Middle Bronze Age and Roman Settlement at Manor Pit, Baston, Lincolnshire: Excavations 2002-2014: Excavations 2002-2014

Between 2002 and 2014 MOLA Northampton carried out evaluation and excavation work over an area of approximately 49.65ha ahead of mineral extraction for the quarry at the Manor Pit, Baston, Lincolnshire. The earliest activity dated to the Neolithic with the first occupation dating to the early Bronze Age, but it was within the middle Bronze Age that significant occupation took place within the site. Part of a large co-axial field system was recorded over an area approximately c800m long and up to 310m wide. Cropmarks and the results from other archaeological excavations suggest the field system continued beyond Manor Pit for c4km and was up to 1km wide. The field system was a well-planned pastoral farming landscape at a scale suggesting that cattle and other animals were being farmed for mass trade. The site was reoccupied in the early 2nd century AD when two adjacent Roman settlements were established. One of the settlements was arranged along a routeway which led from the Car Dyke whilst the other settlement connected to this routeway by a long straight boundary. In both settlements there were a series of fields/enclosures situated in a largely open environment, with some evidence for cultivation, areas of wet ground and stands of trees. Well/watering holes lay within these enclosures and fields indicating that stock management was a key component of the local economy. In the later medieval period a trackway ran across the site, associated with which was a small enclosure, which perhaps contained fowl. During the early post-medieval period the land was subject to a final period of enclosure, with a series of small rectilinear fields established aligned with Baston Outgang Road, forming the basis of the current landscape. Table of Contents Chapter 1 Introduction Project background Location, topography and geology Cropmarks and archaeological excavations Previous site investigations within Baston Manor Pit Excavation areas 2006-2014 Methodology Site phasing Chapter 2 Archaeological results Period 1, earlier prehistoric activity Period 2, early to middle Bronze Age Period 3, Roman settlement and boundary (2nd to 4th centuries) Period 4, medieval and post-medieval land use Undated features Chapter 3 Finds Worked flint – Yvonne Wolframm-Murray Prehistoric pottery – Sarah Percival Roman pottery – Margaret Darling, Ian Rowlandson and H G Fiske with samian reports by Felicity C Wild and Gwladys Monteil Writing on pottery vessels – R S O Tomlin Medieval and post-medieval pottery – Paul Blinkhorn Coins – Ian Meadows and Paul Clements Small finds - Tora Hylton with a report on a Bronze Age knife by Matthew G Knight Middle Bronze Age loomweights – Pat Chapman Querns – Andy Chapman Slag – Andy Chapman Ceramic tile and brick – Pat Chapman Stone – Pat Chapman Fired clay – Pat Chapman Roman glass – Claire Finn Worked wood – Michael Bamford with identifications to taxa by Steve Allen Radiocarbon dates – Rob Atkins Chapter 4 Environmental evidence and human and faunal remains Human skeletal remains – Helen Webb and Chris Chinnock The mammal, bird and amphibian bones – Philip L Armitage Environmental evidence from the southern excavation area and the far western part of the northern excavation area (BMP06-08) – Enid Allison, Lucy Allott, Robert Batchelor, Alex Brown and John Giorgi Environmental evidence from the northern excavation area (BMP09-14) – Val Fryer Chapter 5 Discussion Period 1: Palaeolithic, Mesolithic and Neolithic Period 2.1 Early Bronze Age Period 2.2 Middle Bronze Age Period 3: Roman Period 4: Medieval Period 5: Post-medieval Bibliography Between 2002 and 2014 MOLA Northampton carried out evaluation and excavation work over an area of approximately 49.65ha ahead of mineral extraction for the quarry at the Manor Pit, Baston, Lincolnshire. The earliest activity dated to the Neolithic with the first occupation dating to the early Bronze Age, but it was within the middle Bronze Age that significant occupation took place within the site. Part of a large co-axial field system was recorded over an area approximately c800m long and up to 310m wide. Cropmarks and the results from other archaeological excavations suggest the field system continued beyond Manor Pit for c4km and was up to 1km wide. The field system was a well-planned pastoral farming landscape at a scale suggesting that cattle and other animals were being farmed for mass trade. The site was reoccupied in the early 2nd century AD when two adjacent Roman settlements were established. One of the settlements was arranged along a routeway which led from the Car Dyke whilst the other settlement connected to this routeway by a long straight boundary. In both settlements there were a series of fields/enclosures situated in a largely open environment, with some evidence for cultivation, areas of wet ground and stands of trees. Well/watering holes lay within these enclosures and fields indicating that stock management was a key component of the local economy. In the later medieval period a trackway ran across the site, associated with which was a small enclosure, which perhaps contained fowl. During the early post-medieval period the land was subject to a final period of enclosure, with a series of small rectilinear fields established aligned with Baston Outgang Road, forming the basis of the current landscape. Cover 1 Title Page 3 Copyright page 4 Contents Page 5 List of Figures 7 Figure 1.1. Excavation areas 14 Figure 1.2. Elevation plan 15 Figure 1.3. Aerial photographic plot (courtesy of Lincolnshire HER) overlaid by excavations 16 Figure 1.4. Aerial photograph of the landscape around the development area in the present day 17 Figure 1.5. Geophysical magnetic susceptibility survey (NA 2002) 18 Figure 1.6. Geophysical magnetometry survey (NA 2002) 19 Figure 1.7. Fieldwalking (Roman pottery and tile) (Upson-Smith 2003 and Morris 2004) 20 Figure 1.8. Excavation features and evaluation trenches (Morris 2004) 21 Figure 1.9. Site affected by flooding in 2012, looking north-west 22 Figure 1.10. All features plan 24 Figure 2.1. Period 2 all features plan 26 Figure 2.2. Early and middle Bronze Age features and tree throws within the northern excavation area 27 Figure 2.3. Section of early Bronze Age pit [6280] 28 Figure 2.4 Middle Bronze Age features in the southern area 29 Figure 2.5. Roundhouse 1, looking west 31 Figure 2.6. Feature [4041], looking south 31 Figure 2.7. Middle Bronze Age ditch sections from the southern excavation area 32 Figure 2.8. Ditch [4011], looking north 32 Figure 2.9. Middle Bronze Age ditch [5006/6118] and Roman boundary ditch [5009], looking west 34 Figure 2.10. Middle Bronze Age pit [5218] cutting ditch [5190], looking north-east 35 Figure 2.11. Middle Bronze Age pit ditch sections from northern excavation area 37 Figure 2.12. Middle Bronze Age pit section from northern excavation area 37 Figure 2.13. Log ladder SF145 within pit or waterhole [5166] 38 Figure 2.14. Pit group 1, looking south 38 Figure 2.15. Well [5407] 40 Figure 2.16. Pit [5518] 41 Figure 2.17. Wooden objects including log ladder (SF144) within pit/waterhole [5736/5738] 42 Figure 2.18. Pits [5610 and 5621], looking north 43 Figure 2.19. Cow burial in fill (5763) of pit [5766] 44 Figure 2.20. Well [5704] 44 Figure 2.21. Pit [6230] 46 Figure 2.22. Wooden object within pit [6330] 47 Figure 2.23. Pit [6368] 48 Figure 2.24. Middle Bronze Age well pit [219] 49 Figure 2.25. Period 3, Roman all features plan 52 Figure 2.26. Roman Period 3.1 53 Figure 2.27. Southern settlement area, Period 3.1 central ditch and southern enclosure group 54 Figure 2.28. Period 3.1 enclosures 2L and 2M 56 Figure 2.29. Period 3.1 enclosures 2J and 2K 57 Figure 2.30. Period 3.1 enclosures 2N and 2O 58 Figure 2.31. Human burial 7 within enclosure 2O 59 Figure 2.32. Period 3.1 Roman field system and other features in southern settlement area 60 Figure 2.33. Roman Period 3.1 features within northern settlement area 62 Figure 2.34. Roman Period 3.1 field system from a possible third settlement, 2008 excavations 64 Figure 2.35. Roman Period 3.2 features 66 Figure 2.36. Roman, Period 3.2 – central ditch and enclosure group (E2A-2I) 67 Figure 2.37. Period 3.2 enclosure 2I 68 Figure 2.38. Period 3.2 enclosures 2G and 2 H 69 Figure 2.39. Period 3.2 enclosures 2E and 2F 71 Figure 2.40. Period 3.2 enclosures 2A, 2B and 2D 73 Figure 2.41. Period 3.2 Roman enclosure 2C 75 Figure 2.42. Human burials 1, 5 and 6 76 Figure 2.43. Human burials 2, 3 and 4 77 Figure 2.44. Pit [802] 78 Figure 2.45. Pit [1006] 79 Figure 2.46. Period 3.2 northern settlement area 80 Figure 2.47. Period 3.2 routeway 1 and Period 3.1 ditch [5076], looking east 82 Figure 2.48. Routeway 1 northern ditch and recut and tree throw [5347], looking east 82 Figure 2.49. Enclosures 3A-3F and routeway 2 84 Figure 2.50. Human burials [6566] and [6587] within south-west corner of enclosure 3B 85 Figure 2.51. Pit [5490], looking north-west 88 Figure 2.52. Late medieval to post-medieval features 89 Figure 2.53. Medieval enclosure 4 90 Figure 2.54. Furrows 91 Figure 2.55. Early post-medieval sheep/dip bath 92 Figure 2.56. Post-medieval to modern cow burials within pit [6221] 93 Figure 2.57. Undated features in BMP08 94 Figure 2.58 Undated features in BMP06, 07 and BMP09-14 95 Figure 3.1. Flint illustrations 98 Figure 3.2. Rim diameters of middle Bronze Age vessels by vessel form in mm 104 Figure 3.3. Early to middle Bronze Age pottery illustrations 110 Figure 3.4. Middle Bronze Age pottery illustrations 111 Figure 3.5. Middle Bronze Age pottery illustrations 112 Figure 3.6. Middle Bronze Age pottery illustrations 113 Figure 3.7. Nene Valley colour-coated forms from Baston and Spalding 117 Figure 3.8. Vessel forms from Baston and Spalding 118 Figure 3.10. Plotdate of context deposition dates, Period 3.1 enclosure group 119 Figure 3.9. Plotdate of context deposition dates, Period 3.2 enclosure group 119 Figure 3.11. Nene Valley Grey Ware forms by rim equivalent (RE) 130 Figure 3.12. Roman pottery, 1-15 133 Figure 3.13. Roman pottery, 16-25 134 Figure 3.14. Roman pottery, 26-37 135 Figure 3.15. Roman pottery, 38-44 136 Figure 3.16. Roman pottery, 45-53 137 Figure 3.17. Roman pottery, 54-65 138 Figure 3.18. Roman pottery, 66-77 139 Figure 3.19. Roman pottery, 78-93 140 Figure 3.20. Roman pottery, 94-99 141 Figure 3.21. Writing on pottery sherd fabric NVCC A05 from ditch [6485] 142 Figure 3.22. Writing on pottery grey ware sherd from ditch [6485] 142 Figure 3.23 Bronze Age and Roman small finds 148 Figure 3.24. Plain cylindrical baked-clay loomweight SF207(?) from (5763) pit [5766] (Scale 50mm) 150 Figure 3.25. Fragment of cylindrical loomweight with decorated end from (5613) pit [5621] (Scale 10mm). 151 Figure 3.26. Decorated rotary quern from pit [6471] 153 Figure 3.27 Log ladder SF115 162 Figure 3.28. Log ladder SF125 164 Figure 3.29. Log ladder SF144 165 Figure 3.30. Log ladder SF145 166 Figure 3.31. Log ladder SF421 167 Figure 3.32. Two-part vessel / bucket roughout SF140/141/143 168 Figure 3.33. Bark container SF422 169 Figure 3.34. Photograph of bark container SF422 170 Figure 5.1. Bronze Age cropmarks in Baston/Langtoft landscape 271 Figure 5.2. Middle Bronze Age with domestic occupation areas located. 276 List of Tables 9 Table 1.1: Site codes and locations 22 Table 1.2: Site chronology 23 Table 3.1: Quantification of worked flint 97 Table 3.2: Catalogue of flint 99 Table 3.3: Quantity and weight of prehistoric pottery by feature 100 Table 3.4: Quantity and weight of early Bronze Age pottery by fabric 100 Table 3.5: Quantity and weight of early Bronze Age pottery by feature 101 Table 3.6: Quantity and weight of MBA pottery by fabric 103 Table 3.7: Quantity weight and count of middle Bronze Age pottery by form 103 Table 3.8: Quantity and weight of middle Bronze Age pottery by feature type 105 Table 3.9: Quantity and weight of middle Bronze Age pottery by pit 107 Table 3.10: Quantity and weight of middle Bronze Age pottery by ditch 108 Table 3.11: Quantity and weight of Iron Age pottery by ditch (STW shell-tempered Ware) 109 Table 3.12: Roman pottery by excavation year and area 114 Table 3.14: Southern area Roman pottery by phase and spatial group 115 Table 3.15: Fabrics by spatial group in southern excavation area 116 Table 3.16: Samian catalogue for southern settlement area 122 Table 3.17: Roman pottery by phase and excavation year (2009-2014) 123 Table 3.18: Period 3.1 Roman pottery fabric summary 123 Table 3.19: Period 3.1 Roman pottery form summary 124 Table 3.20: Period 3.2 Roman pottery fabric summary 124 Table 3.21: Period 3.2 Roman pottery form summary 126 Table 3.22: Samian catalogue for northern settlement area 132 Table 3.23: Summary of medieval and post-medieval pottery fabrics 142 Table 3.24: Roman coin table 144 Table 3.25: Small finds by material type 144 Table 3.26: Small finds by period and functional categories 145 Table 3.27: Middle Bronze Age cylindrical loomweights 151 Table 3.28: Roman rotary querns 152 Table 3.30 Quantification of early to middle Bronze Age fired clay 155 Table 3.31: Quantification of Roman fired clay 156 Table 3.32: Wood records by site code and excavation area 157 Table 3.33: Wood records by period 157 Table 3.34: Condition scale used for the wood (after Van de Noort et al 1995, table 15.1) 157 Table 3.35: Condition of the Manor Pit wood 158 Table 3.36: Wood records by category 158 Table 3.37: Hurdle fragment from pit [6230], identifications and ring counts 160 Table 3.38: Wood items classed as artefacts 163 Table 3.39: Radiocarbon dates 172 Table 4.1: Summary of human skeletal pathology 177 Table 4.2: Animal bone, hand collected, by period and area 178 Table 4.3: Animal bone from sieving in the northern area by period and area 179 Table 4.4: Middle Bronze Age animal bones by species and by feature type 180 Table 4.5: Metrical comparison of the Baston Manor Pit middle Bronze Age cattle bones with those from middle Bronze Age Grimes Graves (Norfolk) and late Bronze Age Runnymede Bridge (Surrey) 182 Table 4.6: Middle Bronze Age cattle bones displaying cut marks 182 Table 4.7: Metrical comparison of the middle Bronze Age dog skull from fill (6341) pit [6342] with Bronze Age and Neolithic dog skulls from British sites 183 Table 4.8: Roman Period 3.1 animal bones by species, where found by feature and settlement area 184 Table 4.10: Butchery data (animal bone) Period 3.2 from the southern settlement 186 Table 4.9: Roman Period 3.2 animal bones by species, where found by feature and settlement area 186 Table 4.11: Wear from animal bones in Period 3.2 southern settlement 187 Table 4.12: Sheep aging in Period 3.2 southern settlement 187 Table 4.13: Horse stature in Period 3.2 southern settlement 187 Table 4.14: Cattle from Period 3.1 northern settlement 188 Table 4.15: Cattle from Period 3.2 northern settlement 189 Table 4.16: Horses from Period 3.2 northern settlement 190 Table 4.17: Animal bone from medieval contexts in southern 191 Table 4.18: Post-medieval cattle skeletons in pit [6221] 192 Table 4.19: Details of the pollen detailed analysis 196 Table 4.20: Details of the waterlogged and charred plant macrofossil (seeds and wood) and insect detailed assessment/analysis 197 Table 4.21: Detailed pollen assessment/analysis from context (227), lower fill of well pit [219] 200 Table 4.22: Detailed pollen assessment/analysis from context (196), basal fill of well pit [195] 201 Table 4.23: Analysis of pollen from context (232), lower fill of well pit [230] 203 Table 4.24: Detailed pollen assessment/analysis from context (237), basal fill of well pit [235] 204 Table 4.25: Detailed pollen assessment/analysis of context (804), fill of well [802] 209 Table 4.26: Detailed pollen assessment/analysis from contexts (1009), (1013) and (1014); fills of pit [1006] 210 Table 4.27: Processing details and biological remains of wet sieved samples from BMP06-08 215 Table 4.28: Detailed assessment of the waterlogged plant remains from BMP06-08 217 Table 4.29: Analysis of the waterlogged plant macrofossils from BMP08 218 Table 4.30: Detailed assessment of the charred plant macrofossils from BMP06-08 220 Table 4.31: Analysis of the charred plant macrofossils from BMP08 222 Table 4.32: Detailed assessment of the insect remains (MNI minimum number of individuals) from BMP06-08 223 Table 4.33: Ecological codes used in analysis of the insect assemblages 227 Table 4.34: Insects and other invertebrates recorded in the detailed analysis of samples from BMP06-7 227 Table 4.35: Main statistics of the beetle and bug assemblages recorded in the detailed analysis of samples from BMP06-7 232 Table 4.36: Environmental remains from early Bronze Age pit [3093] and [6450] of the northern excavation 239 Table 4.37: Environmental remains within middle Bronze Age pits in the western and central areas of the northern excavation 240 Table 4.38: Environmental remains within middle Bronze Age pits and a pit/watering hole in the north central area of the northern excavation 243 Table 4.39: Environmental remains within middle Bronze Age pits in the eastern area of the northern excavation 245 Table 4.40: Environmental remains from middle Bronze Age L-shaped ditch [5190] 249 Table 4.41: Environmental remains from other middle Bronze Age ditches 251 Table 4.42: Environmental remains from middle Bronze Age wells and tree throw 254 Table 4.43: Environmental remains from Roman routeway 1 258 Table 4.44: Environmental remains from other Roman ditches 261 Table 4.45: - Environmental remains from Roman burials in the northern excavation area 263 Table 4.46: Environmental remains from undated features in the northern excavation area 264 Table 5.1: Middle Bronze Age artefacts and ecofacts within Baston/Langtoft landscape 270 Table 5.2: Domestic occupation location attested by ring ditch [4033] and pottery distribution 275 Contributors 11 Acknowledgements 12 Chapter 1 13 Introduction 13 Cropmarks and archaeological excavations 13 Location, topography and geology 13 Project background 13 Previous site investigations within Baston Manor Pit 15 Excavation areas 2006-2014 17 Methodology 19 Site phasing 23 Chapter 2 25 Archaeological results 25 Period 1, earlier prehistoric activity 25 Period 2, early to middle Bronze Age 25 Period 3, Roman settlement and boundary (2nd to 4th centuries) 51 Period 4, medieval and post-medieval land use 88 Undated features 94 Chapter 3 97 Finds 97 Worked flint 97 by Yvonne Wolframm-Murray 97 Prehistoric pottery 100 by Sarah Percival 100 Roman pottery 114 by Margaret Darling, Ian Rowlandson and H G Fiske with samian reports by Felicity C Wild and Gwladys Monteil 114 Writing on pottery vessels 142 by R S O Tomlin 142 Coins 143 by Ian Meadows and Paul Clements 143 Medieval and post-medieval pottery 143 by Paul Blinkhorn 143 Small finds 143 by Tora Hylton with a report on a Bronze Age knife by Matthew G Knight 143 Middle Bronze Age loomweights 150 by Pat Chapman 150 Querns 152 by Andy Chapman 152 Ceramic tile and brick 154 by Pat Chapman 154 Slag 154 by Andy Chapman 154 Fired clay 155 by Pat Chapman 155 Roman glass 156 by Claire Finn 156 Stone 155 by Pat Chapman 155 Worked wood 157 by Michael Bamford with identifications to taxa by Steve Allen 157 Radiocarbon dates 172 Chapter 4 173 Environmental evidence and human and faunal remains 173 Human skeletal remains 173 by Helen Webb and Chris Chinnock 173 The mammal, bird and amphibian bones 178 by Philip L Armitage 178 Environmental evidence from the southern excavation area and the far western part of the northern excavation area (BMP06-08) 195 by Enid Allison, Lucy Allott, Robert Batchelor, Alex Brown and John Giorgi 195 Environmental evidence from the northern excavation area (BMP09-14) 236 by Val Fryer 236 Chapter 5 267 Discussion 267 Period 1: Palaeolithic, Mesolithic and Neolithic 267 Period 2.1 Early Bronze Age 268 Period 2.2 Middle Bronze Age 269 Roman 284 Period 4: Medieval 288 Period 5: Post-medieval 289 Bibliography 290 Between 2002 and 2014 MOLA Northampton carried out evaluation and excavation work over an area of approximately 49.65ha ahead of mineral extraction for the quarry at the Manor Pit, Baston, Lincolnshire. 0The earliest activity dated to the Neolithic with the first occupation dating to the early Bronze Age, but it was within the middle Bronze Age that significant occupation took place within the site. Part of a large co-axial field system was recorded over an area approximately c800m long and up to 310m wide. Cropmarks and the results from other archaeological excavations suggest the field system continued beyond Manor Pit for c4km and was up to 1km wide. The field system was a well-planned pastoral farming landscape at a scale suggesting that cattle and other animals were being farmed for mass trade. 0The site was reoccupied in the early 2nd century AD when two adjacent Roman settlements were established. One of the settlements was arranged along a routeway which led from the Car Dyke whilst the other settlement connected to this routeway by a long straight boundary. In both settlements there were a series of fields/enclosures situated in a largely open environment, with some evidence for cultivation, areas of wet ground and stands of trees. Well/watering holes lay within these enclosures and fields indicating that stock management was a key component of the local economy. 0In the later medieval period a trackway ran across the site, associated with which was a small enclosure, which perhaps contained fowl. During the early post-medieval period the land was subject to a final period of enclosure, with a series of small rectilinear fields established aligned with Baston Outgang Road, forming the basis of the current landscape