Archaeology Warwickshire 3.7 - Warwickshire Web

Archaeology Warwickshire
Excavation of an Iron Age Settlement at the A45/A445 junction, Ryton-on-Dunsmore 2005
Excavations in advance of construction of a new traffic island at Ryton-on-Dunsmore on behalf of the Highways Agency, Atkins Ltd operating as Optima and May Gurney Ltd were completed in February 2005 under the direction of Stuart Palmer. The excavations revealed parts of an Iron Age settlement comprising houses, storage pits, boundary gullies, postholes and an unusual feature thought likely to have had a ceremonial or religious significance, perhaps as an unusual form of shrine. This feature was composed of a penannular (C-shaped) ditch with an eastern entrance. When originally constructed the C-shaped ditch enclosed a near circular area 10m in diameter, but it was re-dug as many as six times, on each occasion encircling a larger area until at its widest it enclosed an area 20m in diameter and it was terraced into the side of the hill. The entrance remained on the east side throughout its life. A large tree had stood within the enclosed area and although not centrally located, it may perhaps have been the focus of, or crucial to the significance of the structure. Very few finds were recovered from this multi-phased feature, but the central area contained a number of pits and postholes of uncertain function, cut through the original Iron Age land surface.
The penannular ditch viewed from the south-east.
Plan of Iron Age settlement features at Ryton-on-Dunsmore.
Two probably domestic buildings were evident within the settlement, each being defined by a curving gully that described the footprint of a round house. The absence of internal postholes in these buildings suggests that they were constructed of turfs cut and laid like bricks to form a wide, sturdy wall on which wooden beams were laid and thatched roofs constructed. A hearth was found in one of the buildings. Close by the buildings a group of large, deep pits were probably used for storing cereal grain. This is likely to have been an important element in the economy of the site. However, the pits ended their useful life as repositories for rubbish, some of them with evidence that hearth material had been ritually deposited, probably after episodes of feasting.
Part of a round house defined by a narrow semicircular gully.
One pit contained fragments of a unique clay structure used in a ‘kiln’ of an as-yet-unknown purpose. This was an outstanding find not least as it was associated with an iron brooch, possibly of an ‘involuted’ type that dates from around 200BC and the first of its kind found in Warwickshire. The kiln furniture is also unique, being quite unlike any previously found and if accurately dated by the brooch, likely to be amongst the earliest known of in the country. Similar ‘kiln’ material was found in a pit cutting through one of the early C-ditch terminals and when taken together it is reasonable to suppose that the material was deliberately buried in a ceremonial way, in the same manner as the hearth material in some of the storage pits. The main parts of the site date between the middle and late Iron Age (approximately 400–100 BC), as indicated by the large assemblage of pottery recovered from the site that can be compared to pottery found at other sites in the region. The assemblage appears mostly to comprise cooking and storage pots and many fragments are decorated either by surface scoring or combing.
Storage pits during excavation.
Other finds include a range of quern stones which would have been used for grinding cereal seeds into flour. Both saddle and rotary querns were found, the latter including one of 'beehive' type, the first of these to be found in Warwickshire. Although many of the features excavated on the site are similar to those found on other Warwickshire sites of a similar date, some are atypical and many of the finds are exceptional or otherwise unusual. It is possible therefore that the site itself was a residence of an unusual rank, perhaps that of a local leader or other higher status family.
The ‘kiln’ furniture in situ.
Other finds recovered include a single sherd of Neolithic Impressed ware pottery (from about 3000 BC) and sufficient flint tools and waste flakes to suggest that the location was utilised in the earlier prehistoric period. A Bronze Age (2200–600 BC) pottery sherd recovered from a pit in an arc of four similar features suggests that the site may have held a special significance prior to the construction of the Iron Age settlement. At the eastern end of the site a single Romano-British gully was identified which may represent a field boundary and therefore part of an overlying field system. The post-excavation processing and analyses have now begun with a view to producing a report for publication. Environmental samples taken from the excavated features will be examined to recover evidence of local land use, the farming regime and crop processing. Particular attention will be given to the more unusual finds from the site such as the ‘kiln’ furniture in order to attempt to understand the process in which it was used. It is hoped to refine the chronology of the occupation by means of radiocarbon dating organic material recovered, for example, charred material adhering to the pottery or from charred plant remains. The end results will be compared and contrasted with other excavated sites in the region and it is likely that they will form a significant contribution to our understanding of the region in the later Iron Age period.
Some of the Iron Age pottery and flint tools recovered.
Reconstruction of Iron Age settlement at Ryton.
Archaeology Warwickshire, Warwickshire Historic and Natural Environment The Butts, Warwick, CV34 4SS Tel: 01926 412280/412278 Fax: 01926 412974 E-mail: fieldarchaeology@warwickshire.gov.uk

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