c lose in s ize to Neolithic domestic c attle and can be used f or comparative purposes when measurements of British Neolithic cattle are not available). The two lower third molars are larger than the equivalent measurement of a Chillingham animal ( 16.5 on a s lightly worn tooth). Again Bos primiqenius i s indicated, e specially as one of these third molars looks as though it i s f rom the s ame j aw a s the f ourth molar. The s ize of the l ower s econd premolar i s within the range f or Bos primiqenius; equivalent Chillingham measurements are 1 0 and 1 1 mm. The radius, with its f used proximal epiphysis, young texture and i ts s ize probably comes f rom a young bull aurochs. The ranges of this measurement f or Bos primiqenius in Denmark are given by Degerb$l ( 1970) and are 8 3-98 f or adult cows and 9 1-110 f or adult bulls. The f airly young metacarpal with its e stimated distal breadth of 6 5 mm i s very close to the smallest aurochs cow known ( from P indstrup in Denmark, of which my measurement was 6 5.1 mm); it probably comes from an aurochs cow l ittle more than 2 ½ years of age.

14

The measurements of the phalanges are all rather small and are of average British domestic Neolithic s ize ( see Grigson 1 965), but they are f rom rather young animals and could possibly come f rom an aurochs, though on the whole I think i t more l ikely that they are f rom a domestic animal. Taking the measurements and the e stimates of ages and numbers of individuals together it looks as though there were f our Bos pri rnigenius individuals represented in Pit 6 . One aged roughly one year ( the s lightly worn f ourth and s carcely worn third lower deciduous molars), one aged r oughly 11 2 y ears and possibly male ( the more worn l ower third deciduous molar and the proximal end of a radius), one aged a very l ittle more than 2 ½ years and possibly f emale ( metacarpal distal end), and one aged considerably more than 2 1 2 y ears ( the lower s econd premolar). A f ifth animal of about 1 ½ years of age and of unknown s ex, was probably domestic ( the s et of hind phalanges). DOMESTIC P IGS There are fragments of mandibles that clearly come f rom f our different animals. I n one mandible none of the teeth have yet e rupted, s o i t i s probably f oetal, or nearly s o. I n another the l ower f ourth deciduous molar i s about to be s hed; it f its on top of the erupting f ourth premolar , the f irst incisor and third premolar are also erupting, the f irst molar has erupted and i s s lightly worn and the s econd molar has j ust erupted, this adds up to an age of r oughly two years using the ' old data' given by S ilver ( 1963). The smallness of the broken canine s uggests a f emale. The third piece of mandible has the l ower premolars all in place, all s lightly worn, and therefore f rom an animal that was s lightly more than two years old. I n the f ourth f ragment the l ower third and f ourth premolars are very worn s o it i s f rom an animal that was much more t h an 2 years old at death. There are f ive d istal ends of the shaft of the humerus that are mutually exclusive, one of these i s f rom a young ( but not f oetal) animal, probably l ess than one year old. The number of i ndividual domestic pigs

represented i s

therefore s ix: one f oetal ( mandible), one less than a year old ( humerus), one about two years old and f emale ( mandible), one much more than two years old ( mandible) and one additional adult ( humerus). None of the other domestic pig bones g ives additional age or s exual data. Very

f ew of the domestic pig bones

are measurable,

but

they are all r ather small and look s imilar to those of Windmill Hill and the Neolithic l evels of Maiden Castle.

1 5

A tibia with a distal breadth of 3 0.2 and a calcaneum with a total l ength of 7 6.2 are in t he s ize range g iven by Clason ( 1967) f or Neolithic domestic pigs in the Netherlands. WILD P IG There i s one s et of bones of pig f rom the s ame f ront l eg that articulate together ( part of the s haft and d istal end of the humerus, ulna, proximal end of shaft and unfused proximal epiphysis of r adius) that look very l arge indeed, l arge enough to come f rom a wild pig. The humerus has a trochlear breadth of c . 3 8 mm which i s l arger than any of the domestic p igs at Windmill H ill ( Grigson, 1965) and s imilar to the wild pigs of the Neolithic in Holland ( Clason 1 967). The f used distal end of the humerus -and unfused proximal end of the r adius g ive an age of one year using S ilver' s data f or domestic pigs, which, a lthough it may not be accurate f or wild animals, at l east s uggests that the bones are f rom a young animal. There are also parts of three metepodials that may well c ome f rom the s ame animal. SHEEP OR GOAT OR BOTH There are only nine bone f ragments that can be attributed to ovicaprids and none are complete enough to a llow a distinction to be made between the two s pecies. Two of the bones are obviously f rom animals of d ifferent ages s o that at l east two animals are r epresented. The unworn l ower f irst or s econd l ower molar g ives an age of 6 -21 months ( based partly on S ilver's ' old' f igures), and the tibia with a fused proximal epiphysis indicates an animal of at least three years of age. None of these s heep or goat bones are measurable, but i n s ize and girth they l ook very s imilar to the very small s heep f ound at Windmill Hill. RED DEER One has to distinguish in deer between antlers and bones f rom the rest of the body. I t i s well known that antler picks were much u sed in Neolithic times and s hed antler was probably collected, and unshed antler from killed animals was probably s aved f or use a s tools. One of the antler f ragments f rom Puddlehill P it 6 i s a t ip of a tine which i s ve y polished , probably from use a s a tool. Only one of the f ive r ed deer antler f ragments showed any evidence of having been shed or unshed, it was attached to a small part of the frontal bone and was

1 6

c learly unshed, s uggested that the animal had been killed. Red deer shed their antlers in April and new ones then begin t o grow reaching their f ull s ize in S eptember, they r emain in place until the f ollowing April. I t is not possible to s ay whether this f ragment was f rom a full grown animal, but it was f airly s ubstantial s uggesting that t he animal died between about August and the f ollowing March. This does not indicate that the pit was u sed only during those months, the antler could well have been kept f rom a different t ime of year. The only other r ed deer bones are a doubtfully identified and broken tooth and two l arge and heavy shafts of f emurs one from the r ight s ide and the other f rom the l eft, and c learly a pair f rom the s ame animal. The minimum number of red deer that may have contributed to the f ood s upply i s therefore one. -

RELATIVE NUMBERS OF No. of bones Aurochs

7 4

SPECIES

%

m . n.i ,

5 7.8

Domestic cattle

4

% 2 6.7 6 .7

( 1)

Domestic p igs

3 6

2 8.1

6

40.0

Wild pigs

7

5 .4

1

6 .7

S heep/goat

9

7 .0

2

1 3.3

R ed deer

2

1 .6

1

6 .7

Total wild animals

6

40.0

Total domestic animals

9

60.0

( m.n.i.

=

% in wild 6 6.7

-

-

1 6.6 -

1 6.6

% in domestic -

1 1.1 6 6.7 -

2 2.2 -

minimum number of individuals)

The total number of bones f or each species has been included f or the s ake of completeness, but the minimum n umber of individuals represented would s eem to be a better e stimate of their relative importance. This i s because there are s o many bones that s eem to be broken f ragments of the s ame s et of bones f or example the ox s kull fragments and the ox r ibs and these c learly overbalance the s ample if they are treated as if they came from different individuals. In s uch a small c losed s ample the chances of bones originating f rom the s ame individual s keleton must be very high. However the total number of bones i s low , and the minimum numbers of individuals i s very l ow indeed, s o the relative percentages should be used with the greatest caution. -

-

1 7

It i s c lear that the pig was predominant among the domestic animals, as in other Rinyo-Clactonian s ites such as Durrington Walls, and in Pits 1 , 2 and 3 from the same s ite of Puddlehill which were reported by Jane Ewbank ( 1964), in one of the pits.

who also

found r emains

of aurochs

The l arge ( relatively) number of auroxen from Pit 6 suggest that in the l ate Neolithic beef was important in the diet, as it had been in earlier s ites such as Windmill Hill, but that it was then obtained mainly from wild cattle. Taken together the f igures wild animals accounted very roughly 4 0% of the refuse in terms of meat weight, in this pit,

show that food

-

aurochsen would have been by supply.

f ar the most

important

Miss Ewbank used the animals present i n Pits 1 , 2 and 3 to suggest the environments available to the inhabitants of Puddlehill in the l ate Neolithic f orest, chalk upland and valley bottoms. Domestic c attle would have been able to use any of these environments, but the high proportion of pigs and aurochsen suggest that the f orest must have been dominant, both as a place in which domestic pigs could be kept and aurochsen hunted, there must also have been s ome open grassland f or the sheep or goats. -

References:

-

Clason, A . T ., 1 967. Animal Groningen ( J. B . Wolters).

and Man i n Holland' s

Past.

Degerb l, M ., 1 970. The urus ( Bos primiqenius Bojanus) and Neolithic domesticated cattle in Denmark. D . kong. Danske Videns. S elskab B iol. S krif. 1 7, pt.l. Ewbank, J . M ., 1 964. Animal Bones, i n: Field, N . H . et al; New Neolithic s ites in Dorset and Bedfordshire. PPS, 3 0, pp 3 64-6. Grigson, C ., 1 965. s ee Jope M . and Grigson, C . 1 965. Jope, N . and Grigson, C . 1 965. Faunal R emains, in: Smith, I ., Windmill Hill and Avebury: Excavations by Alexander Keiller 1 925-39. Oxford ( Clarendon Press). 1 42-67. S ilver,

I .

A . ,,

1 963.

The Ageing of Domestic Animals,

in: Brothwell, D . and Higgs, E ., S cience pp 2 50-68. London ( Thames and Hudson).

1 8

in Archaeology,

BEAKER BURIAL

( Fig.

5 and Plate

I II)

This was f ound s ome 3 66 m to the north of the causewayed c amp of Maiden B ower on the north f acing s lope of the h ill on the 1 22 m contour. The burial was exposed by the Associated Portland Cement Co. and had been partially destroyed when it was noticed by members of the Society. The Company gave permission f or a rescue excavation to be c arried out and an area approximately 1 5 m square was manually stripped to the natural chalk. Later with the aid of a bulldozer kindly lent by the owners of the s ite a wide s urrounding area was s tripped. No f urther burials were f ound but the excavation s howed an i solated Early Iron Age storage pit and a Saxon s unken f loor hut. The only other recorded crouch d burials within this area were n oted by W . G . Smith who s tates that a double grave containing crouched inhumations was e xposed by quarrying. These were approximately

3 66 m to

the

east of the present

s ite.

The Society recently excavated the top portion of a s keleton exposed by quarrying very near to the s ite described by Smith, but the only contents of the grave were two small f ragments of f lint-gritted pottery. This burial cannot therefore be dated. The

Burials

There were two burials, both lying in a crouched position. One had been placed in a chalk-cut pit. The other had been buried some t ime later partly overlapping the f irst. The secondary burial was only 2 0 cm below the f ield s urface and the top of the s kull had been partially removed by ploughing. The

Primary Burial

The primary burial had been placed in a round pit s ur i J 7 6 cm deep into the natural chalk. Part of the pit had been removed by the quarrying but it was 1 .83 m long and possibly s lightly l ess wide. were well cut but the bottom was

The s ides of the pit uneven and rough-hewn.

The body had been placed in the pit lying on its back with the head orientated 3 500. The r ight arm was bent a cross the chest and the l eft arm f lexed back to the l eft shoulder alongside the chest. The l egs were bent with the knees above the chest. This position suggests that the body had been bound or strapped in the crouched attitude at the t ime of burial. After burial

the pit had been

T here was

s ilting

1

W .

G .

no

Smith,

1 894,

f illed with clean chalk.

in the bottom of the pit and Man the

1 9

Primeval

Savage.

the

Quarry edge

/

A

A

Cremation'

0 5 f t. —

—

0

10

i m Cremation

Fig.

5 .

Beaker

Burial,

Plan and

S ection.

bones were lying on the s olid chalk. It would s eem therefore that the body had been covered almost immediately after interment. The s keletal remains had been damaged by the movement of the loose chalk in the f ill of the grave during the quarrying operations and the skull had completely collapsed. Grave Goods ( Plate 1 11). At the f eet of the skeleton had been placed a beaker. Only a part of this was recovered, the remainder having been removed by the mechanical grab, but sufficient remained to allow complete and accurate restoration. Lying on the s ternum and j ust below the r ight ulna was a bone toggle. A s tone bracer was f ound lying on top of the l eft humerus and below the radius and ulna, in a position that suggests that it was attached to the inside of the arm j ust above the wrist. Beneath the bracer was a brown discolouration with a f ibrous texture. This was too insubstantial to preserve, but traces of it were left along the humerus when this bone was removed. The s ame kind of f ibrous brown stain covering an area approximately 1 5 cm l ong and 8 cm wide was observed on the natural chalk beneath a spiral-headed bronze pin which was lying immediately alongside the middle of the l eft humerus. The This

S econdary Burial body had been placed in a pit

excavated

into the natural chalk, partially c utting out the grave f ill of the previous burial.

2 0

1 3

cm d eep

some of

The body had been placed in the it on its l eft s ide, with the s kull orientated at 060 8 The arms were bent in front of the chest with the hands below the chin. .

Both legs were f lexed with the knees up to the chest. The body had, unlike the primary burial, been covered with soil. The bones were in a very poor condition due to their proximity to the s urface, and the skull had been crushed by ploughing. No

grave goods were

f ound with the

The shallowness of this grave of burial a mound had covered

skeleton.

s uggests that at the the primary burial.

time

Further s upport was the f inding of a f ew cremated human bones and s craps of charcoal near the skeleton' s pelvis. These were probably the only s urviving remnants of a yet later burial placed in a mound. No traces of a mound s urvive today and the s econdary burial was j ust below the level of the natural chalk which is covered by no more than 2 0 cm of top soil. The wide s urrounding area of l and cleared to natural chalk showed no s ign of a s urrounding ditch or postholes. The Grave

Finds by Dr.

David Clarke,

Cambridge.

The Sewell beaker burial i s very important in a number of respects. The vessel belongs to the Northern British or Wessex/Middle Rhine ( W/MR) beaker group, the latter mainly concentrated in Wessex and the Upper Thames; the decoration, f ine red f abric and associations are in keeping with the equipment of this group ( fourhole bracer, belt toggle and metal pin). The Wessex/ Middle Rhine beakers represent an e specially well-defined and interesting intrusive assemblage with direct and c lose parallels only in the Middle Rhine area between Koblenz and Mainz. I t now appears that a small-scale but direct intrusion by s ettlers from this area c . 18001 750 B .C . was mainly responsible f or the introduction of the elements prototypical to the l ater ' Wessex culture' including heavy copper metallurgy, the f irst tin bronze and gold pins.

f oil

The pin with

button caps the

S ewell

and trinkets

burial

i s

-

including metal

e specially important

in

this context. I t was originally a double spiral headed pin, without parallel in this early context in Britain but with parallels in the Rhineland, with the Corded Ware assemblages of Central Germany and in Proto-Aunjetitz and Balkan contexts f urther east. Dr. Elizabeth S later of the Department of Metallurgy, Cambridge, has analysed the pin' s metal spectroscopically and shown it to be true bronze with 8 .2% t in, no nickel, no lead or z inc but with 0 .8% s ilver. This analysis makes the pin one of the earliest bronze artefacts in Britain and the metal endorses the typology in suggesting an actual import from Central or Alpine Germany.

2 1

The S ewell burial appears to be the r emains of a beaker chieftain of s ome importance and perhaps of not too distant direct Rhenish ancestry. The Human S keletal Material f rom Sewell Quarry, Maiden Bower, by D . R . Brothwell. British Museum ( Natural History). The

s keletal material

received

f or

s tudy consists

of

parts of two inhumations, and a small amount of cremated bone. The remains are as f ollows:Primary Burial. This consists of a s kull vault, broken but now reasonably well reconstructed except f or the basal area. Parts of the f ace are also present, but the f ull reconstruction was not possible owing to damage in the palatal area. The mandible i s broken at the right ramus and in the region of the r ight mental foramen. As regards s ize and shape, it i s a robust male adult skull, with moderately large brows, well expanded sinuses and a well defined s uperior nuchal crest. The mastoid processes are moderately well built and there i s a well built mandibular body. The chin i s s trongly developed. The upper f ace i s also relatively large. Measurements of the s kull are g iven in Table 1 . I n general morphology, the vault shape i s well within the range s een in English beaker skulls, with typical robust short and relatively broad headedness. The dentition was:

87654321 8 765

1 2345678 2 345678

There was no evidence of caries, ante-mortem tooth loss, apical abscesses or periodontal infection. However, some teeth probably displayed a medium degree of calculus f ormation. There was moderate shovelling of the medial upper incisors. The degree of molar attrition s uggests an age of between 2 0 and 3 0 years ( there being no dentine exposure on the third molars). S econdary Burial The individual i s represented by an extremely eroded and broken skull. Fifty-four pieces being received for study and f ew could be reconstructed. From the degree of s upra-orbital development, mastoid s ize, and mandible s ize, the individual was male. The degree of molar attrition again s uggests an age of between 2 0 and 3 0 years. The mandible is the most intact part of the skull, and shows a deep body combined with a well made ramus, with moderate gonial f laring. Measurements could only be taken on the mandible, and are given in Table 1 . The dentition was:

87654321 8765432

1 2345678 1 2345678

Again , there i s no evidence of oral infection or antemortem tooth loss. In this and the previous skull, there i s s light development of mandibular tori.

2 2

The postcranial s keleton i s poorly represented. Much of at least one burial i s present. Most bones s how some damage, and all s how marked s urface erosion. Bones i dentified are t he f emora, humeri, t ibiae, ulnae, radii, c lavicles, f ibulae, s capulae, parts of 2 0 vertebrae, eroded bones of t he hands and f eet and the pelvis. S ufficient remains of the greater s ciatic notch to confirm that the individual was male. There i s s ome evidence of s light osteophytosis ( arthritic change) on a number of vertebrae i nteresting in view of the young adult age. -

Long bone measurements which could be f ollows:

taken are

a s

-

R ight

f emur:

Left humerus:

F eDl F eD2 HuLl HuDl H uD2

-

-

-

-

-

2 5.5 mm 3 4.7 mm 3 35 mm 2 3.5 mm 1 6.8 mm

The Cremated Bone. The s ample of bone fragment was small. S ome l ong-bone s haft p ieces were identified, but no certainty a s to s ex or age was possible. The P seudo-trephine. I n the primary burial there i s a defect in the r egion of the r ight parietal and f rontal bones, which the excavator called to my attention a s a possible case of trephining. However, on close examination in t he laboratory, it was clearly seen to be post-mortem in n ature. The s kull vault generally has the external s urface varyingly eroded by post-mortem c onditions, and on the r ight s ide this had resulted in a hole about 1 10 mm long and about 7 5 mm in height. The margins of the hole a re meandering and are not s imilar in width or angulation between inner and outer margins ( there being more diploe exposed anteriorly). The margins are s moother than expected but without the appearance of post-operative healing. No inflammation c an be s een on e ither the inner or outer s urface of the s kull. There i s always the possibility, of course, that erosion will ' centre' more on areas already influenced by ante-mortem bone damage or disease, but in this instance evidence i s completely lacking. Table

1 .

B asic biometric measurements of s kulls N . angle). Primary Maximum l ength ( L) Maximum breadth ( B) Min. front. breadth Frontal arc ( S3) P arietal arc ( S2) O ccipital arc ( S3)

1 84 1 48 1 04 1 30 1 28 1 21

( B')

2 3

( in mms

except

S econdary

f or

Primary Nasion alveolare ( G' H) Nasal height ( NH ') Bimental breadth ( ZZ) Min. ramus B . ( RB') Condyle l ength ( C m) Mandib. angle ( MC)

S econdary

7 4 ? 5 3.0 ? 44.7 3 4.3 2 1.5 1 20

3 7.5 2 3.0 105

Author's note: The hole i n the s kull puzzled the excavators f or on the many animal and human bones f ound in the chalk none have exhibited s imilar localised but complete decay of part of a bone. P erhaps this was caused by something under the individual's head or s omething he was wearing at t he time of burial. Dr. D . R . s keleton, Dr. E . V . Humerus

Brothwell did not r eport on the rest of the the r ight humerus was therefore s tudied by Jones.

f rom Primary Burial,

S ewell,

by Dr.

E .

V .

Jones

T pecimen i s a r ight male humerus with recent loss of humeral head and medial epicondyle. There i s a smoothedged hole, 1 0 x 2 0 mm , in t he middle of the diapysis which extends down to the medullary c avity with a

shallow depression 8 x 1 0 mm , 1 2 mm proximally to it. The bone distally to the hole i s roughened over a triangular area with i ts point at the remaining portion of the medial epicondyle where spongy bone i s exposed where it has not been recently broken. The distal articular s urfaces appear normal. The appearances s uggest a long s tanding abscess which discharged distally l eaving a track. No involucru rn f ormation was noted. Short description: An adult male humerus with osteomyelitis of long s tanding with a hole extending down to the medullary cavity in midshaft and a shallower hole above it. From the roughening of the bone the abscess probably discharged at the e lbow without involvement of the j oint.

2 4

THE BRONZE AGE The beaker burial with i ts associated bronze pin heralds the period labelled as the Bronze Age. People were probably wresting a l iving from the chalk r idge during the many centuries before the advent of the Early I ron Age Farmers, but they have left f ew material remains that can be identified and f ewer s cars of occupation in the chalk. The evidence of their presence i s best shown by their burials. On the crest of the main Chiltern s carp overlooking the plateau are the Five Knolls, a row of f ive barrows dominating the s ky-line. On the plateau, s ix ring ditches have been recorded and a f urther example i s known from an air photograph to be s ited in the Ousel valley j ust below the s econdary s carp. Only one i dentifiable occupation s ite was discovered on the ridge. THE RING DITCHES These

are numbered on the plan Fig.

R inq Ditch 1 .

Grid.

Ref.

SP 987

1 .

2 19

An uninterrupted ring ditch s ited on s loping ground on the 137 m O .D. c ontour, part of which r emains unexcavate c i beneath the existing green-way adjoining the chalk quarry. Diameter measured from outside edge i s 1 8.3 m . The ditch was f lat-bottomed from 3 m to 3 .4 m wide. On the upper s lope of the hill it was 8 1 cm deep measured f rom the natural chalk, and the s tratification of the chalk and loam f ill had s ilted at f irst f rom the outside edge of the ditch and evenly from both s ides in the upper f illing. On the lower s lope of the hill the ditch was only 3 6 cm deep. The ditch produced a f ew sherds of undecorated f lint gritted pottery and many f lint f lakes. Approximately 1 0 to 1 5 cm from the bottom of the ditch there was a thin l ayer of a sh. S ixty cm off the centre of the barrow there was a s light depression in the chalk that c ontained the r emnants of an unenclosed cremation. This was f ound a s an area of ash and burnt human bones which included the cores of several teeth. The teeth were identified a s probably belonging to a young woman. The area of the c remation was within a 4 6 cm c ircle. Originally a pit had been dug into the overlying top s oil barely disturbing the natural chalk. Into this had been placed t he burnt human remains, e ither in a perishable container or poured loose into the pit.

2 5

pit

Rinq Ditch

2 ,

4 5.7 m f rom Rinq Ditch 1 on a bearing

3 30 °

S lightly larger than Ring Ditch 1 but built on the same pattern. An uninterrupted ditch, s lightly oval, with outside diameters of 2 3.5 m f rom high to low ground and 2 2.21 m across the hill. The ditch varied f rom 3 m to 3 .4 m wide, was f lat-bottomed and 80 cm deep , all measurements being taken from natural chalk l evel. A f ew coarse f lint-gritted sherds and many f lint f lakes were f ound in the ditch f illing, which appeared to have been s ilted evenly f rom inside and out. No s ign of interment was f ound within this circle. Any cremated remains had either been removed by the plough or the Cement Company's bulldozer. Rinq Ditch

3 .

Grid.

Ref.

SP 989

2 23

The top s oil over this ring ditch was only 1 5 cm deep and therefore some of the natural chalk may have been removed by ploughing. It had an outside diameter of 7 m and was an exact circle. The ditch was 1 .21 m wide and sunk only 2 5 cm deep into the chalk. It was f lat-bottomed with s lightly s loping s ides. On the l ower s ide of the s lope it only appeared as a s hallow depression. Within this shallower part were the remains of a small collared urn s urrounded by a spread of ash. This probably represents a s econdary burial placed within the ditch. The ditch f ill was small chalk and loam with many shells of the snail C . nemoralis still common on the chalk in the locality. One metre off the centre of the circle was a round pit 2 5 cm across the top and 18 cm across the bottom , 3 0 cm deep. This pit was f ull of black ash and contained a small urn s imilarly f illed. Within the ash there were a f ew small fragments of calcined bones.

Fig. No.

1 .

6 .

Ring Ditch

3 .

Beaker and Collared Urn

( ¼ )

Beaker with two lugs perforated vertically to take a cord. During manufacture t hese had been applied to the pot and one had f allen off before the urn was buried. The vessel was decorated with two zones of oblique lines applied before f iring by puncturing the crust of the pot. These were s eparated with two bands of s imilar horizontal decoration. The d ecoration was

2 6

carried out over the s urviving lug and also on the inside of the chamfered rim. No.

2 .

Small collared urn with vertical and horizontal ' maggot' d ecoration on collar.

E ighteen metres t o the east of this ditch was a D-shaped pit, 1 .06 m long by 7 6 cm wide, 3 6 cm deep that was f ull of a dark a shy l oam. Within the pit were s everal f ragments of f lint-gritted pottery, f lint f lakes, a f lint knife and animal bones. The animal bones have been identified as f ollows: Badger

1 ( 2 bones)

P ig S heep Roe Deer Dog

2 ( one 1 8 months plus, 1 1 ( several bones) 1 ( 2 bones)

one under 1 3 months)

The r ing-ditch and pit were in i solation on the chalk down and the pit may have had s ome r itual connection with the burial. A s imilar pit was discovered near Ring Ditch 4 that contained pig bones, potsherds and f lint f lakes. R inq Ditch 4 .

Grid.

Ref.

TL 000

2 13

1

Uninterrupted r ing-ditch. Diameter 1 5.2 m . Pit j ust off centre containing burnt human bones, ash and oak charcoal and a bronze dagger knife of the 14th or 1 5th century B .C. A f ew metres away there was a small pit containing ash and burnt pig bones. R inq Ditch 5 .

Grid.

R ing-ditch to be the ridge. R inq Ditch 6 .

Ref.

s een a s

Grid.

Ref.

SP 9 92

2 15

2

crop mark on the SP 9 92

lower

s lopes of

2 32

Crop mark of ring-ditch in the bottom lands of the Ouse l valley below the r idge. R inq Ditch

7 .

Grid.

Ref.

TL 003

2 22

( Fig.

7 )

Uninterrupted ring-ditch. Diameter 2 3.2 m east/west, 2 1.9 m north/south. No s ign of interment was f ound within the circle. Originally the ditch was 2 .43 m wide and 9 1 cm deep with a f lat f loor 60 cm wide. This original ditch s urvived f or approximately one-third of the diameter. When it had been partially s ilted it was re-dug and widened along two-thirds of its l ength. The area of widening was sharply marked by shoulders of chalk at e ach end. The s econdary ditch was 3 .66 m to 3 .96 m wide with a 2 .13 m wide f lat bottom. The bottom of the older ditch survived s ome 1 5 cm deeper f illed with hard-packed rain wash s ilt. 1 2 3

Published Beds. Archaeological J . Vol. 1 . 1962. Dr. J . K . S t. Joseph, air photo No. 147/994218. Photograph in possession of Manshead Archaeological Society. 2 7

z

I

c l oy f l oo r a nd h ea r th c u t b y d i tch

H / / / / /

/

I

-

F L INT ARRO W HEAD

/ / /

‚ 1

/1

/

/ 1

/

'

'—/ -

P ER I OD ONE D ITCH P ER I OD TWO D ITCH

GREENSTONE— AXE

--

C RE M AT I ON

/

V

Ii

-

------------

K ------- ----------t o F EET

0

1 0

-

2 0

S TONE MACE HEAD

1 V 40

3 0

S O

' I

I LI II I I I I

METRES

1 5

(HALL? LOA

F UN r / LO AM

(L A?

QUA k S ILT

F LINT?

LOA M

S IL L

( 1I FK ( /XIUM UIA M & FONT

Q I J IL k S IU O F I R I MI l I? 1 ) 111 H

K

M L ITAI I IINI

) ARK ( AL (I I JM LO

S I t I--

i

ION F

NF L INT

P R I MARY I AI ( H

0 FFFT

R k MI THIN

01( 1K S IU O F

7 i

E

(

1 0 II I

-

X / ( k 5 1 1 I

D ARK lALA l IS T LOA M & ---- --

F LI lI H UARK Ik T HAN A,

2 0

METRES F ig.

7 .

R ing Ditch

7 with S ections.

When this later d itch had s ilted to the natural chalk l evel a cremation had been placed in a small oval pit 9 6 cm long, 46 cm wide and 3 6 cm deep dug into the s ilt f ill.

The

calcined bones were mixed with

small

of charcoal and a sh-like s oil and 2 40 f lints. of the f lints s howed s igns of burning. The bones were analysed by Dr.

E .

V .

f ragments

S ixty-six

Jones.

There were 7 37 gm of human bones and one sheep tooth. There was considerable distortion and f issuring of the bones. Most had been burnt white and only a f ew were black. All had been broken down to a small s ize, the l argest being 2 2 x 63 mm and the majority were 10 x 3 0 mm. No duplicate bones were f ound. S kull: Only pieces of the vault were identified due to the degree of crushing. Thickness of the parietal bones was 2 mm to 3 .5mm. Parts of the corono-sagittal, l amboidal, and basitemporal sutures were f ound but there was no evidence of f usion. Teeth: Parts of three lower incisors, two canines and one molar were f ound with parts of three unidentified t eeth. All badly burnt. R emaining bones: Only r ibs and metacarpals were identified. No articular s urfaces or epiphyseal ends s urvived. S ummary of cremation: The absence of duplication in the remains s uggests that there was a s ingle interment. The thickness of the parietal bones i s below the range f ound by Cejval in his series of 4 5 modern f emale cremations and this f act coupled with the absence of any f used sutures, s uggests that this was a youth rather than an adult. The

earlier f loor.

Area

I I.

Fig.

7 .

This was an area approximately 1 .83 m x 2 .74 r n showing as a f loor of hard-packed baked clay surrounded by an irregular double row of stake-holes approximately 3 0 cm wide. The southern s ide of the f loor had been destroyed by the d igging of the barrow ditch and pieces of the baked clay were f ound on the s ide of the ditch. Just off the centre of the area was an oval depression 1 3 cm deep that c ontained ashy loam and a f ew burnt f lints. Within this burnt area were two small fragments of coarse f lint-gritted pottery and a rounded piece of baked clay. Across the clay f loor mainly east-west, i .e. downhill, could be s een narrow grooves approximately 5 cm to 10 cm apart. They were about 1 3 mm wide and 6 m in deep and were probably s cored into the clay by primitive ploughing.

2 9

The

f inds

Area Depth

I 2 5

cm

j ust below the plough:

-

1 fragment of Romano-British ware 2 sherds of early Iron Age f lint-gritted ware Depth

3 8

cm

clay-with -flint:

-

1 sherd of coarse f lint-gritted ware 2 f lint f lakes 4 s andstone pebbles. Three showed use as hammer stones with bruising on ends Depth 46

cm

chalky loam:

-

3 fragments of f lint-gritted pottery that includes the rim fragment i llustrated Fig. 8 , No. 1 1 7 broken s andstone pebbles. One carried a polish gloss on f lattened s urface Depth

9 2

-

102

cm

-

dark calcium-filled

loam:

Many s herds of a s ingle p ot. Very coarse ware with large f lint grits. Also decorated f ragments of the r im or l id of a p ot of similar texture ( Fig. 8 , Nos. 2 and 3 ). S everal pieces of calcined bone probably human Fragments of eroded animal bone 1 f lint f lake 1 broken l imestone pebble -

Area

I I

This s ection cut through an earlier clay f inds were f ound in the ditch f ill but a tanged arrowhead was f ound in the f linty the outer edge of the ditch ( Fig. 8 , No. Area Depth

f loor. No barbed and clay loam on 9 )

I II 5 6

cm

Pottery

Other

Depth 69

l ight clay loam

-

Sherds from small collared urn. Fig. 8 , No. 4 . 6 sherds from a very coarse black p ot tempered with large f lint grits

f inds

Broken quartzite mace-head, No. 13. 1 f lint f lake 1 3 broken s andstone pebbles

cm in dark

F ig.

8 ,

loam

9 s andstone river pebbles used as hammer stones 5 others with no s ign of wear and 7 broken pebbles 1 l imestone pebble showing gloss polisher or hone-stone 2 f lint f lakes

caused by use as

a

Depth

bottom of p rimary ditch

-

in quick

rain-wash

s ilt

1 small fragment coarse pottery 1 f lint f lake 3 broken sandstone pebbles Fragments of very eroded Area

animal

bone,

probably of ox

IV

Depth

69

cm on

f linty

stratum

Two shallow post holes and s igns of f ire showing as darkened area of loam that contained fragments of charcoal

a

8 river-rolled burning

of

s andstone pebbles,

1 1 f lint f lakes 1 piece of deer antler Several eroded f ragments Depth

9 2

-

102

cm in dark

Fragments of calcined of charcoal Pottery

Other

of animal

one

showing

s igns

bone

loam

( human)

bones with

small

pieces

4 s herds 1 r im fragment No. 5 , Fig. 8 . The 3 other fragments were well-potted f rom a smooth s andy paste f ired brown outside, black inside

f inds, numbered where i llustrated in Fiq. 8 . Unfinished mace-head of sandstone ( No. 14) Shouldered arrowhead from f lake from polished f lint axe ( No. 10) Fragment of quartz breccia 9 r iver-rolled sandstone pebbles 7 f lint f lakes ( one i llustrated No. 1 1) 3 f lint s crapers ( Nos. 1 2, 1 5 and 16) 1 f lint blade ( No. 1 7) Many pieces of deer antler including one Fragments of eroded animal bones that included 4 ox teeth

tine

Area V Depth

92

cm

Pottery

Other

-

dark

loam

3 f ragments of pottery, one decorated with random f inger nail impressions on body of pot ( No. 6 ), one shoulder fragment decorated with band of f inger nail impressions ( No. 7 ), one plain body sherd with f ine f lint grits

f inds

Part of a greenstone polished axe

( No.

3 hammer stones river-rolled pebbles s howing bruising. 2 are s andstone, the other s chist ( Nos. 19 and 20). -

1 square piece of bunter s igns of wear 3 1

stone with

no

18)

3 f lint f lakes Fragments of deer antler Depth

1 m

Few

-

dark

f ragments

loam of animal

bones which included the

tooth

of a pig and broken ox tooth 1 small fragment of charcoal Depth

-

on

f loor of primary ditch

-

rain-wash

s ilt

1 s andstone hammer s tone with bruising all over surface 2 f lint f lakes 2 f ragments calcined bone 1 piece very eroded animal bone, probably ox Fragments eroded deer antler Fragments of charcoal Area VI This

s ection contained

Depth

5 1

cm

-

above

the

cremation

f lint

7 1

cm

-

dark

above)

layer

Small rim fragment, probably early 3 s andstone pebbles Depth

( see

I ron Age

(No.

8 )

loam

Few fragments of very eroded animal bones Broken quartz pebble. Probably used as a hammer stone Small fragment f lint gritted pottery Depth

7 6

cm

-

in dark

loam

Broken s andstone pebble with bruising 10 worked f lint f lakes The

f inds

illustrated Fiq.

8

No.

1 .

Area

I .

Rounded bowl tempered with f inely crushed f lint, f ired brown. ( For a parallel s ee I ron Age Group 1 , F ig. 6 , No. 8 )

No.

2 .

Area

I .

Rim or l id f ragments, decorated with band of chevrons made with a sharp point before f iring. Body of p ot plain. Coarse ware tempered with large f lint grits. Fired brown.

No.

3 .

Area

I .

Fragments of a collared urn. red. Flint grit tempered.

No.

4 .

Area

I II.

Fragments of small collared urn with bevelled r im. F ired red. Decorated with cord impressions above and below collar. tempering. 3 2

Fine

Fired

f lint grit

( c

4

I

I

1 5

1 6

1 3

1 7

1 9

I NCHES

0 I

F ig.

I

i

8 .

I

1

2 0 6

Ring Ditch

CMS

7 Finds

0 $1

( ½ )

J I $1 1

I I

1 0

No.

5 .

Area

1V.

No.

6 .

Area V .

R im fragment f ired brick red, smooth paste. Decorated with close-set f inger nail impressions below r im. R im bevelled on inside. Body

sherd of c oarse p ot tempered

with l arge f lint grit. with random f inger nail No.

7 .

Area V .

Coarse

black ware,

Decorated impressions.

smooth paste,

decorated with band of f inger nail impressions on s houlder. No.

8 .

Area VI.

Flattened r im i nverted and decorated with oblique s triations across the top of the r im. Fired black/brown smooth s andy paste. Probably e arly I ron Age.

No.

9 .

Area

I I.

No.

10.

Area

IV.

Barbed and tanged Shouldered a f lake

f lint arrow head.

f lint arrow head made

f ro m

f rom a polished axe.

No.

1 1.

Area

IV.

Flint

f lake

struck

from core.

No.

1 2.

Area

IV.

Flint

s craper.

No.

1 3.

Area

I II.

Broken mace-head f ormed from a natural pebble. This was broken through the drilled hole which s howed s igns of natural channels in the rock. I t was t aken to the Open University by Dr. D . Adamson where it was examined by Professor Gass and Dr. Wilson of Earth Sciences. They report as f ollows:

I t i s considered that the channel with the half-circular cross-section is not natural. It i s not an animal hole in the original sediment because it was smoothed and f eatureless. It was not f ormed by water or glacial action as was probably the case with the other smoothed s urfaces. The channel shows longitudinal arrangement of smoothed s urfaces when viewed under a binocular microscope with strong incident illumination at about 200x magnification. S cratches are not visible. The two ends of the channel are s lightly f lared. The rock i s quartzite, probably a p iece of gannister. The presence of natural channels s uggests this. These natural channels are visible on the f ractured surface and along the smoothed channel. They are thin irregular and twisted. They may r epresent root in the original s ediment. The smoothed channel was probably bored because it has a s light curvature.

3 4

from both

channels ends

No.

14.

Area

IV.

Unfinished mace-head of s andstone with bruising at each end. Hourg lass drill holes unfinished at e ither s ide. Small f ragment f laked off the s tone, probable reason f or the tool being left unfinished.

No.

15.

Area

IV.

Flint end

s craper.

No.

16.

Area

IV.

Flint

No.

17.

Area

IV.

Flint blade.

No.

18.

Area V .

Broken polished greenstone axe Page 1 1).

No.

19.

Area V .

S andstone hammer with bruising on

rounded

s craper.

( see

each end. Numerous hammer s tones were f ound in the ditch, most of them round pebbles varying f rom the s ize of a tangerine to an orange. S ome were oval No.

2 0.

Area V .

f lattened pebbles.

Broken quartzite pebble probably used as a hammer stone. Cementl ike deposit on part of s urface.

Summary of R inq Ditch 7 The main interest of this r ing ditch i s that it s hows a u se as a burial place over a very long period of t ime. The original burial had been placed on the ground or in a very s hallow pit and covered by a mound. When the ditch had collected a considerable amount of s ilt up to 4 6 cm deep across its width i t was re-cut along twothirds of its l ength and we can s uppose that this additional chalk was required to cover another major burial. When this l ater wider ditch had been almost completely f illed with s ilt a cremation had been placed in a pit dug into the ditch f illing. The time l apse between the original and f inal burials must have been s everal centuries. No evidence was f ound to indicate a mortuary house or c ist within the c ircle. If post holes f or these had originally existed they had not s urvived in the chalk bedrock. The scatter of c alcined bones and f ragments of small collared urns within the ditch f illing are probably the remains of satellite burials placed in the s ides of the mound and do not represent the primary burials. These will have been s cattered by s ubsequent ploughing after the ditch had f inally s ilted. The the

small collared urn, Fig. 8 , No. 3 i s very s imilar to small vessel f ound in Ring Ditch 3 .

The last cremation placed in the d itch f ill i s in the s ame stratum a s the f ew fragments of early Iron Age pottery that were f ound. This indicates a very l ate

3 5

interment probably about the transitional time to the I ron Age. The mound at this time may only have been a s light hillock on the chalk plain j ust high enough to provide shelter from the west wind. Certainly on the lee-side t o the prevailing west wind people had camped on the ditch and built themselves a f ire.

s ilted

When the barrow had stood as a visible monument people h ad used and occupied the immediate area. This i s shown by the broken mace-heads and the numerous hammer stones within the ditch f illing. It i s difficult to visualise what the hammer s tones had been used f or. Perhaps the f lints in the fabric of the barrow provided a convenient source of material for s crapers. All of the hammer stones are f oreign to the s ite. The carbon s amples were reported on by Mr. Plant Anatomy Section, Jodrell Laboratory, Ditch

S ection

I

Ditch S ection M with cremation Ditch

Section A

Ditch

S ection G

OCCUPATION S ITE

-

-

J

Oak ( Quercus robur) Ash ( Fraxinus excelsior) Field Maple ( Acer campestre)

N Hawthorn only

-

-

Grid.

D . F . Cutler, Kew , as follows:

( Crataegus)

B

Oak ( Quercus robur) Field Maple ( Acer campestre) ? Prunus

D

Oak ( Quercus robur) Ash ( Fraxinus excelsior) Field Maple ( Acer campestre)

Ref.

SP 988

2 23

( Fig.

9 )

This s ite was discovered f ollowing the s tripping of the top s oil f rom a wide area by the Rugby Portland Cement C o. It consisted of a c ircle of shallow post holes, a small pit used f or f ire and a series of twin and triple post holes. Hut

S ite

This i s an arbitrary title given to the circle of eight post holes. They f ormed an exact circle with a diameter of 7 m . Unfortunately the earth s craper had removed a f ew centimetres of chalk on one s ide of the hut and three of the post holes had been almost destroyed. Only two to three centimetres of the bases of these holes showed in the chalk. The remainder survived in good state and a dark soil within the chalk f ill of the holes showed where the posts had originally stood. Each post hole i s lettered on the plan and described as f ollows: Post hole A . . An irregular hole, 5 6 x 4 1 x 1 3 cm deep. The post had been s et in the hole at an angle pointing towards the centre of the hut and then packed with chalk.

3 6

° ONZE 4 6 DET4/L

0CC UP AT /0 /V 5 /7

G/D E EF SP 9 88 244

-

OP F / E -P iT

PI O UCA, t

f l , o V, O d Y 3C eA Pt Q

P IT 3

0

P IT 1

SI

Q Q

P /r e

G

4 3 02

B

P E

.

D

S

U

2S •3

C N .2

L RUT

S

C IPC IE

52

I

G

1
Al l I I

IL L( [ A ( ARR() 0 1 [ RN

0

1

2

3

4

weathered s howing round and f lat pick marks. There were also several holes probably made by rodents. The f loor was smooth and s lightly concaveJust below the natural chalk was

a layer of ash, burnt s tones and snail s hell ( Layer 3 ). Layer 4 was very s imilar but with no Fig. 7 9. Storage P it 3 1 snail shell and was composed of dark loam with ash, carbonised wood f ragments, burnt stones, chalk and potsherds ( Fig. 80 Nos. 1 and 5 ) suggesting that the hollow had been used as a hearth when the storage pit was nearly f ull. Layers 6 , 7 and 8 were composed of c lean chalk which showed as three distinct layers. In the bottom of the pit was a dark greasy loam with f lecks of carbon. On the chalk at the bottom were the s keletons of two mice and half of a rotary quern ( Fig. 80 No. 7 ). I I

0

I

-

The F inds. A total of 59 s herds was f ound, half a rotary quern, a fragment of another rotary quern and a carved piece of bone. Fig.

80

No.

1

No.

2

No. 3

( 3)

Fig.

80.

S torage

3 1 Finds

4

Small

No.

5

Three body sherds from a s ingle p ot , decorated with close-set vertical rows of thumbnail impressions. The p ot had been grass-wiped vertically before decoration. S andy paste with straw mixture, f ired brown/black out-

No.

6

7

f ired dark grey.

inside.

Carved piece of bone with f lat s urface s howing polish. All surfaces were cut, but i t was

No.

black

Smooth paste,

( ¼ )

No.

s ide,

vessel.

P it

probably the

f emoral head of an animal.

Half of a rotary quern. Centre i s unworn, showing deep roughening of the s urface. The periphery of the stone to a width of approximately 3 8 mm showed polish. A hole had been pierced s lightly off-centre, probably being drilled f rom both directions. The hole was s lightly oval in s hape. The rock was i dentif ied by Mr. R. W. S anderson of the Petrographical Dept. of the Institute of Geological Sciences a s a calcareous quartz-pebble c onglomerate. He stated that ' it would appear from the r ed-brown colouration that the r ock is of Old Red Sandstone age. The nearest area in the British I sles t o Dunstable, f rom which such material could have been obtained , i s the Hereford-Gloucester-Somerset region.'

122

Ditch B , Fig. 12. This was shallow trench in the vicinity of the group of storage pits 29, 3 0, 3 1. There were n o potsherds f ound in it but it was included with this group because of its proximity to the storage pits. Enclosure Ditch

2 ,

Figs.

7 1 & 81.

This was a continuous ditch enclosing an area 9 .3 m square, with the ditch projecting 2 2 m beyond the enclosure on the southern s ide. The ditch varied between 1 .07 m and 1 .22 m deep into the natural chalk and the infill suggests that the bank was placed on the inside of the enclosure. Within the enclosed area were the three round huts ( Huts 8 , 9 , 10). The ditch stratum(6)shows a quick s ilt of small chalk averaging 3 1 cm deep overlaid by a band of dark loam ( 5). Above this was another stratum of small chalk and loam containing a heavy concentration of snail shell. This averaged a depth of 3 1 cm and was covered by a band of dark loam containing Belgic debris ( 3). This was s ealed by a stratum of yellowish subsoil containing a scatter of Romano-British sherds of c . lst/2nd century A .D. ( 2).

C

D

0

1

2

4

5

F E LT

0 METRE

Fig.

81.

Enclosure

2 D itch

I t

i st

ii

i ii

Section

The Finds. Within the ditch f ill was the s keleton of an infant buried in layer 4 and an unenclosed cremation within the upper f illing of the ditch ( 3). ( See below, Belgic period.) A total of 2 39 sherds was f ound in the ditch. These came from 20 identified pots. Of the miscellaneous sherds 20 were of coarse wares, 3 6 from burnished vessels and the remainder from pots made from a smooti sandy paste. Also within the ditch f ill were 62 s ling stones ( riverrolled pebbles the average s ize of a walnut), hammers, f ragments of a rotary quern f rom the

2 round f lint same quern as

that f ound in the huts, 5 worked f lint f lakes, 3 stones boilers) and a fragment of a triangular loomweight.

123

( pot

I ‚ B

Fig.

Enclosure

2 Ditch Finds

( ¼ )

No.

1

No.

2

No.

3

( 2)

S imilar pots

No.

4

( 8)

Vessels made f rom a smooth paste. Smoothed fabric on exterior and inside rim to depth of thumb. Fired brown.

No.

5

Nos. No.

( 4)

82.

Vessel with short neck and Smooth paste, f ired brown.

6 & 7 S

Burnished bowls of black smooth paste, angle on shoulder, rounded body.

s light

f lattened r im.

to above.

S ingle r im fragment of ' Group 1 ' f lint grit. Probably residual.

pot.

Vessels with thickened bases made with paste. Burnished outside, f ired grey. Chalk spindle whorl. with incisions.

Fine smooth

Squared and decorated

No. 9

Round chalk

spindle whorl.

No.

10

Bone spindle whorl made head.

No.

1 1

Shale bead.

f rom animal

f emoral

Group 5 Discussion The f eatures within this grouping are 3 huts, protected by an enclosing ditch, and 4 storage pits outside the enclosure on the open hilltop. Our previous Group s howed storage pits within an enclosure but no huts. Are t hese two Groups contemporary? The pottery shows a close affinity but it i s certainly different as an assemblage. It i s represented by 443 sherds, all made from a smooth clay to which has been added a little sand. One third of all sherds were from burnished pots and this technique would s eem to have largely replaced other f orms of pot decoration. There are no sherds in this group showing the vertical striations or the decoration of random tooling which were f requent in Group 4 . The only examples of ornamentation were a s ingle sherd from a highly burnished pot which carried traces of a curvilinear pattern Fig. 80 No. 3 ) and sherds which showed decoration of close-set f ingernail impressions all over the body of

1 24

t he pot ( Fig. 80 No. 5 ). The f ormer may have been a s tray from an earlier Group but the latter was probably c ontemporary as s everal s herds of the s ame pot were f ound i n the pit. Large rounded j ars were popular within this grouping ( Fig. 80 No. 1 , F ig. 8 2 No. 4 ). They were f ound i n one of the huts, in the lowest level of the s urrounding d itch and in a storage pit. Smaller vessels are rounded and invariably carry burnishing. S ome have a characteri stic short neck ( Fig. 7 2 No. 1 , Fig. 7 3 No. 1 ). Bases of pots are generally plain and f lat but Fig. 7 7 No. 2 s hows one of 3 pots where the base i s thickened and would appear to be an embryo development of a pedestal. R otary querns appear f or the f irst time with this Group. One was f ound in the bottom of a storage pit, part of one in a hut and also i n the lowest l evels of the enclosure d itch. Saddle querns only were f ound in earlier Groups. This f act, together with the pottery evidence, i s the r eason f or s eparating the two Groups 4 and 5 . Why the uninterrupted ditch around the huts, entry to which could only have been by bridge across the ditch? One answer could be that the ditch was to keep grazing cattle out of the l iving compound, but this begs the question why storage pits, containing the very e ssence of their l ife, were l eft unprotected by a s imilar ditch. P erhaps Ditch B was connected with hurdle f encing aound the group of storage pits. One possibility, s uggested by the Butser Ancient Farm research project, i s that the p its, if sealed with a clay cap, might benefit from being trampled by c attle. The s ize of the enclosure ditch suggests that it was not dug as a defence against human enemy, therefore we can only presume that it was to keep out cattle. The ditch had been extended on one s ide, probably part of a cattle corral, the remaining s ides enclosed by thorn hedge or f ence as in the case of the wide entrance t o Enclosure 1 . The evidence of the postholes s uggests that the huts were s light structures. Adjacent Belgic cremation burials indicate that although s oil erosion had taken place the chalk had suffered very l ittle weathering ( see below). The discovery of the burnt loaf and weaving comb in one of the huts and carbonised material in the other huts s eems to indicate a f inal destruction by f ire.

1 25

GROUP 6 This

Group consists of 4 s torage pits

ditch and a s emi-circular ditch Enclosure 3 and Ditch C ). Storage

P it

3 2,

F ig.

enclosed within a

s ome d istance away

( Fig.12

83.

This was a round pit s unk 2 m deep into the natural chalk and the diameter at the s urface measured 2 .44 m . Originally the pit was probably undercut but f rost erosion had caused the top and s ides to collapse.

( I F ( IF L ICHT F OA M C IF H SM•\ FI (H\Lk

( i ; . i p

> ( F F1 I >>\\ F

LO O»F

(H ( I k

s

Loose clean chalk from this erosion almost f illed the pit but bands of loam , ashy deposits and camp debris suggest that i t was being used as a rubbish tip during the erosion period. At a depth of 5 6 cm in the centre of the pit was a l ayer of loam with many snail shells ( 5).

The F inds. A total of 1 10 sherds came from FOA M C SNlU S HELL the pit and 60% of 0 1 2 these were f rom burFE E T n ished vessels. In the lowest level of the pit was f ound a hand-made vessel decorated with combing and a sherd of Fig. 8 3. S torage P it 3 2. a c ordonned vessel, both of which are typical Belgic f orms of decoration ( Early I ron Age C period). Sherds f rom Pot No. 10, Fig. 84, were f ound in different A SH

-

A SH

levels within the pit. Also f ound were a triangular loomweight, a fragment of s addle quern, a r ound f lint hammer and f ragments of baked clay showing wattle marks. ( None of these has been i llustrated.) Fig.

84

No.

1

Hand-made f lower p ot type of vessel with flattened r im. Zone of curved c ombing on body of pot in the tradition of l ater Belgic pottery f ound on the s ite. Sandy paste, f ired brown.

No.

2

Fragment of hand-made vessel with crude cordon This i s also a typical Belgic f orm of p ot. B lack burnished ware made f rom a smooth paste.

1 26

p J6 (t o

Fig.

Storage

P it

3 2

Finds

( ¼ )

No.

3

No.

4

Vessel burnished outside, smoothed Smooth paste, f ired brown.

No.

5

Coarse vessel with out-turned l ip. Grass impressions in clay inside and out. Body of vessel decorated with f ine vertical striations incised before f iring. Inside of rim carries band of impressions made with a f inger tip or stick. Sandy paste, f ired black/ brownish grey.

No.

6

Slightly beaded rim of rounded vessel. Highly burnished exterior. Shows tooling marks on outside and inside. Smooth paste, f ired black.

No.

7

Base of burnished vessel. f ired brown.

No. 8

No.

9

No.

10

( 2)

84.

( 3)

Rounded vessels with s lightly beaded rim. Burnished, f ired brown/black from a smooth paste. inside.

Smooth paste,

Rounded vessels with s hort neck and oblique striations on f lattened rim. Coarse ware, sandy paste, f ired black outside, brown inside. Body s herd of rounded vessel decorated with irregular tool marks. Smooth paste, f ired grey.

( 2)

Sherds f rom rounded vessels decorated with random tooling. Small part of neck of vessel shows high burnish. Sandy paste, f ired black outside, grey inside.

1 27

Storaqe

P it

3 3,

Fig.

8 5

This was a round pit sunk 1 .37 m into the natural chalk. The diameter at the surface was 2 .29 m . The bottom of the pit was f lat and smooth. The f illing of this pit was composed entirely of chalk laid in distinct s trata. The bottom l ayer of chalk contained l umps showing pick I CHA I KL I M IS marks, both round and IA RGER THAN 4 H -1 f lat. Layer 4 was made up f rom smaller chalk more tightly packed and LO OSE CHALK P ICK MARKS may represent erosion f rom the top of the pit. -

)

A M

Finds. Within the pit were 3 8 small sherds. Of these, 2 2 came f rom 4 burnished vessels. One of these ( not i llustrated) was f rom a type as No. 1 in Fig. 8 5. Storage Pit 3 3 Storage P it 34 ( Fig.87). The remainder of the sherds were f rom coarse sandy wares which included 2 vessels s imilar to No. 8 f rom Storage P it 3 2 ( Fig. 84) and one as i llustrated ( Fig. 86). Two carbonised grains 1f wheat were the bottom of the pit.

o .

Fig.

1 .

86. Storage 3 3 Find ( ¼ )

1

f ound

in a f issure on

Coarse pot with deep incisions across f lattened rim. Smooth paste, f ired brick colour outs ide, black inside.

Pit

I dentified by Hans Halbaek as ' a g lume wheat, whether this latter i s Emmer ( Triticum Dicoccum) or Spelt ( T. Spelta) i s impossible to state definitely.'

Storaqe

Pit

34,

F ig.

87.

This was a round pit with a diameter at the natural chalk of 2 m , sunk 1 .3 m into the chalk. The s ides were rough and the f loor f lat with a round depression on one s ide. The pit was s ealed with a loam containing I J 1 ( ) ( ( ‚ 1 1 T sherds of Belgic pottery ( 3). Beneath this were f ound many o b oC fragments of calcined 1 . 0 \M human bone and a thick layer of charcoal. With the bone was a D K CR burnt bronze brooch of Belgic date ( see below). Beneath the ashy l ayer c i IDH T LOA M 1) ECH THR O' PIT the f ill was loam and 0 1 2 3 I nodule chalk which FE FT [ contained the carbonised tubers of earth or METRE IIIft t i I i pig nuts ( Conopodium Denudatum). Below Fig. 87. Storage P it 3 4 this was a stratum of dark greasy loam containing camp debris. This covered a loose chalk s ilt that probably represents weathering of the pit s ides. A small trench ( 5) containing sherds of hand-made pottery too small for identification had been cut through the pit f illing prior to the f ormation of the cremation layer. D IRE I0 \ I

kI lk ( RE M 4 1 0

"

'

-

The Finds. not

A total

of 9 7

sherds was

illustrated only one came

f ound.

Of the

from a coarse vessel.

sherds This

contained f lint grits and had a bright red exterior, possibly haematite coating. All other sherds were burnished.

Fig.

88.

S torage

Pit

34 Finds

( ¼ ).

No.

1

( 5)

Rounded bowls with bead rim. Highly burnished smooth paste, f ired dark grey.

No.

2

( 7)

Rounded bowls with short neck. f lattened rim carries chiselled

S lightly striations,

incised before f iring. Coarse pottery made from sandy paste. Vessel illustrated has carbon deposit on inside and coarse grass and straw wiping on the outside. Fired black/ brown.

1 29

No.

3

Rounded bowl with crude bead rim. Coarsely made but l ightly burnished on outside. Sandy paste, f ired brick colour.

Fig. 89 and Fig. 1 2. Ditch C , This was a V-shaped ditch f orming a half c ircle with a diameter of 9 .14 m . It was 91 cm wide and 61 cm deep into the natural chalk but part of it was dug through an E

F

Ø

'h i

n i wt

h e iq ic

[ i IT( H ( (LIT I\ 'C IL q r p ,F

i t ijiti

\\

w i th

!. C O

FM I i ,i R I I) \ F

1 ) 111 I

r i , i i I d id ik w ei m

3

k irn

1 h i lk

um l ow

qu ir

one R IH

qr ea,y

F

k

h

-

-

4

5

F

-

ui r n

Fig.

89.

S ection through Ditch C

earlier f eature ( Enclosure Ditch 1 ). Where it had been dug through the loam f ill of the latter it was 1 .22 m wide and 9 1 cm deep. The infilling of the ditch was a chalky loam , and associated with this ditch was a s ingle posthole that contained stone packing. The Finds. These mately 65% of t he The remainder were

included a total of 3 2 sherds. Approxisherds came f rom coarse sandy wares. from burnished vessels. I n the upper

levels of the ditch was the skeleton of a dog. with this was the base illustrated Fig. 9 0 No. worked f lint f lake was the only other f ind.

Associated 3 . One

( F ig.

90.

Ditch

C F inds

( ¼ )

No.

1

Shouldered vessel with short neck and tened rim. Sandy straw-filled paste, brown.

No.

2

Outcurving thickened base. Smooth paste, f ired grey.

No.

3

F lat out-turned base f rom a smooth hard paste f ired grey. Possibly wheel-turned and belonging to the Iron Age C period.

No.

4

Worked

f lint

f lake.

1 30

f latf ired

Burnished ware.

Enclosure Ditch

3 ,

F ig.

9 1

and Fig.

1 2.

This was a continuous ditch enclosing a roughly squared area of about a quarter of an acre. I t was 2 .44 m wide, s unk 1 .07 m deep into the natural chalk with a 6 1 cm wide f lat bottom. No trace of the bank survived but the infill s trata suggested that this had been placed on the inside of the enclosure. Only 5 sections were excavated through the ditch due to the urgency of the q uarry activities but its destruction was observed throughout the length. The

infilling throughout the major part of the ditch

G

showed

H

T I

I TJ

_ r t lP I h ' 7 JT F ©jl lO

p i , 6

/' •-7-, -. .____

-

-

----

T J1

oa -

--

;2 1

-

cha lk

/

-

3

F ig.

9 1.

Enclosure

3 Ditch

as a deliberate f ill of clean chalk lying on a thin band of dark loam. The uppermost s ealing stratum contained RomanoBritish sherds with a noticeable absence of Belgic pottery. The south-east corner of the ditch had been re-excavated during the Romano-British period f or the construction of an oven. The Finds. A total of 4 7 sherds came from the ditch. Only 4 of the s herds n ot i llustrated were f rom coarse vessels, the remainder were f rom burnished pottery. The only other f ind was a f lint s craper. F ig.

9 2

No.

1

Crudely made bulbous j ar with everted rim decorated with a s eries of close vertical s cratch marks and oblique deeper s cratches incised before f iring. S andy paste with s traw , f ired brown/black. Potter's f inger marks inside p ot showing how clay had been drawn upwards.

No.

2

R ounded bowl with thinned, Out-turned rim. S andy paste, l eathery brown s urface, burn ished i nside and outside.

1 31

Fig.

92.

Enclosure

3 Ditch Finds

( ¼ )

No.

3

( 2)

Large rounded j ars with s hort neck. Smooth grey paste, smoothed exterior, f ired buff.

No.

4

( 4)

Small bowls with beaded r im , highly burnished on outside. Sandy paste, f ired black.

No. 5

Rounded bowl, burnished, with s lightly outturned f lattened rim. Smooth paste, f ired black.

No.

6

Bowl with inverted rim. Burnished, showing tool marks. Smooth paste, f ired black.

No.

7

Flat base of p ot , burnished, with tool marks. Smooth paste, f ired leathery brown.

No.

8

Flat base, smoothed externally. f ired brick red inside and out.

S andy paste,

No.

9

Small base

f ired brown.

No.

10

Flint

sherd.

Smooth paste,

scraper.

Group 6 Discussion This Group has close affinities with the previous Group and the features may in fact belong to the same people. The technique of the uninterrupted ditch surrounding their storage pits i s an obvious s imilarity and the pottery is very close in its general shapes. However, there i s a difference within the pottery when s tudied in the mass. Of the 3 24 sherds, 7 3% were from burnished vessels. In Group 5 only 3 3% showed burnishing. The Group has also been separated because of its association with Belgic pottery. Fig. 84 No. 1 , found in the bottom of Storage Pit 3 2, is a hand-made vessel with typical Belgic combed decoration and with it was the sherd ( No. 2 ) of highly burnished cordoned ware which i s certainly Belgic in f orm 1 32

although probably hand-made. The evidence suggests that the s ite had been abandoned before the Belgae u sed the hill-top as a crematorium. Storage Pit 3 4 must have showed as a hollow with vegetation growing when the Belgae chose the pit to carry out a cremation . The f ire s corched and carbonised the tubers of earthnut plants, which are still common on the hill-top. For these plants to s eed and develop their tubers within the f ill of the pit in large numbers must have taken s everal years, particularly as growth of vegetation must have been restricted in the a rea during the period of occupation. No huts can be associated directly with this Group but as we have seen in Group 5 , dwelling places during this l ate phase were very s light structures, and as the overlying loam on the chalk in this area i s only 1 5 cm deep, the postholes of these may have been ploughed away. Adequate room existed within the enclosing ditch area to have contained several huts s uch as those in Enclosure 2 . The s ilted enclosure ditch may have been visible on the ground during the e arly Roman period, as it was utilised to build a primitive oven. A part of the ditch was reexcavated and the oven built into the natural chalk of the ditch s ide. It may have been coincidence that the RomanoBritish farmer chose this s ite f or an oven and had accidentally met the f illed-in ditch. Certainly no sherds f rom the later Belgic ( Iron Age C ) occupation were deposited in the ditch, which s eems to s uggest that by this time it had completely disappeared.

1 33

GROUP

7

This was an unfinished enclosure ditch and i s probably the latest f eature to be dug on the hill-top before the introduction of an e conomy where only wheel-turned pottery was in general use. Enclosure Ditch

4 ,

Fig.

9 3

and Figs.

1 1

and

1 2

This was a V-shaped ditch enclosing l ess than a half acre with a s ingle entrance. Although a p art of the enclosed K

L E!

‚ l I

-

¶

i l () ( ( E I

1 (11! ‚ II E R ( E l i

( E l \ lk

D\Rk

EO\\ t-

-

-

R ( R E

F I T

Enclosure Ditch

4 .

Section f acing north on north of causeway entrance

s ide

D a tu m F . ca i a r ib l oa m a x b ur ia l i /tn Be lg ic

sf terds -

/

/

0

sma l l cha lk

/

0

ard l oa m sna i l s ne l t qu ick s i lt

F ee t /e t e

Fig.

9 3.

3

.

0

—

—

—

—

Enclosure Ditch 4 . Section f acing s outh s ide of causeway entrance.

—

s outh on

area had been destroyed by the quarry , s ufficient remained to allow a f airly accurate e stimate of its s ize. The s ingle entrance was a causeway 4 .27 m wide between the ditch ends, and this had been closed or obstructed by some f orm of rampart held by revetting which allowed 4 6 cm wide pass age on e ither s ide. A hal f c ircle of 9 postholes wa s 1 34

f ound exactly spaced between the ends of the ditch. I t is this exact spacing that identifies them with the enclosure rather than with earlier f eatures. The ditch at each s ide of the entrance was 2 .74 m wide at natural chalk level and 1 .83 m deep. The infill shows that the excavated chalk had been built up on the inner s ide to make a s imple chalk bank with no evidence f or revetment. The ditch was not f inished . Although nearly 3 m wide and 2 m deep at each s ide of the entrance, at the back of the enclosure, opposite the entrance, i t was only 1 .5 m wide and 7 6 cm deep, back-filled with clean, unweathered lump chalk. Near to the entrance the profile of the ditch had been broken when the diggers had cut into an abandoned storage pit of an earlier period ( Storage P it 2 , Group 3 ). The contour of the ditch had been repaired by emptying the loam f ill of the pit to a point below the fracture and carefully repacking it with clean chalk. This had been carried out s o skilfully that the modern excavators were unaware of the break in the natural chalk until the top of the pit had been exposed. The clean chalk packing showed two types of pick marks; one made with a round implement of 1 3 mm diameter and the other with a blade s imilar to a modern pick. The lowest f ill of the ditch was a91 cm layer of small weathered chalk mixed with loam and numerous snail shells. These snails were mainly of the variety C . Nemoralis. Within this f ill was the skeleton of a young girl, lying at the north s ide of the entrance. Above this the s ilting was made up of dark loam and layers of small chalk and snail shell. The upper levels were s ealed by a thick occupation layer of Belgic material, which varied in depth along the length of the ditch. The Finds. All of the pottery came from the lower levels of the enclosure ditch. From a total of 187 sherds, 2 3 pots were identified. The most common shape of p ot was as Fig. 94 No. 1 and 14 vessels were identified from 51 sherds. The bases of these vessels were thickened as No. 1 3 which has affinities with the pottery from Group 6 . A new vessel of shallow bowl shape appears No. 6 . This has deep small f inger nail impressions on a f lattened rim and the body of the p ot is decorated with a horizontal l ine below the neck and vertical l ines dividing the body into panels. Three of these vessels were f ound. Approximately 1 1% of the s herds carried burnishing. No. 2 i s a typical example carrying a f ine smooth burnished exterior. The pot illustrated No. 8 i s a typical Belgic f orm and its appearance within this group i llustrates the late date f or the series. Along the length of the ditch were 8 f lint scrapers and one Neolithic leaf-shaped arrowhead. All of these are probably relics of e arlier occupation. Also f ound were 3 f lint han imerstones. One of them was an elongated piece of f lint with bruising at either end. The other two were round. 135

There were various stones f oreign to the s ite, including a piece of quartzite ( West Midlands origin), a piece of iron sulphide converted to l imonite ( Northants) and a piece of Pre-Cambrian greenstone. One piece of hard sandstone carried a narrow groove apparently worn by a rubbing action. The Human The the the

Skeleton.

The

f ollowing

i s a report by

Dr. Osman Hill ( Plate IX) s kull i s that of a child in the 8th year of age but s ex i s uncertain. I t is suspected to be a f emale on appearance of the pelvis.

The bite i s overshot unusual in s kulls of the age this is reported to be. On the other hand, it presents a f ew primitive f eatures, notably some alveolar prognathism. The metopic suture i s still visible f or about 1 cm above the nose. -

Mastoids as would be expected f rom the age developed, the right being larger than the

are poorly l eft.

There is some assymmetry of the cranial portion, especiall y marked i s some f lattening over the lower part of the left parietal posteriorly. Otherwise it i s a well f illed brain case. There i s a small interparietal bone. The cranial index i s 7 6, nasal index 5 3 and orbital index 88. These do not preclude its assessment to the Early Iron Age as decided on the stratigraphical data.

I

i --

,

i na

Fig.

94.

Enclosure Ditch 4 Finds

( ¼ )

Fig.

94

No.

1

( 14)

No.

2

( 3)

Rounded bowls with thinned-out l ip. paste, f ired brown. Thickened base. Rounded bowls with rim. Smooth paste, f ired b lack.

No.

3

Vessel with

4

No.

5

6

and

Coarse

exterior,

f lattened rim. sandy paste,

f ired

Rounded burnished vessel with s light bead Smooth paste, f ired black/brown. Fragment of coarse vessel, thickened brown.

No.

f lattened

highly burnished

short neck

Smoothed outside. black/brown. No.

short neck and

Sandy

( 3)

externally.

rim

rim.

f lattened and

Sandy paste,

f ired

Bowls with rim thickened internally and decorated with small f inger nail impressions. Incised horizontally below neck and vertical l ines d ividing body into panels. All decorations applied before f iring. Coarse sandy paste, f ired red/brown.

No.

7

Burnished p ot with f ired brown.

No.

8

Iron Age C ( Belgic) p ot with primitive irregular cordons between rim and shoulder. Tooled l attice pattern on body of vessel. Highly burnished above shoulder and highly burnished on body under lattice pattern. The burnishing shows the tool marks. Well-potted vessel f rom smooth clay, probably hand-made. Fired black.

No.

9

No.

10

Rounded vessel, rim thickened externally. S andy paste, f ired black/brown.

No.

11

Base of very coarse ' flower pot' S andy paste, f ired red.

No.

1 2

No.

1 3

Thickened base of vessel. paste, f ired brown.

No.

14

Base of rounded pot, originally highly burn ished but much eroded. Smooth paste, f ired brown.

( 3)

( 2)

rounded rim.

Smooth paste,

Thick s herds with random curvilinear decorarions i n light tooling. Burnished. Sandy paste, f ired brown.

type vessel.

Base i llustrated; smooth paste f ired black and highly burnished. Another s imilar pot but coarser and f ired brick red.

1 37

Burnished.

Smooth

Group

7 Discussion

Unlike t he enclosures of earlier groups this ditch was probably constructed as a defence against man, but the ditch diggers e ither changed their minds before the def ence was completed, or the threatened danger that had caused them to start the ditch disappeared or engulfed them. On the s ame r idge about a mile away i n the parish of Totternhoe, a s imilar small enclosure of Early Iron Age date exhibited the s ame unfinished f eatures, with the ditch uncompleted and the s ingle entrance protected by a strong pallisade ( Fig. 9 7). There were other s imilarities. At Totternhoe advantage had not been taken of the high ground of the r idge; the e nclosure had been concealed in a f old i n the ground. On Puddlehill, a lthough built on the top of the r idge, it was s ited within a shallow s aucer-shaped depression on the top of the h ill. The rampart could have been overlooked f rom the rise of ground to the east and west f rom c lose range but would have remained unseen f rom a distance of less than 100 m lower down the hill s lopes. This may explain why more advantage had not been t aken of the e arlier ditch of Group 4 . This must have been v isible as a depression on the ground and the l ength that was destroyed by this later ditch must have greatly eased t he burden of digging. Had the whole pattern been f ollowed the enclosure would have been easily visible f rom t he valley to the north. Concealment may therefore have been part of the plan. The s ingle causewayed entrance had probably been protected by a revetted turf tower which, a s at Totternhoe, allowed 46 cm wide f ootways on each s ide. The f illing of the ditch at its deepest part, i .e. around the entrance, suggests that after the ditch was abandoned the s ite remained unoccupied f or a c onsiderable period. The lowest l evel f or a depth of 9 1 cm was made up of a mixture of small chalk, l ight loam and snail shell. These snails are mainly of the variety f ound in great numbers on the hill today, particularly in hollows which hold the damp and where the grass grows long and coarse ( C. Nemor au s). A considerable time l apse must have occurred f or the ditch to have s ilted to this depth. On the bottom of the ditch, covered by the s low s ilting, was the skeleton of a l ittle girl. The skeleton was lying on its r ight s ide with the legs f lexed and the left hand over the f ace ( Plate IX). The covering of the body was exactly the s ame as the s ilt and contained the s ame heavy c oncentration of snail shell. No grave was visible within the f ill of the ditch. It would seem therefore that this girl had been l eft unburied and this supports the suggestion that a J rr nq t ime.

the

s ite

remained unoccupied

1 38

f or

quite

Why did these people start to dig a defensive ditch both here and at Totternhoe? Does the young lady lying unburied in the bottom of the ditch suggest that they were overcome by the threatened danger? This threat probably arose very l ate in pre-Belgic times on the evidence of the p ot illustrated in Fig. 94 No. 8 . Perhaps these new people l iving in the wooded areas to the south were the reason for this new activity. The re-occupation of the s ite i s s hown by the bands of dark loam above the snail shell f illing. These are probably turf levels f ormed when cattle again grazed the s ite, and the pots f rom these levels are the wheelturned wares of the newcomers.

1 39

PUDDLEHILL EARLY Group 1

Fig.

IRON AGE

POTTERY

SUMMARY

9 5

The distinguishing f eatures of this pottery grouping are the prolific use of f lint grit, the rounded profiles of the pots and the absence of the vessels s ometimes called ' carinated bowls'. Flint grit i s used in such quantity that on s ome of the pots it protrudes f rom the fabric, giving an abrasive f eel to the surface. Nos. 2 and 1 0 are examples of this type of p ot , but fine vessels with highly smoothed surfaces also occur although f lint grit i s always used in the paste. No. 7 i s an example of this type and the thinning of the r im would suggest that these were used as drinking cups. With one exception all the larger vessels have rounded shoulders and this must have been the traditional shape for the pottery. The one exception i s the j ar with the sharply angled shoulder ( No. 9 ). This i s made in the tradition of later groups and i s perhaps a f ore-runner of the coming change in p ot making fashions. The fragment of p ot No. 11 seems to suggest that this pottery grouping i s early and probably belongs to the Deverel-Rimbury tradition of the 8th to 7th centuries.

Fig.

9 5.

Nos.

4 ,

7 ,

10,

1 1

f rom Hut

Nos.

2 ,

3 ,

5 ,

Nos.

1 ,

6 ,

9 f rom Hearth

8 f rom Hut

140

1 .

2 . P it 1 .

4 Fig.

95.

Group

1 Pottery.

Group 2

Fig.

96

This group of pots i s r elated to our Group 3 . This i s illustrated by Nos. 1 2 to 1 5 which are the carinated bowls so characteristic of the not occur

in Group

Early

I ron Age.

This type

does

1 .

Sand as a method of tempering the clay now appears although the use of f lint grit i s still popular. Some of the f lintgritted pottery has a f abric very s imilar to pots of Group 1 ( Nos. 2 1 and 22). No. 1 7, which has f inger nail impressions below the rim and shoulder i s a new type of vessel

only

occurring with

this

Group.

UQ 14

1 _0 V I V 19

2 0

) 24

I 2 l;

I \

Fig.

9 6.

96.

Nos.

Group

2 3,

24

All others

1 42

2 Pottery.

f rom Storage f rom Hut 4 .

P it

¶ \ ;5 ; 2 5

) 26

Fig.

' 22

1 .

w

Group 3

Figs.

97

& 9 8

This grouping can be identified by the f ine carinated bowls incised with geometric patterns, often f illed with a white inlay. Jars with S -type f rofiles appear and f inger tip impressions on the shoulders of the large j ars i s a popular f orm of decoration. The latter tend to have ' Flower p ot '

rather angular shoulders and upright necks. types also appear in the Group.

3 1

IN

V 34 3 3

/ 35

-

3 6

/

Fig.

F ig. & 98.

9 7

9 7.

Group

3 Pottery.

Nos.

42,

4 3,

44

from Storage

Nos.

3 0,

3 2,

3 7,

48,

49,

5 1

Nos.

3 5,

3 6

Nos.

29,

3 3,

3 4,

3 9,

40,

4 5,

P it

3 .

from Storage

46

P it

from Storage

4 .

P it 1 3.

Nos.

47,

5 0

f rom Storage

No.

3 1

f rom Storage

No.

3 8

from Hearth

P it P it

143

P it 1 8.

3 8.

1 7.

J

4 5

E ' i j.

; f l

9 8.

Group

1 .L r ue c t)

144

c i

5 8

/ 63 61

¶

65

Fig.

9 9.

Group 4 Pottery.

1 45

c p

Group 4

Fig.

99

This Group is characterised by the rounded f orm of the pots and the appearance of the curvilinear decoration on the f iner wares. A smooth s and-filled paste has superseded the use of crushed f lint, and burnishing i s common. Beaded r ims occur for the f irst t ime, mainly on burnished wares. A frequent type of decoration on burnished pots i s random tooling ( Nos. 5 9 and 62). On the coarser pottery vertical striations are a popular f orm of decoration. Large vessels, probably the ancestors of the storage j ars of later people, appear. These usually have wide f lattopped rims ( Nos. 64 and 65).

Fig.

99.

Nos.

5 2,

5 3,

Nos.

5 5,

5 6

f rom Storage

P it

2 1.

Nos.

6 2,

67

f rom

P it

2 4.

No.

68

5 4,

5 7,

Storage

from Storage

Nos.

60,

61,

Nos.

5 8,

64

5 9,

6 5,

66

P it

6 3

f rom

P it

C (

1 00.

2 7.

P it A .

7 0

Fig.

P it

2 5.

f rom Storage

f rom S ilo

Storage

Group

1 46

5 P ottery.

74

1 9.

Group 5

Fig.

100

This Group i s very s imilar to Group 4 . Burnishing i s very popular and rims of pots tend to splay outwards s lightly, rather than having the definite bead of the previous Group. The bases of

some of the pots

show the

greatest change,

tending to become thicker and narrower, probably anticipating the pedestal-type bases of later pottery. There are no pots in this assemblage decorated with the random tooling or vertical striations common in Group 4 .

Fig.

100.

Nos.

7 3,

7 4

from Hut

No.

69

f rom Hut

No.

7 1

f rom Storage

9 .

1 0. Pit

2 9.

Nos.

7 2,

7 5,

7 6

f rom

Nos.

7 0,

7 7,

7 8

f rom Enclosure

147

Storage

P it

3 1.

2 Ditch.

Group 6

Fig.

101

The greatest change in this Group i s perhaps to be s een in the bases of some of the f iner ware pots which continue the development towards the pedestal type.(No. 88). The pottery i s generally of rounded f orm and bead rims occur. The forms of decoration show some s imilarity to Group 4 , including as they do random tooling and vertical striations. A new method of decoration using a curved combing on the body of the p ot appears (No. 85). This i s reminiscent of a form of decoration used by the l ater Belgic people.

Fig.

101.

Nos.

8 2,

8 3,

84,

8 5,

8 6

f rom S torage

Nos.

7 9,

80,

8 1

from Storage

Nos.

8 7,

88,

89

f rom Ditch C .

P it

(8

Fig.

101.

Group 6 P ottery.

148

3 2.

3 4.

81

1 83

Pit

-

Group

7

Fig.

102

All of this pottery was found in the lower levels of the enclosure ditch and vessel No. 9 5, which i s a hand-formed copy of wheel-turned wares indicates a late date in the I ron Age B period. All the characteristics of Groups 5 and 6 are present, but the bead rim has almost disappeared and exists only in a very devolved f orm ( No. 9 2). The most popular type of vessel is No. 90, which has a thickened base and out-turned thinned rim. A new type of vessel appears within the group, No. 93, this apparently carrying on the tradition of vertical incisions but now developed into a more precise f orm of decoration.

Fig.

102.

All

pottery

f rom Enclosure

4 Ditch.

99

Fig.

1 02.

Group

149

7 Pottery.

SUMMARY OF ANIMAL BONES FROM PUDDLEHILL EARLY

IRON AGE

OCCUPATIONS This animal bone study and report has many s hortcomings due to various f actors. The bones were moved around during s everal changes of the Society 's headquarters, were sent to Cambridge f or specialist examination but personal changes at that e stablishment caused them to be re-acquired by the S ociety. As a r esult of these travels s everal boxes have gone missing. Those that have survived have been studied by Mr. Karl P lummer and the f ollowing brief summary g ives s ome indication of the animal husbandry practised by each group.

Group

1 Cattle

Hut

1

Hut Hearth

1

Totals Group

Pig

1

3 ( lj)

1

1

1

2 ( lj)

3

6 ( 2j)

2 ( lj)

1

Horse

1

-

1

-

Others Dog -

-

-

-

1

1

1

2

S .P. Hut

S heep

4

1

Numerous animal bones were f ound in the f ill of the hut. These included cattle, sheep, pig and horse. S everal horn cores were found, one of ox and the r emainder of sheep or goat.

Group

3

S . P.

2

1

S .P.

4

1

2

S .P.

5

1

1

1 (j)

1

1

1

-

-

-

1

2 ( lj)

1

Ditch

1

1 (j)

1

Totals

6 ( lj)

S .P.

1 1

S .P.

1 2

'H earth

3

( Numbers of

( j)

6

1 3

j uveniles

( 3j)

( 5j)

1

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

1

5 ( 2j)

indicated

1 50

( j)

Red deer Small bird

-

-

-

-

-

1

2

in brackets)

Group 4 Cattle

Sheep

P ig

S .P.

2 1

1

2 ( lj)

S .P.

22

2

-

-

6 ( 2j)

1

-

( ij)

1

S .P . 2 4

-

S .P.

2 5

1

1

S .P.

2 6

1

1

S .P.

2 7

1

2

Totals

Horse

5

6

1 7

2

3

( j)

-

( j )

1 1

( 5j)

Others 1 bird 1 dog

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

4 ( lj)

l dog 1 deer 4

Group 5 Hut S.P .

28

1

S .P.

3 0

1

S .P.

3 1

1

1

1

End .

2

Totals

2

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

1

-

1 bird

-

-

2

1

1

6

6

3

2

-

1

Group 6 S .P.

3 2

1

3 ( lj)

1

-

S .P.

3 3

-

-

-

-

-

S .P.

34

2 ( lj)

1

1

-

-

1

-

-

Ditch

Totals

4 ( lj)

4 ( lj)

2

2 ( lj)

2j) 3 (

J

Group 7 End .

4

1

1 51

2

1

J

1

bird

i dog

2

1 dog

/

60

f t. 2 0 m 0 0

0

0 0

N

Ditch

—

—

B C D E

103.

-

B

—

A

Fig.

Section A

Early

-

-

-

-

-

Yellowish

Band of loam Fine

chalk and

Band of dark Clean chalk

Iron Age Enclosure.

Totternhoe.

1 52

Subsoil

loam

loam

TOTTERNHOE ENCLOSURE

Grid

Ref.

SP

9 86

2 21.

This s ite was discovered after the Rugby had removed the topsoil by bulldozer.

Fig.

Portland

103 Cement Co.

It was s ited nearly a kilometre to the west of Maiden Bower at the bottom of a f old in the ridge and was overlooked by ground that rose 1 6 m on e ither s ide. It was a D-shaped enclosure with a s ingle causewayed entrance 7 .31 m wide. The entrance had been protected by a palis ade, set j ust within the enclosure. This had been taken j ust beyond the ditch ends allowing a metre-wide walkway at each s ide. The trench that contained this structure was 3 6 cm wide and dug 46 cm deep into the natural chalk. The s ides were square and the bottom f lat. The enclosing ditch at the entrance and over most of its length was between 3 m and 3 .5 m wide and 1 .5 m deep, but it had not been f inished. At the back of the enclosure it was 3 m wide but only 3 0 cm deep. The ditch also appeared to have been partly back-filled with clean chalk s hortly after it had been dug, some of the pieces of chalk still bearing pick marks. This stratum was sealed by an 8 cm band of dark loam, probably an o ld turf l ine and the f inal f illing was a f ine rain-washed s ilt. The area within the enclosure was badly churned up by the bulldozer, but a few postholes were f ound. These were all approximately 3 0 cm in diameter, but no pattern could be derived from them as the machine had obviously destroyed many more. There was a smudge of ash near the postholes, probably indicating a hearth. A f ew sherds of pottery were f ound in the loam , layer D of the ditch. These were all f lint-gritted and possibly belong to an early period of the Iron Age. The clean chalk ( E) produced a f ew scraps of animal bone and the only other artifact was a f lint hammerstone in the palisade trench.

1 53

OCCUPATION S ITE A

Grid

Ref.

SP

9 89

2 21

This was some 2 80 m s outh-west of the above enclosure on the top of the 1 50 m high knoll. I t was f ound during the chalk quarry s craping operations and consisted of a pit 3 0 cm across and 2 6 cm deep f illed with dark loam that contained sherds with very coarse f lint grits and the vessel i llustrated ( Fig. 1 04). Nearby was a s ingle posthole and an area about 1 .2 m square that produced ash, s craps of animal bone and sherds of s imilar pottery. This pottery i s very l ike the wares f rom Ivinghoe Beacon, which can be s een from the s ite.

I t ( 1 C (O! to t

Fig.

104.

Jar

from Occupation S ite A

The j ar illustrated has a close band of deep f ingernail impressions on the shoulder. The r im f lares outwards, which i s unlike the j ars on Puddlehill, but i s a common characteristic of the Ivinghoe Beacon pottery and is s imilar to that f ound on East Anglian s ites. The tempering i s coarse f lint grit.

1 54

OCCUPATION This was

S ITE

B

Grid

Ref.

SP 9 91

2 25

s ited below the crest of the

ridge on the north-

f acing s lope approximately 4 70 m to the west of Maiden Bower. It consisted of a s ingle round pit with a diameter of 1 .3 m sunk 64 cm deep into the natural chalk. One s ide of the pit was sheer , the other sheer f or the top 3 0 cm and then sloped sharply inwards to a f lat bottom ( Fig. 105).

T IT

I r T_ .T

T I

7 0

2 .

I

: 3

0 F ig.

4

f I .

A

Location of decorated

P ot sherd

im 105.

I solated

Storage

P it

S ite

B and Decorated

Potsherd The f ill was a dark stratification.

l oam which

showed no perceptible

The Finds. A total of 20 sherds was f ound, all very small. All except f our contained a heavy concentration of f ine f lint grits. The remainder were made f rom a s and f illed paste and one of these was highly burnished, f ired deep black and decorated with a double groove triangle ( Fig. 105). The animal bones totalled 1 8 small fragments which included 3 teeth of a small ox and one tooth of a sheep or goat. The r emainder were l ittle more than splinters of bone too small f or identification. There were also a f ew of s andstone.

f ire

crackled

f lints,

1 55

and a burnt

fragment

OCCUPATION S ITE C .

Grid

Ref.

SP

980

2 22

This s ite was on the brow of the r idge adjacent to the Norman earthwork known as Totternhoe Castle. During 1 937 a chalk quarry being worked in this area had s hown an occupation which proved to belong to the transitional period between the Late Bronze Age and the Early Iron Age. During 1 968 quarry operations in this a rea were recommenced by the Totternhoe Lime and Stone Co., who stripped off the topsoil over a wide area. Requests t o carry out an investigation of the s ite before its f inal destruction by the mechanical grab were resolutely refused by the Company. Fortunately the author was able to obtain the f ollowing information about the material. All of the f eatures exposed were on the highest level area of the r idge and confined to an area measuring 60 m x 3 0 m . They show two periods of occupation, possibly three. Several isolated postholes were s cattered about the s ite but these showed no particular pattern and it i s probable that ploughing had destroyed most of those that had once existed. The soil depth was 1 5 to 2 0 cms. Over the whole of the area, lying on the natural chalk, were very s mall fragments of f lint-gritted potsherds. Three s eparate f eatures were present. Feature

1 .

A small bowl-shaped depression in the n atural chalk measuring 3 0 cm across and 1 5 cm deep. It contained vessel i llustrated Fig. of s imilar pottery.

Fig. Fig.

1

106.

106.

106,

together with a f ew

Occupation S ite C .

Feature

1 Pot

the

fragments

( ¼ )

Coil-built with small out-turned rim and low rounded shoulder. Heavy tempering with f ine f lint grits. This vessel is s imilar in shape and texture to vessels f ound on Puddlehill in Group 1 . ( Fig. 16, No. 2 ).

The Antiquaries

Journal

Vol.

1 56

XX No.

4 .

Feature

2 .

This was a depression in the natural chalk 1 .22 m across and half a metre deep f illed with a dark loam , approximately 50 m distant f rom Feature 1 . Within the f ill were burnt river-rolled pebbles, a f ew animal bones, too f ragmentary f or identification, and 2 6 sherds from approximately 7 pots. Twenty-four of the sherds came f rom 5 pots which were all f lint-gritted. These grits were coarser than those used in the pottery of Feature 1 and this pit may represent a different period of occupation. The remaining two sherds are f rom shellgritted pots, one f rom a j ar with an angular shoulder with oblique incisions, the other f rom a Neolithic grooved ware vessel.

I Fig.

107.

Occupation S ite

C .

Feature

2 Pottery

No.

1

Sherd of grooved ware with

No.

2

Sherd f rom angular shouldered vessel decorated with band of oblique s lashes on shoulder, shell-gritted.

No.

3 & 4

Bases of vessels f lint grits.

Feature

shell

( ¼ )

grits.

tempered with coarse

3 .

This was a bell-shaped storage pit sunk j ust over a metre deep into the natural chalk. The round top had a diameter of 1 .2 m but chalk within the pit s uggests that the top had partially collapsed before the pit had been completely f illed with camp rubbish. rom Feature 3 , Fig. 1 08. The pottery i s Th e Pottery f entirely different f rom that in the f eatures mentioned above and probably r epresents a completely different period of occupation. Some of the pots exactly parallel types from the Puddlehill Group 3 , but the differences in decorative style, s uch as f inger-printing on the pots f rom Puddlehill and the s lash decoration at Totternhoe, may indicate a different period in time, perhaps the same f amily group or tribe but a different generation, or they may i llustrate individuality among contemporary potters. A total of 2 20 sherds was recovered f rom the pit, equally divided into burnished and coarse wares. The coarse wares were well-potted using a sand-filled paste. Only 2 sherds contained f lint grit and 2 contained shell.

1 57

T U' ; r 4 t

‚

I

5

9

1 1

1 2

) 19

2 0

t

\ 21

23

i

Fig. No.

108.

1 to

6

Occupation These

are

S ite

C .

Feature

l arge vessels with

3 Pottery f lattened

n

( ¼ )

rims

thickened internally and externally. No. i s exactly parallelled on Puddlehill, not only in shape but also in texture, both

1

having shell grits. ( Fig. 3 9, No. 5 , Group 3 ). This tradition of p ot making must represent a very close two s ites. No.

7

No.

8

No.

9

Thick-walled ( 5)

j ar with

connection between f lattened

the

rim.

Smoothed j ars with rim thinned, Probably used as drinking cups. Sandy paste, plain wares. Highly burnished black ware with body of p ot divided into panels by vertical and horizontal incisions applied before f iring.

No. 10 to 1 3 ( 6)

Vessels decorated with s lashed incisions below rim. There were s ix pots decorated in this way, the incisions having been made before f iring. All of the pots were of smoothed sandy paste but unburnished. This decoration appears on the Puddlehill pottery of Group 2 only.

No. 14 & 1 5

( 6)

Vessels with s lashed incisions on shoulder. All were angular j ars of c oarse s andy ware. The incisions were made before f iring, probably with a pointed stick. On No. 14 the stick had a split end, l eaving double-grooved s lash marks.

No.

1 6

No. 1 7 to 21

Coarse s andy ware, decorated with triangular incisions above an angular shoulder. ( 15)

Carinated bowls, all well burnished and well potted. No. 1 7 i s decorated with round dimples above and below the shoulder. No. 1 8 has a small cordon at the base of the rim. There were f our decorated in this way, two of them were f ired biscuit with a red s lip,

1 58

probably haematite. No. 1 9 had deep grooves on the neck j ust above the shoulder. Three vessels of this type were f ound. No. 2 3.

2 2 &

All of the bases were f rom f lat-bottomed vessels. One was highly burnished with a red s lip , possibly haematite.

Other pottery not i llustrated included one vessel with l eathery brown s urface decorated with f aint curving grooves (Chinnor ware, a s Puddlehill Fig. 4 3, No. 4 ). F ive lugs from different pots were f ound; all pierced horizontally. Two l ugs had very small holes and were used f or carrying by a cord. The others were l arger and probably f inger handles.

1 59

MAIDEN BOWER.

Grid

Ref.

SP

9 95

2 24. ( Plates

I & I I)

This earthwork, with a s ingle rampart and ditch, is s ited on l evel ground at the edge of the plateau 1 .5 km to the west of Watling Street a rd 2 .5 km north-west of Dunstable. It encloses approximately 10 acres. On the northern side, a now disused chalk quarry , has been taken to the edge of the earthwork and natural erosion of this quarry face has exposed s ections through the r ampart and ditch ( Plates I and I I). The ditch periods.

sections have shown that the earthwork is of two Originally it was constructed with a box type

rampart but at a later date the ditch had been widened and deepened and a s imple glacis type rampart had been used.

rampar t

q uarry e dge

B 2 , ,

At opso i l Bloam C b ands o f l oam a nd sma l l c ha lk

Dl oam

C ..

a nd sma l l c ha lk

E l oam a nd c ha lk

o

J 3 d

B

F d ark l oam a nd sma l l c ha lk O c ha lk s i l t

5 F7

H c lean l oose c ha lk

Fig.

109.

Maiden Bower Ditch

showing recut

Revetment holes of the primary work have been recorded by the author as they have appeared during the past 4 decades of erosion. In some areas they have been absent, apparently destroyed by the later rebuild. On the most easterly edge exposed by the quarry , s ix pastholes in a continuous l ine measured centre to centre 1 .83 r n , 1 .83 m , 2 .69 m , 1 .21 r n and 1 .83 m . On the western edge 3 postholes dug through a Neolithic ditch measured 1 .83 m apart ( Plate I I). The postholes have d iameters of 2 5 to 3 0 cm and all are approximately 91 cm deep ( as f ar as a man's a rm can reach). Each hole was carefully cut to take

a round pot.

The

s ides were

1 60

smooth but

s howed

that

YT 0

0

0

00

0

0

C T ) Q

C

0

0 00

0

0

0

° 0

0

° o

‚ 3

0 0 0 0 C ) C

0

0

0

o

0

0

0

0 0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0 Q

0

A

0

0

0

0

Q

0

0

0

0 0

0

Band of

0

0

C

a ' 3

0

‚ 3

0

0

0

0 0a

0

0

0

0

0

0

B m ut

iIf lf ltUI

L .

TT T T T T I T IT I

IT

0

0

0

0

o 0

0

0 0 0 D ' 3

0 o 0

0

0

0 -

loam

i 7 27

‚ 3

0

—

0

0

0

0

0

0

0 0

0

F

C )

d D

o

0

0

0

‚ 3

0

0

Q

0

0

-

0

0

0

0

1

( 1

0W

0

0

N

0

' 3

0

0

0

0

0

0

C 0 0

3 1

Fig.

6 f t

A

Chalk

rampart and

B

Old turf l ine

C

Burnt timber beam

D

Bronze bangle

E

S ling

F

Clean chalk

G

Deepened

revetment postholes

2m

110.

stones

section of ditch

Maiden Bower Skeletons

in Ditch

a f lat 5 cm wide blade had been used to cut them. They were apparently ' tailor made' to f it the round uprights. The f illing of the holes was identical, chalk with small f lecks of charcoal increasing in quantity towards the bottom of each hole, showing how each post had rotted as it stood, the hole gradually f illing with the clean excavated chalk that made up the rampart. No s igns of lacing t imbers have been noted within the rampart sections, which s how lines where turves had been thrown back when the ditch was originally dug. Very

few s herds are

f ound within the

f illing of the ditch

but these are of at l east two differing types. The earliest sherds are mainly f lint-gritted but a rim fragment of a chevron-decorated carinated bowl has been f ound that i s identical with a sherd f rom Puddlehill within Group 3 ( Fig. 3 7, No. 1 2).

1 61

At the eastern corner of the quarry the erosion exposed a lengthy longitudinal s ection of the ditch with a cross s ection where the earthwork curves into the e astern s ide. Here in 1 937 the author noticed human bones protruding from the bottom of the ditch and the l ocal Inspector f or Ancient Monuments was informed and visited the s ite and gave permission f or a rescue excavation to be carried out within the erosion area. The bones proved t o be the remains of a skeleton lying in a crouched position on the bottom of the ditch. I t was lying on its left s ide f acing east and was s urrounded by large blocks of chalk. The s kull was missing, probably lost during erosion of the quarry f ace, which had taken nearly a half of the ditch width. This burial was covered by almost a metre of clean chalk which contained the s keletons of a massacre. Above the lower burial were three adults who had been beheaded and the s keleton of a baby. In the s ame stratum of clean chalk rubble 4 .26 m away were the s keletons of two children aged approximately 6 and 1 0 years.

1 62

EARLY IRON AGE

' C'

BELGIC

-

We have called this occupation " the people are identified as th e Be lgae

PERIOD

Belgic Period . The fter Wheeler and

a

they differ from earlier peoples in that they used wheelturned pots and have no storage pits. At Wheathampstead, Prof. Wheeler f ound a few wheel-turned pottery types, but at Prae Wood, near Verula rniu in , he found many more types that included wares imported f rom the Continent and butt-beakers. The latter can be dated from s ites between the Elbe and the Rhine, known to have been occupied by the Romans between 1 5 B .C. and 9 A .D., as not much earlier than 2 0 B .C. This suggests that Wheathamps tead is earlier and Prae Wood later. On Puddlehill all but one of the ditches of the Belgic occupation contained butt-beakers. This would s uggest that the Belgic takeover of the pasture and arable lands on the chalk took place at a period after Caesar's expedition. Whether the natives were completely absorbed into the Belgic economy or driven from the area i s difficult to interpret f rom the archaeological evidence, but the change from arable f arming and hand-made pots to stock-raising and wheelturned pots i s dramatically sudden and complete. The

two hand-made pots of Belgic

type

( Fig.

84, Nos.

1 and

2 ) found in the storage pit with native pottery i s an indication that the earlier people had contact with the newcomers inhabiting the wooded areas to the south of the Chilterns. Whether the Belgic overlords were exacting tribute from the natives we cannot tell, but the archaeology of the s ite suggests that a gap existed f ollowing the last native occupation and the arrival on the s ite of the Belgae. It was a time gap long enough for the ditch of Enclosure 4 to have s ilted to a depth of a metre, burying the young girl in the s low s ilt of small chalk and snail shell, and f or partially f illed storage pits to have become covered with vegetation before the hollows were used f or Belgic funerary pyres ( Cremation 8 ). The Belgae practised cremation and at some t ime they used the hill-top f or their cremation rites and burials. Nine of these were f ound but in only three had the burnt bones been collected and put into pots. In two, the cremated bones were still lying in the ashes of the f uneral pyre. The people may have been burying their dead in their own back garden but it seems l ikelier that a more distant people were placing their dead within view on a prominent hill-top. Two of the burials were placed in ordinary domestic pots but one had been contained in a pedestal urn. These are not usually found on habitation s ites and are more often special pots f or cremations. The 1

R . E . N . Cities.

Wheeler Verulamium. A Belqic Society of Antiquaries 1936. 163

and two Roman

E N C L O S U R E 2

E N C O S U R E

B E L G I C S I T E

\\ \\

B e l g i c O c u p a t i o n S i t e 1 .

0 0 c ' J

z

•0

d i

d i

U

1 64

C

5 ) 5 -

L i

\\

'

\ H H H

cemetery looks l ike a f amily burial ground with perhaps the head of the family in a special pot and lesser members in ordinary pots or no pots at all. We know that higher class burials were usually placed with imported vessels in the grave, and the aristocracy, whose burials are frequently f ound in the Weiwyn/Baldock area of Hertfordshire, were buried in vaults c ontaining the trappings of power such as f iredogs and amphorae. Caesar tells us that the Belgae were ruled by an aristocracy, the lower orders being virtually s laves. This cemetery s uggests that the lower orders, the farmers and peasants, also made distinctions between classes; or perhaps the bones in a pot may j ust mean that the member of the tribe or f amily had died away f rom home and this was a convenient way to bring him back. According to Caesar the Belgae grew grain on s cattered f armsteads. On P uddlehill the people were stock raisers, l iving mainly on meat, milk and cheese. We f ind their hearths s urrounded by a l itter of broken pottery mixed with animal mealbones: mainly cattle with s ome sheep and pigs. Even dog bones were f ound with the meal bones. The few quern stones f ound belong to the end of the Belgic era, none much earlier than 5 0 A .D. Caesar' s picture of a countryside with s cattered f armsteads would certainly f it the s ituation on the Dunstable grassland plateau. B elgic ditches with animal bones and pottery have been f ound not only on Puddlehill but also to tne east, south and west of Dunstable. At Maiden Bower Belgic sherds f rom rabbit s crapes once l ittered the eastern bank of this Early I ron Age earthwork. s ites produced evidence of corn grinding.

None of

these

The rampart of Maiden Bower i s at its highest f or a short l ength on the eastern s ide and the ditch at this point i s clearly much wider than anywhere e lse and also had a counterscarp bank. The guess i s that the camp was being re-fortified and the spread of Belgic sherds here suggests that this occurred at a late date. Was it fortif ied against the Belgae or by them? The re-fortification was never f inished and there is evidence of a great s laughter having taken place here. The date of these events is unknown. The Puddlehill material shows that the Belgae took up residence on the s ame s ite as the native f armers. They dug ditches, broke their pots, used spindle whorls and, from the time of Cunobelinus, traded with coins. But until the very end of the Belgic period no houses were built that have l eft any trace on the ground. Either they were timber with no f oundations in the ground or perhaps wigwam-type tents made of hides. The drainage ditch complex on S ite 2 may have been used f or some kind of tanning process. The ditches were certa inly dug to catch and channel water into small pools and the water may have received some kind of treatment was too precious to be thrown away after one use. 165

f or it It was

baled out of the pools at s ome stage i n the process and put into the next gulley. Whatever a ctivity was carried out here, it must have been an intermittent or winter process f or only very heavy or continuous rain would f ill the pools. The nearest spring r ise i s s ome 3 50 metres away lower down the hill. If a process r equiring water was being carried out, why at the top of t he hill when abundant water was s o near? The brooch, bronze needle and masses of pottery and animal bones indicate dwellings nearby but none of these were recognised over the wide area excavated. In the f inal stages of the Belgic occupation, the postholes of a s ingle hut were f ound at the top of the hill. Within this hut were sherds that f itted pots f ound with the bones of an ox that apparently had been roasted whole. The articulated bones, that included the whole of the spines of two oxen, were f ound on beds of charcoal Over and around them were broken pots and many stones. The pottery included a Roman type ( Fig. 122 No. 5 6). The f armer had e ither held a riotous party or some event of a more s erious kind had taken place. Immediately above the oxen these ditches produced f actory-made pots of the Romano-British period. The dark loam upper f illing of the native ditches with the absence of the snail C . Nemoralis, whose f avourite habitat is lank grass, suggests close cropped vegetation. The masses of animal bone with the wheel-turned pottery gives a picture of a stock raising community. The Belgae perhaps f irst used this downiand f or their cattle grazing. At s ome time they used the highest part of the hill f or their cremation rites and f inally as a place to build their primitive f armhouse, to cultivate grain and shortly after, to pay their taxes to a Romanised government.

1 66

THE CREMATION PERIOD A total of 9 cremations was f ound, of Enclosure 2 , the remainder s ome

7 confined to the area 143 m away within Enc-

losure 3 . Of the 7 cremations in buried e ither in pots or some kind within a small area, 5 m square. still in the debris of the funeral the s ilted enclosure ditch.

Enclosure 2 , 6 had been of perishable container No. 7 of the group was pyre some 1 8.3 m away in

Cremation 1 ,

F ig.

1 12.

This included an ancillary pot with the cremation urn ( Fig. 112 Nos. 1 and 2 ). The pots had been buried in an oval pit s unk 2 7 cm deep in the natural chalk, the larger pot l evel with the top of the pit.

the

rim of

No. 1 is a well-fired pot with smooth f abric and contained calcined bones with dark ashy loam and charcoal. Within it was a badly burnt bronze brooch which originally had a perforated catch plate. The ancillary vessel contained the local yellow s ubsoil only. Both vessels were made from a sandy clay and f ired brown and black. No. 2 was probably turned on a s lower wheel than No. 1 and has a soapy-textured f abric quite different from the cremation urn . The Cremated Bones.

1

678

g of cremated bones were

exam-

ined. Only three bones showed any black, the rest were burnt white in a hot f ire. From the s ize there had been deliberate breaking down of the bones. Parts of the skull and long bones were identified as human. A terminal phalange was found that showed no s igns of burning and must have been added to the pot in which the cremation was found afterwards. Age could only be e stimated by an intact metacarpal end which was fused suggesting the cremation was of an adult. No measurements were possible on the skull fragments and sex was undetermined. Non-osteologic shells and one Summary:

6 78

remains: Two small portions of hazel small piece of melted bronze wire.

nut

g of cremated bones which had been broken

down after being burnt in a very hot f ire. A terminal phalange f ound with the bones had not been burnt. Cremation appeared to be s ingle and that of an adult. A small piece of melted bronze wire and hazel nut shells were also found. Cremation 2 ,

Fig.

1 12. No.

3

This had been enclosed in a pedestal urn but only the base containing a f ew f ragments of calcined bones survived in a shallow scoop in the natural chalk. This burial urn may have originally been covered by a mound but a more probable 1 .

theory i s

that a pit

j ust

Report on human remains

large

by Dr.

1 67

enough to cover

E . V.

Jones.

it

had been dug through the original topsoil. The pot had been destroyed s ubsequently by ploughing. It was f ired a dark grey from a smooth paste and has a soapy texture. Cremations

3 ,

4 ,

5 and 6

These were unenclosed cremations f ound as a f ew calcined bones in black ashy s oil in shallow depressions in the natural chalk. Subsequent ploughing had scattered and destroyed the bulk of the burials.

3

4

5

6

F ig.

1 12.

Belgic

S ite

1

Cremation Urns

Associated Brooches Cremation

2

and

( ¼ )

7

This was found in the s ilt-filled ditch of Enclosure 2 , 18.3 m to the east of the main group of cremations. A grave had been dug 3 8 cm deep, 60 cm wide and 1 .46 m long and the calcined bones of the cremation were spread along the grave with large fragments of charcoal and dark a shy loam. All of the charcoal identified proved to be of oak ( Quercus Robur). This cremation was probably in s itu in the f uneral pyre. All of the s kull f ragments were lying at the southern end of the grave and additional evidence f or this being the pyre were animal bones in the backfill of the grave. These showed s igns of burning on the ends and s ides that were in contact with the ashy loam. These animal bones were probably thrown out when the grave was originally dug and put back with a backfill when the funeral pyre was still glowing hot.

1 68

The Cremated Bones. 3 69 g of cremated human bones which had been white in places, but a considerable amount of carbon remained. The bones had been broken down and l ication of parts was noted. Skull

-

3 5

no dup-

pieces mainly of parietal with a s ingle piece of

temporal, ethmoic and occipital. They had been broken down to an average s ize of 2 5 X 3 0 mm. S aggital and l amboidal sutures were f used on inner table. P art of temporal-occipital was unfused. Average thickness of parietal was 3 .8 mm. Rest of

s keleton Parts identified: dorsal vert. body, spine, radial heads L and R , prox. end of ulna, metacarpal head, 2 heads of f emur, part of calcaneum. Measurements were only possible on s igmoid notch ( 20 mm) and the thickness of the calcaneu i n j ust behind the upper articular surface avoiding the attachment of the achilles tendon ( 38.8 mm). About 7 0 pieces of bone.

Comment:

The bones had been burnt in moderately hot f ire f rom the variations in burning. The age of the s keleton was adult as shown by the f usion of the

-

sutures and

epiphyses.

S ex determination i s dependent on measurement in the absence of characteristic f eatures. The thickness of the parietal ( 3.8 mm), s ize of the s igmoid notch ( 20 mm), and thickness of calcaneum ( 36.8 mm) all being small s uggest a f emale. Cremations

8 and 9

These two cremations were within the area of Enclosure approximately 1 32 m to the s outh-west of the f ormer burials Cremation 8

F ig.

1 12 No.

7

4

Like Cremation 7 this was probably in s itu. Advantage had been taken of a s light hollow on the downiand caused by the subsidence of an Early I ron Age storage pit ( Storage Pit 3 4, Group 6 ) to contain the f uneral pyre. Spread across the hollow was a stratum of black ashy s oil containing l arge pieces of oak charcoal and calcined human bones. With them was a burnt bronze brooch ( Fig. 112 No. 4 ). The hollow was the s ite of a grass covered pit of an earlier people and the heat from the funeral pyre had carbonised the tubers of the earth nut, a herb that i s still abundant on the s ite. Cremation 9

F ig.

1 12 No.

5 & No.

6

This was enclosed in a pot buried in a small round pit dug into the natural chalk, 2 .13 m distant from Cremation 8 . The upper part of this vessel had protruded above the natural chalk ploughing. ashy

soil

level and had been destroyed by subsequent Within the pot were calcined human bones, and a burnt bronze brooch

1 69

( Fig.

112 Nos.

5 and 6 ).

The vessel was divided into zones by thin cordons f ired reddish brown using a sandy paste. THE OCCUPATION OF THE

and was

S ITE

This is shown by an abundance of debris in association with ditches and huts on the top of the hill in the area previously occupied by Iron Age A and B peoples. A second occupation was on a lower part of the ridge 5 60 m to the east. The s ites are probably c ontemporary. The hilltop f eatures are described f irst ( Fig. 1 11). Ditch

1

This was a V-shaped ditch approximately 92 m long dug along the top of the bill east-west. I ts eastern extremity appeared as a scratch in the chalk which deepened along its length to a maximum of 61 cm at the half-way point, then became shallower until it disappeared as it had started. Part of its length was c ut through the southern ditch of Enclosure 2 . Only sherds and animal bones were out the length of the ditch.

f ound

s cattered

through-

The pottery analysis shows a noticeable absence of butt beakers but the context included sherds from two white ware vessels and sherds from a s ingle hard grey p ot which indicates a late date f or this f eature. Ditch

2

This was partially destroyed by chalk quarrying but approximately 69 m survived. I t was dug across the brow of the highest point of the hill, north-south, and varied in depth f rom a shallow ditch a f ew centimetres deep at its north l imit to approximately 1 .1 m at its deepest point. The width also varied from 1 m to 2 .7 m at its widest. The southern end of the ditch had a squared s ection with a f lat f loor dug into one s ide. This was a later f eature apparently dug when the ditch had been utilised during the late f irst century as an enclosure. No obvious purpose can be deduced f or this ditch which probably started as a mark in the chalk deepening along its length as Ditch 1 . At the point where it was destroyed by the quarry the ditch was getting progressively shallower. The start of the ditch at its north end had been destroyed by the later activity on the s ite. The Finds. The ditch contained masses of potsherds along its length with the most dense concentration above an area of ashy loam and charcoal which contained the articulated vertibrae and ribs of an ox. The ditch in this area had been widened, probably to contain the ox roast. Above the ox with the broken pots were many f lints and pebbles. This was

the only area where

stones were

1 70

found

( Fig.

1 13).

P L AN OF

PART

'

F D ITC H

2

SH O W IN G

ARE A OF OX ROAST

IT T

Tr r I

A _ I

I

I L

IT

I a

0

M

SECT I ON

THROUGH

I TCH

D F

D

D og m inus t a i l

A

LEGEN D Dog m inus h ead

E

I rt icj Ia ed

3

S heen

F

Co n o f C unobe l inus

C

Do; s kj i l

G

D ITCH

-o

C

o x

ne o-jm

2

c r enso

SE CT I ON

L

S e dn

K

D atu m

f

•

-

•

• • -•

V T Y j e l lo w

l oa m

1

TT

7

••• •

l i ght l oa m w ith c ha Ik

a sh l i ght l oa m w ith c ha lk n odu les

Fig.

1 13.

Ditch

2

Plan and

Section

Other f inds included a coin of Cunobelinus 1 1 5 cm above the f loor of the ditch 2 and a mass of calcified s eeds of Lithospermum Arvense L . ( Corn Gromwell or Bastard Alkanet). Ditch

3

This ditch started as a mark in the chalk and deepened to 6 5 cm along the 1 7 m of its length, where it was destroyed by the modern quarry. The shallow length of the ditch was f illed with chalk and l ight loam , a quick s ilt deposit, but at its deeper end was a dark loam with animal bones and potsherds.

1 .

Now in Luton Museum

2 .

Identi fied by the

Royal

Botanical

171

Gardens,

Kew.

Enclosure

1 Ditch

Sherds, animal bones and Belgic debris f illed this trench of an earlier Iron Age occupation to a depth of 7 0 cm f rom the natural chalk level. In many areas evidence of f ires was f ound as black ashy loam with charcoal. These areas produced the greatest concentration of animal bone and potsherds. One of the f ireplace areas also produced a f ragment of an iron knife, an iron brooch and a pair of bronze tweezers ( Fig. 118 Nos. 2 , 7 and 8 ). Within the debris was also f ound a broken bronze tankard handle and a bronze belt fastener ( Fig. 118 Nos. 3 and 5 ). S everal fragments of clay brick and two broken quern stones of Hertfordshire puddingstone ( conglomerate) were f ound in the upper part of the f ill. Analysis of the pottery shows no throughout the various levels. Enclosure

2 Ditch

Fig.

s ignificant change

1 14

Fragments of pottery and animal

bone were

f ound

to a

depth of 7 6 cm along the length of this enclosure ditch but were s pread more thinly than in t he Enclosure 1 ditch and there were no areas of f iring within the trench.

NC.CS

E

2

DL

T l Oi ' N '

LO CK IN G

DO 'JT H

I NFANT

GRAVE

Datu m

V T

1 T

T

I

D ub so i 0

'

'

L oo m a nd c ha lk / L oa m

0

Dn ,k

‚

1 m

m

e

A

""

i -i pN"I,,

C ,

-f l ,

'

a

Cha lk a nd l oa m w ith s na i l s he l l

00 3

0

F eet

0

-

0

I n fant b ur ia l

Metre

Fig.

1 14.

Enclosure 2 Ditch with Child' s Grave in Section

Other than potsherds and animal bones the only domestic f ind was a spindle whorl f ashioned f rom a potsherd. Within the ditch was the skeleton of an infant aged about 3 years. This child had been buried in a grave dug into the s ilt f ill at the lowest level of Belgic debris and probably belongs to this period. The grave had been dug 1 m long, 46 cm deep and approximately 3 2 cm wide to contain the body which was lying on its left s ide in an extended position.

1 72

Enclosure

3 Ditch

Although this enclosure trench must have been visible as a s urface depression during the Belgic period, no debris of this period was f ound within its f ill. Enclosure

4 Ditch

Belgic debris was f ound around the causewayed entrance to a depth of 60 cm f rom the natural chalk. No material was f ound on the e astern s ide of the enclosure where the d itch had been unfinished and originally much shallower. On the north s ide of the entrance advantage had been taken of the ditch hollow to use it as a sunken f loor to a hut ( Hut 2 ). On the s outh s ide of the entrance the articul ated bones of an ox were f ound on a bed of black ashy l oam and charcoal, together with masses of potsherds. This was a duplication of t he f ind in Ditch 2 only 7 .3 m away. E ight centimetres below the natural chalk l evel was the complete s kull of an ox. This had been f lattened and f ragmented by a l ater Romano-British cartway that crossed the d itch. Other than the animal meal bones and potsherds the only domestic f inds were 6 spindle whorls f ashioned from potsherds. Hut 1

Fig.

115

This was a round p it 2 .3 m in diameter, s unk 7 6 cm into the natural chalk. Around the periphery on the inside

T h

t

l i t l oa m o u i lt

g reasy l oa m and c ha lk

—

B

I

o

UP

b y P lourh'�

-

•

g reasy

l oa m

_cfr iab le g reasy l oa m

sma l l c ha lk /

F eet Me tre

A

Fig. was

1 15.

C t i

_2

3

—

B

Belgic Hut

a chalk bench that varied

1 Plan and S ection f rom 3 0 cm to 4 5

cm wide

and 20 cm to 3 0 cm high. This was interrupted on the e astern s ide to a llow a s loping entry 9 0 cm wide. No postholes were f ound. The interior was smoothed with

1 73

wear and the lower level of the infill was a f riable that may have been the residue of a thatched roof. A f ew sherds of pottery were hut. Hut

f ound on the

f loor of

l oam

the

2

This was built over the partially s ilted ditch of Enclosure 4 , and the hollow of the ditch had been used a s a s unken f loor to the hut. It was marked by 1 0 post holes, seven of them 1 3 cm to 18 cm deep into the natural chalk. These varied from 2 0 cm to 2 5 cm in diameter. The other 3 post holes were sunk s lightly deeper into the s ilted f illing of the ditch. Only one post hole had stones f or packing and these included part of an upper quern stone of conglomerate ( Hertfordshire Puddingstone).

6 LA

EN CL OSURE I V D ;TC H

T I ON TCU TO C

/

CH

/CO

I ON

TO E I ..

H :jT 6

TCENCH

HUT 5

'e 0 ock 'r

/.

4 0

Fig.

1 16.

The plan

0

Plan of Belgic ( Fig.

/

h eavj c orcerOrat on 0 ' potsherds a nd a n i ma l mea l bones

1 16)

s hows

Hut

-e a t

Me tres

0

2

3

4

5

6

7

H

3

2 over Enclosure

the hut apparently

4 Ditch.

incomplete

and the modern excavators may have missed other post holes during their excavation of the d itch. A theoretical position f or these i s s hown dotted on the Plan. This g ives a 3 .7 m wide structure approximately 7 .9 m long with 4 posts carrying a s ingle ridge pole. The position of missing post holes can probably be deduced f rom the l imits of the spread of occupation

1 74

debris that covered the area. sherds and animal meal bones. Sherds f rom 2 pots roast in Ditch 2 . S ite

2

S ite

2 i s

-

Drainaqe 5 60 m to

This

f itted vessels

consisted of pot-

f ound within the ox-

Gullies the

east of

S ite

1 ,

occupying a f lat

area of the ridge in a s light undulation of the downiand. I t i s S m lower than S ite 1 and the s carp on its northern s ide has a more gentle s lope to the Ousel spring r ise, s ome 3 30 m away. The features were a s eries of shallow interlocking ditches g iving drainage down the s light s lope of the hill. Each ditch drained downhill to small pools cut into the natural chalk. The plan ( Fig. 1 17) shows the system as f ar as it has been excavated and a study of this plan can be more descriptive than words. Gulley A was the only one unconnected to the remainder of the series. I t commenced as a shallow s coop in the natural chalk and deepened down the s lope to an off-shoot to a shallow hollow or pool 2 0 cm deeper than the ditch ( 1). This pool had s loping s ides and f lat bottom, making a basin approximately 7 6 cm in diameter. The gulley continued and ended in another bowl-like hollow ( 2). The overall length of the gulley was 1 3.11 r n . Gulley B was s eparated f rom Gulley A by 3 0 cm and, starting as a s hallow ditch, deepened down the s lope f or 1 3.7 m to a bowl-shaped pool ( 3). At this point the gulley l eft the pool at a higher level and drained f or a f urther 7 .6 m to a l arger pool ( 4). Pool 4 was approximately 1 m wide and half a metre deeper than the gulley. This pool was back f ed by a continuation of the gulley which merged into Gulley C at a point opposite 2 large post holes. From the post holes the gulley ( now called C ) ran downhill to the limit of our excavations. Also f eeding Gulley B and pool 4 was a channel from the pools at the end of Gulley D . This channel was at a higher level than the pools and the gulley that f ed them and was obviously used when pools 5 , 6 and 7 were baled out. Gulley D was wider than the others and the pools were more substantial. Pool 5 was s lightly smaller than 6 and 7 and approximately 3 0 cm deep. The overflow from this would f ill pool 6 which was 1 m deep and this would overflow into 7 which was the same s ize. The three pools were partially bordered by a row of 6 holes f or 1 0 cm diameter s takes. Gulley E f ed pool 8 which was also f ed from Gulley F . On this west s ide the gulley drained back into the pool from a post hole s et in the gulley f rom its highest

1 75

1 76 B e l g i c D r a i n a g e G u l i e s .

point where the gulley then continued downhill to the l imit of the excavation. Pool

4 had a baling out

channel

at a high

level

( Gulley F ) to pool

8

and from pool 8 , a s imilar small channel led into Gulley G which drained downhill to the l imit of the excavation. From G was a small pool 9 , offset from the channel. This was half a metre deep and connected by a small channel to the gulley. This series of channels or gullies extended f or 4 5.7 n i and three of them c ontinue f or an unknown distance down the s light s lope of the hill. When the gullies were abandoned they were back f illed with occupation debris that included masses of potsherds and animal meal bones. With this debris was a small broken bronze pin, a Swarling type brooch and a bronze needle ( Fig. 118). Adjacent to the gullies was a coin of Cunobelin. No evidence of huts or other working places of the period was f ound in the vicinity. Small 1 .

Finds,

F ig.

1 18.

Swarling type brooch. Gulley G , S ite 2 . Spring hook holding the spring case which enclosed an iron spring and iron pin. The spring i s very rusted and only the base of the pin survives. The bow i s bronze and decorated with z ig-zag pattern.

2 .

Iron brooch. Enclosure 1 Ditch. Depth A very e lementary copy of a bronze bow brooch in iron. It has no spring, the tension relying entirely on the pin.

3 .

Bronze tankard handle. Enclosure 1 Ditch. Upper l evel of the ditch f ill. Bronze handle with three open circles enclosed by two s emi-circles. Terminals missing.

4 .

Bronze needle.

5 .

Bronze ring. Enclosure 1 Ditch. Found the upper levels of the ditch near the tankard handle No. 3 .

6 .

Bronze pin. Gulley G . head s hown f ull s ize to diamond pattern.

7 .

Part of iron knife. Enclosure 1 Ditch. Depth 2 5 cm. Found with masses of sherds and meal bones around a hearth in the ditch.

8 .

Bronze tweezers. with No. 7 .

Gulley G ,

S ite

177

cm.

2 .

Broken pin. i llustrate the

Enclosure

5 3

1 Ditch.

in

The

Found

8

1 0

12

I

1 3

1 4 Fig.

1 18.

Small

Finds

f rom Belgic

Occupation

9 to 1 3.

Spindle whorls. Seven spindle whorls were f ound made from potsherds. One, No. 11, was carved from chalk.

14.

Part of a clay kiln bar f ound within the Enclosure 2 Ditch at a depth 80 cm below the natural chalk.

1 78

( ½ )

The

Pottery

The site was probably occupied by the Belgic people as a place to l ive about the time of Caesar' s expeditions in the mid-first c entury B .C. and this occupation lasted until the Belgic f armer became the Claudjan invasion.

f ully Romanised,

f ollowing

The evidence of the dwelling occupation i s in the stratification of the earlier I ron Age ditches, where Belgic f ireplaces with meal bones and broken pots are piled one on the other f or a depth of almost a metre. This

should be t he

ideal

s ite

to

show a typology of

Belgic pottery covering a period of 100 years or more, illustrating changes of style and f orm from the Wheathampstead pots to the later Prae Wood and Verulamium pottery. But careful study of the pottery from the lowest l evels to the highest shows no change in e ither technique of manufacture or shape of pots. If there is a difference it i s only caused by variation of clay and f iring and this occurs with the earliest and latest pottery makers. For example, our Type 1 occurred at all l evels. The vessels from the higher l evels were perhaps f ired s lightly harder en masse, but the difference i s s o minute that it cannot be illustrated, and the harder-fired pots occurred also at the lower l evels. The s ame can also be s aid f or Type 4 . These pots are more e laborate than Type 1 , and it was our intention to i llustrate various pots from all levels. This idea was abandoned, s ince it would mean e ither repeatedly illustrating virtually identical pots, or giving a completely misleading impression by showing varying s tyles of the cordon strength that j ust do not exist in any one defined l evel. Throughout the whole of the Belgic occupation the peoples were pottery users and s ince they were apparently untidy housekeepers, the broken pots were allowed to l ie where they were broken. Hence we excavated hundredweights of pot sherds. For analysis purposes the mass of potsherds s orted into the number of pots.

rims of pots were s eparated from from each f eature. These were

various

types

1 79

and used

to

e stimate

the

Puddlehill

Type

1 .

( Verulamium Type

L i).

Fiq. 1 19, Numbers 1 to 8 . These cooking pots are the commonest on the s ite. More than 4 00 were identified and they occurred in all of the f eatures from the lowest levels of the Belgic debris in the ditches to the latest deposits made by the unromanised peoples. No noticeable difference could be observed in the texture or form between the earliest pots and the latest. They were not found in the Roman context on the s ite and this is parallelled at Verulamium where it i s s tated that they did not long s urvive the Claudian invasion. 1 They varied in s ize f rom 9 cm diameter to 2 3 cm across the mouth. In the main they were of c oarse manufacture made f rom a s andy paste but 3 7 carried s ome burnishing and 9 3 had a s oft soapy texture. The pots were f ired i n various colours with black predominating amongst greys and orange colours. The majority were decorated with horizontal combing, sometimes applied to the whole body of the p ot , sometimes around the shoulder only. Invariably, the less the combing, the more coarsely and deeply it was applied. Some of the pots had holes drilled in the shoulder after f iring and f requently the bases had been pierced after f iring. On several a carbonised deposit inside the p ot had been disturbed by the drilling of the holes and one much-used vessel had been broken during the drilling operation. This secondary use f or pottery has been found elsewhere and in the Verulamium reports it i s suggested they had possibly been used f or honey straining or cheese making. It i s difficult to s ee a f ouled p ot being used f or this purpose. If a s trainer had been required the potter was quite capable of making a colander and two of these with the holes pierced before f iring were found in Ditch 2 ( Fig. 123 , No. 80). A more l ikely use would be f or cultivating herbs as pot plants s ince s ome of the vessels had a s ingle large hole, a s No. 8 ; others with up to s even small holes as No. 7 . Fig.

1 19

No.

1

Enclosure 4 Ditch. f ired black/grey.

Depth

No.

2

Drainage Gulley D .

S andy paste,

No.

3

Enclosure ware.

1 Ditch.

Depth

2 8

cm.

No.

4

Enclosure

1 Ditch.

Depth

2 8

cm.

No.

5

Belgic Ditch brown.

No.

6

Enclosure 1 Ditch. soapy texture.

No.

7

Belgic Ditch 2 . after f iring. 1

2 .

4 3

cm.

Sandy paste, f ired grey. Coarse

Burnished vessel, Depth 5 1

cm.

grey

f ired black/ Fired black,

Seven holes pierced in base S andy paste, f ired black.

Verulamium Reports No. 180

XI,

Page

1 66.

No.

8

Enclosure 4 Ditch. Depth 5 1 cm. Burnished above s houlder. S ingle hole in base after f iring. F ired red and black.

2

1 1

1 3

F ig.

1 19.

Belgic to 1 3)

Pottery Type

( ¼ )

1 81

)

1 ( 1 to 8 )

and Type

2 ( 9

Type

2 .

( Verulamium Type

64).

Fig. 1 19, Nos. 9 to 1 3. This was the s econd commonest vessel and rim sherds from 2 79 different pots have been counted. Like Type 1 , they occur throughout the occupation and last into the the s econd century A .D.

Romano-British period up to

The distinguishing f eatures of this type are the pear shape and the recess on the rim to take a lid. Few l ids were f ound on the s ite which means that the l ids were either made of wood or that it was a traditional form f or this vessel which was purchased with or without the l id. When decoration was used this was mainly horizontal combing ( No. 1 3) but l ess frequently both horizontal and vertical curving combing was used ( No. 1 1). Rims were occasionally decorated with ' pie crusting' across the t op ( No. 11) or with oblique strokes on the outside of the rim ( No. 1 2). Some vessels had twin holes pierced after f iring in the body of the pot below the rim ( Nos. 1 0, 11 and 12) and the vessels were commonly put to a secondary use as Type 1 by having holes drilled in the base. No. 9 has two large holes and No. 10 f our small holes. The pots are well f ired, mainly using a sandy paste, but one vessel contained shell grit and a f ew had f ine f lint grits. The s ize of the pots varied with rim diameters measuring between 1 0 cm and 2 1.5 cm and the colour was mainly dark grey but orange and orange/grey also occur. Fig.

1 19.

No.

9

Belgic Hut 1 . Depth 46 cm . Plain grey ware. Two holes in base after f iring. Part of this vessel was f ound in Belgic Ditch 2 .

No.

10

Belgic Hut 1 . Depth 46 cm. Plain grey ware. Two holes drilled in shoulder and f our in base after f iring.

No.

1 1

Drainage Gulley D . S ump hole 5 . P ie crusting on rim. Horizontal combing on shoulder and above base with curving vertical combing on body Two pairs after f iring.

of holes drilled F ired brick red.

in

shoulder

No.

1 2

Drainage Gulley A . Sump hole 2 . Oblique incisions on exterior of r im. Hole drilled in shoulder after f iring. Fired brown.

No.

1 3

From Beacon Fire-pit. Combing below rim. Grey soapy ware. Fired l ight brown inside.

182

/

14

1 7

)

)

19

7

?

)

)

20

2

2 1

23

I27

26

/

F ig.

1 20.

28

Belgic Pottery Type to 2 7), Type 5 ( 28)

1 83

3 ( 14 to

( ¼ )

2 0),

Type 4 ( 21

Type

3 .

(Wheatha i pstead Types

1 4,

1 5,

1 8

and

1 9).

Fiq. 1 20 Nos. 14 to 2 0. Sherds from 7 4 pots of this type were f ound, the majority as the Wheathampstead Types 1 4 and 1 5. The pots are usually rather thick with a s oapy texture and often burnished. Their d istribution was thinly spread throughout all the levels, indicating that this type of pottery cannot be used as evidence for an early date. Fig. No.

1 20 14

Enclosure 1 Ditch. Depth 3 6 cm. B lack burn ished ware with soapy texture. Coarse horizontal combing with band of f inger nail impressions

No.

1 5

Enclosure

applied after combing.

1 Ditch.

with s oapy texture. shoulder.

Depth

3 6

cm.

Band of

Grey ware

s lash marks on

No.

16

Enclosure 1 Ditch. Depth 5 1 cm. Black burnished ware. S oapy texture. Band of f inger nail impressions around shoulder.

No.

1 7

Drainage Gulley E . Made on a s low wheel. Soapy texture. Very coarse curving combing made with squared teeth, probably straw ends. The vessel was burnished above the decoration after the combing had been applied. Fired black.

No.

18

Bottom of Belgic Ditch 3 . S oapy texture. Burnished and tooling marks s howing on neck of vessel. Very coarse combing on body of pot and band of impressions on s houlder made with the end of a round stick. F ired black outs ide brown inside.

No.

1 9

Enclosure 4 Ditch. With ox remains. Black/ brown soapy ware. Coarse c urving combing on body. Neck of vessel burnished.

No.

2 0

Early Iron Age Storage P it 4 . Depth 3 8 cm. S lightly f lattened rim. Coarse horizontal combing. Coarse p ot , fired grey.

Type 4 .

( Verulamium Type

46).

Fiq. 1 20 Nos. 2 1 to 2 7. There were 6 7 examples of these pear-shaped vessels with pronounced cordons. They have a variety of texture and colour varying from sandy hardf ired wares to very s oapy f abrics. S ome of them carry burnishing and the colour i s a mixture of browns and greys. Fig. No.

1 20 2 1

Drainage Gulley B , f ired brown.

184

S ite

2 .

Hard

s andy paste,

No.

2 2

Enclosure 1 Ditch. ture. Smooth paste,

Depth f ired

5 2 cm. Soapy texred/brown.

No.

23

Enclosure 1 Ditch. Depth 3 3 cm. Soapy fabric, chaff tempered. Fired black/brown outside, reddish-brown inside.

No.

24

Enclosure 4 Ditch. Depth 3 5 cm. ture. Burnished above shoulder. brown.

No.

2 5

Enclosure 1 Ditch. Depth 66 well-fired red/brown.

cm.

Soapy texFired black/ S andy paste,

No.

2 6

Drainage Gulley E . Finely potted vessel f rom smooth paste. Soapy texture. Fired reddishbrown.

No.

2 7

Drainage Gulley B .

Type

5 .

( Verula rnium Type

Fiq.

120

No.

Well

f ired,

biscuit colour.

5 5).

2 8.

There were only 3 examples of this vessel type. They are bowls of hard grey ware with the r im recessed to take a l id. At Verulamium the type i s l isted as exceptional and the same applies at this s ite. The vessel i llustrated was f ound in the Drainage Gulley A of S ite 2 . I t i s made with a sandy paste, f ired grey.

29 -J

-

30

1

1

32

-

_

33

1

34

)

35

) (

38

40

‚

)

)

1

r

4 1,

1 3 6

39

, ) 43

/ 1P 1 P44

46

1 Fig.

1 21.

Belgic ( 38 to

Pottery Type 6 ( 29 to 44), Type 8 ( 45 to 4 7)

1 86

3 7),

( ¼ )

Type

7

Type

6 .

( Verulamium Type

Fig.

121 Nos.

2 9

to

6 0).

3 7.

There were 45 pots of this type and as at Verulamium they are large roll-rimmed vessels of orange/buff wares and greys. They are all made using a s andy paste and a f ew have a s oapy texture. Decoration began at the shoulder and consisted of coarse combing and oblique striations with, in one instance, a double l ine of f inger nail impressions around the shoulder ( No. 2 9). Fig.

121

No.

29

Ditch 3 . Coarse curving combing on body of p ot with a double row of f inger nail impressions.

No.

3 0

Drainage Gulley E .

Fired black/grey.

No.

3 1

Enclosure 1 Ditch. f ired red.

Depth

Fired grey.

2 0

cm.

Very coarse

p ot , No.

3 2

Drainage Gulley D .

No.

3 3

Ditch

No.

3 4

Enclosure ware.

No.

3 5

Drainage Gulley A .

Coarse grey ware.

No.

3 6

Drainage Gulley B .

Fired red,

No.

3 7

Drainage Gulley B . Soapy texture. coarse co m bing. Fired red outside, inside. Grey core.

Type

7 .

F ig.

121

1 .

Fired

1 Ditch.

( Verulamium Type Nos.

3 8

to

red,

grey core. Depth

3 1

cm.

Coarse grey

grey core. Deep brown

66).

44.

There were 2 3 pots of this group with more than half coming from the drainage gullies of S ite 2 . They are beaded rim cooking pots with diameters across the mouth varying f rom 1 5 cm to 2 5 cm. Half of them have a s oapy texture, the remainder are hard-fired sandy paste. Fig.

121

No.

38

Enclosure 1 Ditch. Depth 61 ware. S oapy texture.

cm.

Dark grey

No.

3 9

Enclosure paste.

cm.

Grey

No.

40

Lying adjacent to Drainage Gullies. Dark grey outside, brown inside. Soapy texture.

No.

41

Drainage Gulley D . Sump hole 5 . Coarse red ware • Faint combing on body of p ot.

No.

42

Drainage gritted.

No.

43

Drainage Gulley C . texture.

No.

44

Drainage Gull ey A . texture,

1 Ditch.

Gulley E .

187

Depth

5 3

Grey ware,

s andy

heavily

Smooth grey ware,

soft

shellsoapy

Burnished grey ware,

s oapy 1

E

49 /

)

50

5 1

‚ 55

/

58

/

59

60

Fig.

62

1 22.

Belgic

Pottery Type

9 ( 48

( 54 to

5 7),

( 58 to

Type

1 88

1 1

to

5 3),

6 2).

f

Type

( ¼ )

1 0

Type

8 .

F ig.

121

( Verulamiu rn Type Nos.

4 5

to

69).

4 7.

There were 21 pots of this type. They are coarsely made using a s andy paste. S ix of the pots had a soapy texture and 2 showed burnishing. As at Verulamium they are of i lldefined f orm. F ig.

121

No.

45

Enclosure ware.

No.

46

Enclosure 2 Ditch. S andy red ware with f ine combing on body of p ot. Hole pierced in neck after f iring.

No.

47

Drainage Gulley B . texture.

Type

9 .

F ig.

122 Nos.

The pots

2 Ditch.

Coarsely made orange/grey

Red/orange ware with

soapy

Butt Beakers.

are

48

to

all of

5 3. f ine manufacture,

e ither hard

sandy

wares or s oft s oapy-textured vessels. The colour ranges f rom j et black to grey and orange, with 18 s herds f rom 5 pots in hard white pipe clay. Four of these latter vess els were f ound in the drainage gullies and a s ingle sherd in the upper level of Enclosure 1 Ditch. They probably r epresent the only evidence of ' importations' found on the s ite; the remainder of the pots being of local manuf acture. F ig.

122

No. 48 f ired

Enclosure 1 Ditch. With ox burial. Wellf ired r eddish-brown ware. Sandy paste.

No.

49

Belgic Hut vessel.

No.

50

Drainage Gulley B . burnished. Zone of brown inside.

No.

51

Belgic Ditch

No.

52

Drainage

Gulley B .

Well-fired biscuit ware.

No.

53

Drainage

Gulley D .

Burnished red ware.

Type

10.

F ig.

122

2 .

Depth

2 .

( Verula r nium Type Nos.

54 to

51

cm.

Black burnished

Deep black beaker highly f aint rouletting. Fired

Red

sandy ware with grey core.

3 5).

5 7.

E leven examples of this vessel were f ound. The texture varied from hard s andy wares to soapy burnished pottery. One vessel ( No. 5 4) was mica-dusted. No. 5 6 with a small pedestal base and zone of rouletting was f ound in Ditch 2 with the ox roast.

1 89

Fig.

1 22

No.

54

Enclosure 1 Ditch. Depth 2 0 Mica-dusted orange ware.

No.

5 5

Drainage

No.

5 6

Ditch s lip.

No.

5 7

Drainage Gulley A . s oapy texture.

Type

1 1.

Fiq.

1 22

58

Sump hole

6 .

2 with ox roast. Grey vessel with b lack Decorated with zone of chevron rouletting.

Platters Nos.

Gulley B .

cm.below natural.

to

Black burnished vessel with

and/or Lids. 62.

There were 6 examples of this f orm. At Verulamium two kinds are f ound. One in a hard metallic grey which i s suggested a s an importation and others of local manufacture. All of the examples on this s ite are coarse wares, probably of local make. They have been illustrated a s l ids and No. 61 certainly belongs to this class. The remainder may be shallow platters but the steeply inturned s ides strongly suggest that all of these examples represent ceramic lids, probably f or the vessels i llustrated as Type 2 . Fig.

122

No.

5 8

Enclosure 1 Ditch. nished ware.

Depth 61

cm.

Grey bur-

No.

59

Enclosure ware.

1 Ditch.

Depth 5 5

cm.

Brown

No.

60

Enclosure

4 Ditch.

With ox.

No.

6 1

Belgic Ditch 2 . Hard coarse crudely f ashioned.

No.

6 2

Enclosure 4 Ditch. Fired black outside,

Type

12.

Fiq.

123

( Verulamium Type Nos.

63

Grey

s andy

sandy ware.

grey ware,

very

With o x. Hard ware. brown inside.

42).

and 64.

Nine examples of this vessel were f ound on the s ite. They were probably derived f rom Wheathampstead bowls, for which metal prototypes have been suggested. They are highly burnished dark grey with a s oapy texture. Fig.

123

No.

6 3

Enclosure 1 Ditch. Depth 5 1 cm. Black vessel highly burnished showing tooling marks on body of p ot. Fired grey inside. Soapy texture. Three holes in base pierced f or s econdary u se. The p ot was probably broken during the drilling of these holes.

No.

64

Drainage Gulley B .

Sump hole

3 .

Highly burnished above shoulder. combing o n body of p ot.

190

Fired black. Faint vertical

7

)

65

7

66

16 8

67

1

69

/

I i

7 6

Fig.

123.

j

78

Belgic Pottery Type 1 2 ( 63 & 64), , ( 65 to 68), Type 14 ( No. 69), other types ( 70 to 80). ( ¼ )

191

Type

1 3

Type

1 3.

Fiq.

1 23

( Verulamium Type Nos.

6 5

to

44).

68.

Nine examples of this vessel were be related to Type 1 2, having the paste. Fig.

found. They appear to same texture and smooth

1 23

No.

6 5

S ealing Early Iron Age Storage P it 4 . Top 6 cm. Dark grey vessel with some burnishing. Fired buff-black inside. Probably turned on s low wheel. Soapy texture.

No.

6 6

S ealing Early I ron Storage natural chalk. S imilar to

P it No.

No.

6 7

Enclosure 1 Ditch. Nos. 6 5 and 66.

3 1

No.

68

Drainage Gulley B . Sump hole 3 . Potter' s f inger marks on inside where cordon had been pressed out. Fired black outside, grey ins ide. Lightly burnished. S oapy texture.

Type

14.

( Verulamium Type

Fiq.

1 23 No.

There were

Depth

3 . 6 5. cm.

Level with S imilar

to

6 7).

69.

7 examples of this

type of vessel of which one

only was found at Verulamium. They are f ired orange colour from a sandy paste and the one i llustrated carries a band of oblique incisions on the shoulder. Fig. No.

1 23 69

Enclosure

4 Ditch.

With ox.

Other Types Fiq.

1 23

Nos.

7 0

to 80.

These vessels are odd types worthy of i llustration. No. 7 4 is an Italian import and Nos. 7 0 and 7 2 have a Romanised f lavour. No. 80 i llustrates that the Belgae were capable of making colanders if required and perhaps emphasises that when a hole was pierced after f iring a s No. 7 3 this was a secondary use f or the p ot other than as a domestic strainer. Fig.

1 23

No.

7 0

No.

7 1

Belgic Ditch Enclosure

2 .

Hard grey ware.

2 Ditch.

Found

in the upper

levels

of this ditch, this dish is s imilar to later Romano-British wares but it is very crudely made. Probably a copy of a p ot seen by a native potter. F ired black with a f aintly incised l ine around the body. No.

7 2

Belgic Ditch

2 .

Vessel

in hard grey ware with

zone of wavy l ine decoration around

192

shoulder.

No.

73

Belgic Ditch

2 .

Bottom of ditch.

Bowl with

beaded r im and three well-defined but small cordons around body of pot. Faint tooling marks of burnishing. Fired grey/brown. S ingle hole pierced in base after f iring. No.

74

Enclosure 1 Ditch. Depth 2 5 cm. Verulamium Type C l j ug. Orange ware with grey core. Deeply undercut f lange. This vessel i s one of the very f ew Italian imports f ound on the s ite. At Verula rnium it i s dated between A .D. 5 -10 and A .D. 3 0-35.

No.

7 5

Enclosure 1 Ditch. Depth 5 cm below natural chalk. Related to Type 1 . Coarse p ot with combing below a zone of stab marks. Fired

No.

7 6

black/brown outside, Belgic Ditch 1 . very rough, due the f iring.

to

brown

inside.

Grey ware. Interior of p ot expansion of calcium during

No.

7 7

Enclosure 1 Ditch. Depth 3 6 cm. Beaker with pedestal base. Zone of oblique decoration around body. Fired red, grey interior.

No.

7 8

Ditch C .

Upper level with dog skeleton. Grey s oapy ware. Faint diamond pattern of woven material on f lat base.

No.

7 9

Early I ron Age Storage Pit 2 1. Depth Pedestal base in grey soapy ware

No.

80

Enclosure 2 Ditch. Base of red colander in s andy ware. Holes pierced in base before f iring.

5 cm.

BELGIC ANIMAL BONES Many boxes of animal bones were unfortunately lost before they had been studied. The f ollowing is a brief su mm ary of the animals that c ould be identified from the remaining material. Cattle S ite

1

11

( 2j)

S ite

2

20

( 4j)

( Numbers of

Sheep 1 2

( 3j)

8 ( 3j)

j uveniles

P ig

Horse

2

6

7 ( 2j)

6 ( lj)

indicated

193

Others 3 dogs bones of large and small birds

in brackets)

-

GEOLOGY OF THE

P T JDDLEHILL S ITE

The Puddlehill s ite l ies on the edge of a chalk ment of CENOMANIAN age ( i.e. Lower Chalk).

escarp-

The escarpment faces north-west and overlooks a relatively low plain f ormed by an outcrop of Gault Clay, to the s outheast the ground f ollows the dip of the chalk f or a distance of more than 3 km , when this gently s loping plateau meets the escarpment f ormed by the TURONIAN or Middle Chalk of the Chiltern Hills. The greater part of the chalk outcrop of this plateau is f ormed by the Melbourn rock division of the chalk although at the s ite this has been removed by weathering, as has most of the underlying Plenus Marl. This Marl is however j ust represented at the s ite by small impersistent seams of yellowish chalky clay and seems to date the surface rock at this point to the zone of the f ossil belemnite ACTINOCAMAX PLEN T JS.

1 94

DISCUSSION OF THE PREHISTORIC

SETTLEMENT OF THE

R IDGE

The chalk r idge was occupied by people from the earliest Neolithic t imes to the period of the f irst Englishmen. It is impossible to e stimate the density of occupation f or any period from the evidence in the ground. Although it i s tempting to look at the f eatures in the wide area uncovered and from this to make a guess as to how many f armers were operating in the area, it would only show their hole-digging activities. The s oil depth on the ridge i s very thin, and primitive pottery left lying on the ground has been destroyed completely by centuries of ploughing. This is well demonstrated on Puddlehili where we know that people lived for s everal decades within a small area but the only evidence that survives i s found in pits and hollows beyond the reach of the plough. No Early Iron Age potsherds can be f ound on the s uface of the f ield. It is only from the Neolithic and Bronze Age that surface evidence exists on the hilltop: from these periods there i s a litter of f lint f lakes and s crapers. These are indestructable and they do show that people of these periods constantly visited the area, but even a f ew hundred artif acts scattered along the ridge could mean no more than one dropped every 4 or 5 years over the long periods of time involved. What it does tell i s that peoples used a narrow belt of country on the edge of the s carp f or thous ands of years. A f ew hundred metres away f rom the edge of the scarp artifacts that can survive the plough are rarely found. None-the-less the population must, at some time, have been considerable, for a causewayed camp was constructed and, during the Bronze Age, many barrows were made within the small area involved. The later Neolithic pits show at least 3 different cultures, Clacton, Durrington Walls and Woodlands, in close proximity to one another and the interesting s ignificance of this i s discussed by Dr. I sobel Smith in her comments on the pottery and by Professor Hawkes in his Introduction. They certainly all practised a s imilar way of l ife: collecting and perhaps storing hazel nuts, hunting wild cattle, boar and red deer and raising pigs, sheep and cattle. The mixed herds of their domestic animals must have placed a certain restriction on their movements about the countrys ide. Perhaps the difference t ime and generation.

in pottery styles

i s

j ust one of

The continuity of use of the same area i s shown by the f ind of the Beaker burial which with its associated f ind of the bronze pin ( the earliest pure bronze artifact yet to be f ound in Britain) heralds the period of time that we call the Bronze Age. The date f or this burial is somewhere

near

1 750 B .C.

Who was 195

this man?

Was he

a local

potentate, the head of a community l iving within the area or j ust a traveller along the I cknield Way? There i s very l ittle evidence f or a community of peoples l iving within the area, but if t hey did not dig holes and l ived in l ight structures where the posts did not penetrate the chalk, then no evidence of their presence can be expected. During the succeeding years of the Bronze Age many people were buried with ceremony in the area, which s uggests ownership of the land, but the only recognisable habitaion s ite consisted of a s ingle house and many triple and twin postholes. Perhaps there are other habitation s ites on areas of the ridge not yet exposed by quarrying or development. Towards the close of the Bronze Age people certainly l ived on the ridge. About this time the contour f ort at Ivinghoe Beacon was chosen as a f ort s ite because it was the most easily defended position in this area of the Chilterns. It occupies a hog-beck r idge, 2 44 m O .D. with very steep s lopes on all s ides providing the best possible defensive position f or defenders whose numbers were probably l imited, but it i s the worst possible s ite to s elect as a place to l ive. With half a gale in the valley it becomes almost impossible to stand on the Beacon top. It was either the stronghold of a ruling aristocrat who had a l imited army with which to s ubdue the peoples who occupied the surrounding territory or it was a f unkhole to which people retired during times of trouble. Perhaps a parallel stands today on the western edge of the Totternhoe ridge where there is a f ine example of a Norman earthwork. The ground s loped steeply on all s ides, a most exposed and windy s ite f or a timber built f ort but chosen by the Norman lord as the best defensive position for his l imited numbers of followers against the Saxon inhabitants whose land had been confiscated. Just as the Norman lord had moved down into the lower ground to build his r noated manor house as soon as the area was safe, so was Ivinghoe Beacon shortly abandoned. Perhaps it was at this time that the plateau f ort at Maiden Bower was built, although there i s a great difference between the two f orts. Maiden Bower encloses more than ten acres and would have required many more men than Ivinghoe Beacon needed to defend it. Also it i s certainly a s tructure of the period that we call the Early Iron Age. From the evidence of the few potsherds found, it was in existence during the period when the Group 3 people were l iving on Puddlehill and it was refortified once and perhaps twice. It would be an invaluable s ite f or a research project on Iron Age hillforts, complete with a lurid massacre to assist. The people who occupied the crest of the ridge about this time at Puddlehill and Totternhoe are r epresentative of that hazy transitional period when iron, with its great advantage to agriculture,

was

196

coming

into wider use.

These are the people we have l abelled Group 1 . This labelling i s one of convenience only and i s not meant to indicate a f olk movement with different tribes or races appearing on the s ites. On the contrary they are probably the s ame peoples whose way of l ife changes with developing techniques. S ome of these technical advances are perhaps shown in the discovery f or the f irst t ime of part of a l oomweight, a s addle quern f ragment and the probable granary f eatures. Certainly their house i s a sturdy construction, perhaps indicating a more stable way of l ife with the people attached more f irmly by arable cultivation to one place f or longer periods than had been necessary in the past. The succeeding grouping i s mainly based on pottery s tyles with some s tratification of f eatures. This l atter could mean very s imply a grandson changing the layout of the f arm or the abandonment of the area due to loss of f ertility. The change in pottery styles i s s ometimes rather dramatic and perhaps indicates a f olk movement away f rom the s ite and the arrival of a different people. Whether this was caused by hostile action, ( the Maiden Bower massacre suggests that this was a possibility) or j ust a movement away f or one of a dozen different reasons, we do not know. An excavation of Maiden Bower would perhaps throw s ome light on t he problem. Pottery typical of each of the Puddlehill groups has been selected and i llustrated as a compendium f or ease of reference ( Figs. 9 5 to 102). The other major change during the I ron Age occurred with the Iron Age C people. We have rightly or wrongly l abelled them the Belgae. Their way of l ife was entirely different f rom the preceding groups and if they are not a new tribe coming into the area, then they m u s t have been away f rom the hilltop long enough to have completely changed their l ife f rom agriculturalists to s tock r aisers, from grain as a s taple diet to meat, cheese and milk. They had a lso adopted the wheel f or pot making and were able to use improved f iring techniques which perhaps indicates that professional potters were now operating and s elling their wares. The other great change was that they cremated their dead. We do not know how the previous Iron Age people disposed of their dead, the only skeleton remains f ound have been casualties and the top of a s ingle s kull in a hearth pit. The f uneral pyres of the Bronze Age are missing. These c hanges alone would suggest that these people were complete newcomers into the area and, having expelled the n atives, s ettled in their f armstead and grazed their cattle in the f ields that previously had produced grain. There is a lso perhaps other evidence of disturbance in the area with the unfinished enclosure ditches both at

1 97

Totternhoe and on Puddlehill. Both of these small enclosures were being dug as defences. At Totternhoe the s ingle entrance was defended by a s olid timber fence j ust inside the ditch ends, allowing only a f ootway passage, and at Puddlehill a revetted tower stood in the s ingle entrance allowing only footway entry. Neither of these works was f inished. The eastern s ide of Maiden Bower, which stands between the above s ites, also s eems to show that a refortification was being carried out and many sherds of wheel-turned pottery in this area of the rampart indicate that this was a l ate work. The surface evidence s eems to s how that this new work was uncompleted and it may be s ignificant that it was in this area that the massacre was discovered. Were these uncompleted defence measures being taken against new invaders, the people who introduced the wheel for throwing pots, practiced cremation rites and depended mainly on stock raising as a means of l ivelihood? The pottery of the newcomers showed no change in style throughout their occupation of the s ite until it became fully Romanised, but stratification within the hollows of Early Iron Age ditches shows that the people l ived on the s ite and the amount of material shows that this covered a long period of time. But until almost the end of the period no houses are f ound. Evidence of f ireplaces was f ound in the partially f illed ditches and associated with these were potsherds, mealbones and occupation debris such as the iron knife and tweezers. This archaeological evidence would s uggest that their houses were very primitive structures, little more than wattle shelters, until well into the 1 st century A .D. when a building with stouter timbers was used. It was in this latter building that we f ound the f irst evidence of grain growing with the discovery of a quern stone of Hertfordshire conglomerate. The Belgic f armer became fully Romanised after the Claudian invasion and corn drying kilns became a necessity of l ife, probably to help him to pay his taxes.

198

PLATE

I

Aerial photograph of Maiden Bower. The quarry on the north s ide has exposed the Neolithic d itches beneath the Early Iron Age rampart.

PLATE

I I

Maiden Bower f rom the quarry f loor showing the most westerly Neolithic ditch beneath the Early I ron Age rampart. Postholes of the I ron Age revetment can be seen in the f ill of the Neolithic ditch. The Iron Age ditch photograph.

i s on the right of the

2 00

PLATE

I II

Beaker f rom burial at Sewell with grave f inds of spiral headed pin, bone belt toggle and four-hole stone wrist guard. Photo:

2 02

British Museum

I

PLATE

IV

I nterior of Storage P it 3 1 showing roughhewn s ides, still with original pick marks, and f lat f loor.

PLATE V Storage P its 8 and at Puddlehill.

9 exposed on quarry edge

2 04

PLATE VI Group 3 r im f ragments of f ine shouldered bowls with white inlay in incised geometric decoration. No.

1 from Storage

P it

1 3

No.

2 from Storage

P it 4

PLATE VII Group 4 ceramic

l id

206

from Storage

P it

1 9.

T 'VE 1P L CH ES

PLATE VIII Group 5 . in Hut 1 0.

Carbonised bread

PLATE

loaf

IX

Group 7 . Skeleton of young girl quick s ilt of Enclosure 4 Ditch.

2 08

from hearth

in the