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Excavation 2012- Tony Wilmott Update |
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Excavation 2012- Tony Wilmott Update |
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Excavation 2012 - Update from Tony Wilmott - Ian Haynes - Week 5 It was a really satisfying first week at Maryport. The experience we all gained from the 2011 season paid dividends from the outset. Following the lessons learnt last year, we were able to expand the excavated area to cover the location of the 1870 'altar pit' discoveries. Yet we already knew that the old claims that the altars had been ritually deposited were mistaken, that they were in fact interred as ballast. We also knew to expect evidence for structures, some or all of which might date from a period considerably later than the second century altars themselves. At a muddy boots level there was a further consideration. Members of the team had grown in familiarity with the glacial till that characterised the awkward geology of the site. The till can make feature recognition difficult and particularly in the extraordinarily hot conditions of the 2011 season, it presented a particular challenge, baking the ground to an almost ceramic consistency. Fortunately, the 2012 season launched in altogether better weather (archaeologically speaking), we were often accompanied by low cloud, the ground was softer, moisture was retained longer, the colours and contours of features were more distinct. And the team was marvellous. We launched, as is our practice, with a combination of Masters Students and experienced local volunteers. Our MA students were fresh from their advanced field training and took advantage of the opportunity to be present at the opening of the site to study such vital, but under-taught, skills as machine watching. Too deep and there is no site left, too shallow and it takes forever to reach the archaeology - and time is of the essence. To see the local volunteers again was a particular pleasure, for there was never a sense at Maryport that there were two teams, a university one and a community one, we are one digging team and we thrive in working together. And so, with experience and good fortune, we made a flying start to the project. By the end of the site preparation phase, once the trowel lines had moved efficiently across the newly opened trenches, we were able to distinguish multiple indications of structural features and, crucially, it was possible to see that some of them intercut one another. In Week two the first rotation of students and volunteers started. Teaching and training between peers is an important part of the Maryport ethos, and this began while excavating some of the most clear and apparently simple features on the site. On Thursday the serious rain set in. Though the day was lifted by a walk down the hill to see the Olympic torch pass through Maryport, it was pretty miserable, and the Friday was washed out. In the following two weeks a total of four days equivalent were lost to rain. The team trudged between site and portakabin several times a day, but all worked willingly despite the wet, and excellent progress was made. In Week five the second rotation began, and showed themselves worthy of their predecessors in every way. Now, entering on Week six we finally have a story that can move of from where we ended in 2011. We are sorry to those who have been anxiously awaiting our reports, but hope this will have been worth the wait. Last year we established conclusively that the altars found in pits in 1870 were not ritually deposited but re-used as packing in large post pits forming the foundations of a very large timber building. The principal question for this year was that of the plan, function and date of this building. In particular having found a west wall we were in quest of the east side of the structure. A great many cut features were revealed in initial machining. On excavation it is clear that, like last year, many features have been disturbed by our antiquarian predecessors. Again we saw that the excavators of the 1870s and earlier tended not to completely empty archaeological features, leaving aspect of the original fill, which allow us to work out the form of the post-pits and the positions of the original posts. Despite this, as yet no coherent plans of separate structures have been made out, though the different form of post-holes found suggest that at least five separate structures are present. As well as the structures there are clear boundaries. One east-west ditch that extends across the entire site seems to bound an area to the north entirely free of any archaeological features. The curvilinear ditch identified last year has been traced continuing through the site. Last year it was thought possible that the ditch enclosed the building represented by the pits. It does not. It continues through the concentration of pits, seemingly through the middle of the building. The current thought is that the ditch is later than the building, but this remains to be proven. One of the peculiar things about last year's results was the almost total absence of any Roman finds or environmental evidence. A very few pot sherds were recovered, and there is a very small assemblage of coins and other finds. This pattern has continued this year. Last year's discovery of late 4th century Crambeck Parchment Ware in the upper fill of the curvilinear ditch remains a significant piece of dating evidence. This paucity of finds was explained last year by the possibility that the area under excavations was kept clean as it may have been ritual space where domestic finds material was not used or lost. There is another possibility - that the site we are excavating was not in fact occupied during the Roman period, and that we are dealing with an early post-Roman (or sub-Roman or 'dark age' - depending on preferred term) phase of activity on the hill top which was not occupied during the Roman period. The excellent geophysical evidence for the fort's extramural settlement lies in the fields to the west - sheltered to a degree by the hill on which we are working. The idea of an early post-Roman phase has now been confirmed in rather emphatic fashion. There has long been evidence for occupation of this period in the form of the late Roman, and probably Christian, tombstones of individuals named Rianorix and Spurcio in the Senhouse Museum. In addition a stone decorated with the Christian chi-rho symbol is known from the site, though now lost. In the north-west corner of our site we excavated two post-holes and a layer. These contained small fragments of late-fourth century Crambeck parchment ware. They were cut into a stone-lined feature that was soon revealed to be a long-cist grave. Such graves, found occasionally in the British west, and in southern Scotland, are the earliest field monuments that mark the late Roman and early post-Roman Christian settlements of the area. One of the most famous is Whithorn on the north side of the Solway. Such graves - particularly as part of cemeteries - tend to date to the 5th and 6th centuries. In the grave was a white quartz stone, clearly selected for inclusion. This too is a marker of this period, being found (for example) at Whithorn, in Scotland, Ireland and the Isle of Man, and at Whitby in North Yorkshire. Because of the acid soil, no bone survival was expected, however small fragments of three of the long bones and three caps of tooth enamel were found in the brown stain which was basically all that was left of the occupant of the grave. We are hopeful that enough bone survives to allow the radio-carbon dating of the grave. Adjacent to the stone lined cist is a second grave. No human remains survived, but around where the head would have been the grave was lined with pebbles. A pillow stone was provided in the form of a re-used Roman roofing slate. This grave appears to have been the final element of a sequence of three intercutting graves. This means that these graves are part of a cemetery which was used over at least three generations of burial. We are yet to connect the building which re-uses the altars definitely with the cemetery, however the probability is now that the two aspects of the site are contemporary. The building may well be contemporary with and associated with the burials, opening up the extraordinarily exciting possibility that we are dealing with an early post-Roman Christian religious site that we can associate chronologically with Whithorn and with the site of Hoddom in nearby Dumfriesshire. This week we will open up a small additional area in order to confirm the cemetery. 'Summer' is forecast next week - let's hope it arrives! Tony Wilmott and Ian Haynes. Captions - Click for larger image |
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Fig 1. The trowelling line identifies archaeological features. |
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Fig 2. Intact stone-lined post-holes. |
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Fig 3. Large post pit. The Victorian backfill has been removed from the near side revealing the rectangular hole left by the decay of a massive timber post, surrounded by the stones which packed the post in position. |
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Fig 4. Aidan adopts an uncomfortable posture in order to excavate the fragile bone in the long-cist grave. |
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Fig 5. The long cist grave showing the stone lining in edges and base. |
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Fig 6. Stone lining and pillow stone in the second grave excavated. |
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Fig 7. Lauren hard at work wet-sieving and floating environmental samples. |
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