Fiskerton : an Iron Age timber causeway with Iron Age and Roman votive offerings, the 1981 excavations

With contributions by John Baker, Leo Biek, Don Bramwell, Andrew Chamberlain, Mick Clark, James Cooper, Maggi Darling, Sheila Elsdon, Vanessa Fell, Andrew Fitzpatrick, Alison Goodall, James Greig, Mary Harman, Jennifer Hillam, David Hopkins, J. B. Johnson, Andrew Jones, David Knight, Richard Macphail, Jen Mann, Peter Marshall, J. D. A. Miller, Jacqui Mulville, Sandra Olsen, Peter Osborne, Colin Palmer-Brown, Nicola Smith, Ian Stead, David Taylor, Maisie Taylor, Alison Walster, Jacqui Watson, Colin Whiteman and Jane Young. Fiskerton, located in the Witham valley of Lincoln, is one of only a handful of excavated sites in Europe to reveal the Iron Age practice of ritually destroying special and elite objects by placing them in a body of water. This volume reports on the 1981 excavations on the bank of the River Witham and provides fascinating insights into this important aspect of Iron Age religion and culture. A remarkable group of Iron Age and Roman artefacts was found in association with a wooden causeway in use from at least 457 to 321BC, including bronze and iron weapons and tools (some decorated with ornamental motifs), bone tools, stone tools, jewellery and pottery. The Iron Age finds are earlier than those from similar watery sites such as La Tène in Switzerland and Llyn Cerrig Bach in Wales, and the precise dating of the Fiskerton causeway by dendrochronology establishes it as one of the earliest known structures in Europe belonging to the La Tène culture. This report provides detailed descriptions of the Iron Age, Roman and Medieval artefacts and the human and animal bones found at the site. The authors compare the Fiskerton evidence with other British, Irish and European examples of ritual or votive deposition in water; they discuss the construction and the appearance of the causeway; and they examine the significance of Fiskerton as a religious site, especially in terms of its topographical context, as a river crossing and as a boundary or liminal area between mainland Britain and the former island of Lindsey. LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS v PREFACE by N. Field & M. Parker Pearson ix SUMMARY - RESUMÉ - ZUSAMMENFASSUNG xi LIST OF CONTRIBUTORS xvi ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS xvii 1. THE TIMBER CAUSEWAY 1 Topography and setting by N. Field 1 The excavation by N. Field. C. Palmer-Brown & M. Parker Pearson 2 2. THE ENVIRONMENTAL SETTING OF THE CAUSEWAY 17 The soils by C. Whiteman & R. MacPhail 17 The plant remains: macrofossils and pollen by J. Greig 19 The insects by P. J. Osborne 22 Environmental overview by M. Parker Pearson 23 3. THE WOODEN REMAINS 25 Tree-ring analysis of the causeway timbers by J. Hillam 25 The wood by M. Taylor 38 4. THE IRON AGE WEAPONRY AND TOOLS 49 The Iron Age military items by I. Stead 49 The iron tools by V. Fell 63 The condition and metallographic examination of the ironwork by V. Fell 74 Detailed scientific examination of axe-head 413 by L. Biek, J. B. Johnson, J. Cooper & J. D. A. Miller 85 5. THE OTHER IRON AGE ARTEFACTS 87 The Iron Age pottery by S. Elsdon & D. Knight 87 The bone and antler artefacts: their manufacture and use by S. L. Olsen 92 The amber and jet artefacts by M. Parker Pearson Ill The worked stone by M. Parker Pearson & V. Fell 113 6. THE ROMAN AND MEDIEVAL ARTEFACTS 115 The Roman pottery by M. Darling & N. Field 115 The Roman tile by J. Young 118 The Roman metalwork by A. P. Fitzpatrick, A. Walster, A. B. Page, N. Field & J. Mann 118 The Roman whetstones by M. Parker Pearson 120 The post-Roman pottery and tile by J. Young 124 The post-Roman metalwork by A. R. Goodall & V. Fell 124 7. THE HUMAN AND ANIMAL BONES 125 The human bones by A. T. Chamberlain 125 The radiocarbon dates for the human bones by P. Marshall 127 The mammalian and bird bones by J. Mulville with J. A. Baker, D. Bramwell & M. Harman 127 The fish bones by A. K. G. Jones 131 8. THE FISKERTON CAUSEWAY 133 The construction and appearance of the causeway by M. Parker Pearson & N. Field 133 Lunar eclipses, Saros cycles and the construction of the causeway by A. T. Chamberlain 136 Social implications of lunar eclipse measurement for calendrical knowledge and archaeoastronomy by A. T. Chamberlain & M. Parker Pearson 144 9. FISKERTON IN ITS LOCAL AND REGIONAL SETTING 149 Finds from the River Witham by M. Parker Pearson & N. Field 149 The Palaeolithic to Earlier Neolithic landscape by M. Parker Pearson & N. Field 150 The Late Neolithic and Early Bronze Age landscape by M. Parker Pearson & N. Field 153 The Middle and Late Bronze Age landscape by M. Parker Pearson & N. Field 153 Other possible causeways in the Fiskerton area by M. Parker Pearson & N. Field 159 Activity contemporary with the Fiskerton causeway by M. Parker Pearson & N. Field 160 Activity post-dating the Fiskerton causeway by M. Parker Pearson & N. Field 167 10. THE FISKERTON VOTIVE ASSEMBLAGE AND ITS CONTEXT 171 Votive deposition in the Witham by M. Parker Pearson & N. Field 171 The Fiskerton artefact assemblage by M. Parker Pearson & N. Field 173 Celtic art and its social and depositional context by M. Parker Pearson 178 11. THE BRITISH AND EUROPEAN CONTEXT OF FISKERTON 179 Continental comparisons by M. Parker Pearson 179 British and Irish comparisons by M. Parker Pearson 184 12. REGIONAL SOCIAL DYNAMICS IN LATER PREHISTORIC EASTERN ENGLAND 189 Deposition and settlement by M. Parker Pearson 189 Votive deposits as boundary phenomena by M. Parker Pearson 190 APPENDIX: OTHER ARCHAEOLOGICAL EXCAVATIONS AT FISKERTON 195 Perrins Cottages, High Street by N. Field & C. Palmer-Brown 195 Nelson Road by N. Field & C. Palmer-Brown 196 REFERENCES 199 COLOUR PLATES 211 INDEX 223 By Naomi Field And Mike Parker Pearson, With Contributions By John Baker ... [et Al.]. Ten Plans On Folded Leaves In Pocket. Includes Bibliographical References (p. [199]-210) And Index. Includes Summaries In French And German.