The Iron Age in Northern Britain: Britons and Romans, Natives and Settlers by Harding Dennis W

Author:Harding, Dennis W. [Harding, Dennis W.]
Language: eng
Format: mobi
Tags: Humanities
Publisher: Taylor and Francis
Published: 2004-08-25T16:00:00+00:00

Despite the evidence of radiocarbon dates, which somewhat erratically endorse a pre-Roman dating for the site at Long Knowe in Eskdale (Mercer, 1981b), it is worth recalling that here too the excavator believed that the final phase of occupation was represented by a shift in the domestic pattern from a pair of ring-groove houses to a group of five roundhouses of reduced diameter. The presence of paving within these buildings or leading to their entrances affords a further parallel with Boonies. Given the recognition of at least seven successive phases of construction of these buildings, it is possible that the site's occupation reflects a similar pattern of progressive social change, represented by the phenomenon of size reduction and increase of unit number of domestic houses.

Roman period artefacts were also found at Carronbridge within the area of the main ditched settlement (Enclosure A), including a melon bead, a fragment of glass armlet and a fine trumpet brooch (Johnston, 1994). On the basis of radiocarbon dates, this site evidently continued from probable pre-Roman origins through the second century AD and perhaps later, with metalwork finds of the ninth or tenth centuries indicating later activity in the area still. The parallel in plan between Carronbridge Enclosure A and Burradon, Northumberland, is deceptive. In both cases the double ditches are composite; at Burradon the early occupation comprised the larger enclosure, which was replaced by the smaller, inner enclosure, whereas at Carronbridge the sequence was apparently reversed, the larger being the later. The principal structure of the later occupation was apparently a ring-groove building with two, opposed entrances (Fig. 2.6, 8), a feature already noted in later pre-Roman Iron Age settlements in northern England and the Borders. The very close proximity of a Roman temporary camp argues for a break in the sequence of native occupation, which might have coincided with the change in enclosure plan.

The more recently excavated enclosure at Woodend in Annandale (Banks, 2000) also showed a pattern of superimposed ring-groove structures, ranging in size from 5 to 10 metres in diameter, with some structures underlying the bank and others external to the enclosure altogether. The largest building, 12 metres in diameter, was interpreted on the basis of phosphate analysis and soil micromorphology as a stock pen, though a 'byre-house' of the kind discussed earlier might leave similar evidence. Otherwise the remainder were all considered to have been domestic in function. Radiocarbon dates did not exclude the possibility of a pre-Roman origin for the site, but they clearly indicated that its occupation must have extended well into the Roman period. In view of this, the total absence of Roman finds, on a site that lay barely half a mile across the river Annan from the Roman road, is surprising and not easily explained. This, together with the poverty of the material assemblage, which comprised exclusively coarse stone artefacts, is hardly indicative of a high-status settlement. Despite the absence of preservation of animal bones, the excavator nevertheless assumed that pastoralism would have been dominant

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.