Walpole Project Update 4/11/14

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C. and N. Hollinrake Consultant Archaeologists Walpole Project Update November 2014 1 WALPOLE LANDFILL SITE, PAWLETT, SOMERSET the archaeology Evolution of the landscape on the shores of the Bristol Channel sponsored by PROJECT UPDATE 4 th November 2014 worked Neolithic stake The watching brief Although we thought the watching brief was finished in September, a few more days of observation were necessary in early October. The rest of the month was taken up with washing, recording and photographing the prehistoric wood recovered from the site. On October 29 th the site portacabin was emptied and cleaned. The Structures 146 items of worked & numbered wood have been recorded & recovered on site during the 2014 archaeological watching brief. Some of the numbers referred to groups of large upright stakes, which, when numbered individually, amounted to 172 individual pieces of worked wood. The worked wood was almost exclusively associated with three wooden structures (Structures 18, 19 & 21) with some isolated worked wood associated with ancient channels and a small collection of un-worked bog trees (<20 items – mostly recorded as Structure 20). The structures have been relatively dated to the early Neolithic (S18), the middle Neolithic (S19) and the Bronze age periods of pre-history (S21) by their respective stratigraphic positions. The early Neolithic wooden material from S18, is very rare both on the site and for the country as a whole. One of the horizontal worked wood elements of S21 was seen to have been pollarded, examples of which are similarly very rare. The recovered wood has now been sorted and quantified in the following table. Preliminary suggestions for the analysis for the different pieces of wood have been added to this table as a working discussion document towards finalizing the post- excavation strategy for this body of wood. Richard Brunnings spent a day inspecting the wood and recording the tool marks and his arising comments and recommendations have been added to this table. The final programme of specialist analyses will be based upon this table after suitable consultation with all interested parties.

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News about the archaeological watching brief at Walpole, 4th November 2014

Transcript of Walpole Project Update 4/11/14

  • C. and N. Hollinrake Consultant Archaeologists

    Walpole Project Update November 2014 1

    WALPOLE LANDFILL SITE, PAWLETT, SOMERSET

    the archaeology

    Evolution of the landscape on the shores of the Bristol Channel

    sponsored by

    PROJECT UPDATE 4

    th November 2014

    worked

    Neolithic stake

    The watching brief

    Although we thought the watching brief was finished in September, a few

    more days of observation were necessary in early October. The rest of the month was

    taken up with washing, recording and photographing the prehistoric wood recovered

    from the site.

    On October 29th

    the site portacabin was emptied and cleaned.

    The Structures

    146 items of worked & numbered wood have been recorded & recovered on

    site during the 2014 archaeological watching brief. Some of the numbers referred to

    groups of large upright stakes, which, when numbered individually, amounted to 172

    individual pieces of worked wood.

    The worked wood was almost exclusively associated with three wooden

    structures (Structures 18, 19 & 21) with some isolated worked wood associated with

    ancient channels and a small collection of un-worked bog trees (

  • C. and N. Hollinrake Consultant Archaeologists

    Walpole Project Update November 2014 2

    type of wood number context analysis

    Structure 18 (Early Neolithic)

    20 4x (20%) species ID pegs

    1 ass. with W7 C14 date

    plank 1 (W7)

    worked roundwood W7 cut by polished stone

    axe

    Structure 19 (Middle Neolithic)

    worked roundwood 10 from

    superstructure

    species ID

    18 total worked roundwood

    1 (W150)

    from

    substructure C14

    ? species ID

    W91 cut both ends ?conserve

    beaver-cut

    roundwood

    W73 ?conserve

    C14 1 (W48)/

    (WG17) species ID

    C14 1 (W87)/

    (WG26) species ID

    C14 1 (W15)/

    (WG27) species ID

    C14 1 (WG127)

    species ID

    C14

    worked wood from

    wood groups

    1 (WG128)

    (1922)/ channel

    [1932]

    species ID

    25 species ID

    1 (W163)

    superstructure

    C14

    25 species ID

    brush wood

    1 (W145)

    substructure

    C14

    peat samples 2

    (1912)

    Structure 20

    22 total bog trees

    10 species ID

    Structure 21 (Bronze Age)

    > 10 pieces species ID worked round wood

    2 C14

    total 203 pieces

    Table of prehistoric wood recovered during 2014 with samples and suggestions for

    further analyses.

  • C. and N. Hollinrake Consultant Archaeologists

    Walpole Project Update November 2014 3

    Processing the wood

    Tables were set up next to the wood tank so that the wood could be scrubbed clean,

    labelled and recorded. The archaeologists portacabin was reorganized to record the

    cleaned wood with a wet table for labelling and a separate table with a backdrop for

    photographs. Viridor engineer Morag Aitkin visited during these operations.

    When the wood was washed, recorded and photographed, Richard Brunning was

    contacted to arrange a date for his specialist recording of the tool marks and

    recommendations for further research.

    Richard noted that most of the brushwood and worked wood from Structure 19

    carried tooth marks of beavers. Initial interpretation is that this structure originated as

    a beaver lodge, which was adapted by the people using the Lias island for their own

    uses. This would explain the unusual inter-connecting palaeochannels below S19

    observed during the fieldwork. Many pieces of beaver-cut wood showed compression

    bends, suggesting that they were green when deposited.

    The palaeochannels associated with Structure 19 show as pale grey alluvial silts.

    Dr. Bryony Coles, formerly of the Somerset Levels Project and now Emeritus

    Professor of Archaeology at the University of Exeter, has been making a special study

    of ancient beaver activity. She is to be consulted on this special category of

    prehistoric wood and the impact of beaver activity on the interpretation of Structure

    19.

    Samples

    During Richards recording visit samples were taken from all of the main worked

    wood and from all of the bog trees for identification. The identification samples

    consisted of cross sections, 5cm-8cm thick, sawn from the end of the wood opposite

    the worked ends (or the roots, in the case of the bog trees). These can also be used for

    radiocarbon dating.

    The worked ends of all pegs, poles and stakes were sawn off and retained. All beaver

    marked wood was retained.

    All wood not kept for samples was discarded on site.

  • C. and N. Hollinrake Consultant Archaeologists

    Walpole Project Update November 2014 4

    Publication

    Richard Brunning recommended that the Walpole results 1999 2014 be the subject

    of a monograph by the Council for British Archaeology. We have already been in

    touch with Prof. Martin Bell, who is helping us to lay out our Walpole book as a

    companion to his two CBA volumes: Prehistoric Coastal Communities: The

    Mesolithic in Western Britain (vol. 149) and The Bronze Age in the Severn Estuary

    (vol. 172).

    Once the fieldwork report is finished we will begin compiling the book.

    Gallery

    Structure 19 represents one of the most complex and

    complete wooden structures recorded from the

    Walpole Landfill Site, with the majority of the

    recovered worked wooden

    artefacts originating from

    this structure. Brushwood

    was laid upon longer poles

    and stabilized with pegs

    and posts. In many cases,

    as here, the longer poles

    were laid within a pool

    among several

    palaeochannels (see the

    photograph above).

    A hitherto unrecorded

    feature appeared in S19

    in the form of clusters

    of large posts, which

    were given group

    numbers as well as

    individual wood

    numbers. The location

    of this structure on a

    nexus of

    palaeochannels

    suggests that these

    groups of strong stakes

    were probably used as

    mooring posts.

  • C. and N. Hollinrake Consultant Archaeologists

    Walpole Project Update November 2014 5

    Structure 21, which appears to be the first Bronze Age structure recorded on

    the site, contained two very large examples of worked wooden timber laid

    horizontally behind several long worked upright wooden stakes. Most of this

    structure was destroyed by modern disturbance, but its location on the bank of a large

    palaeochannel suggests it was formerly used as a landing stage. .

    For purposes of comparison, a photograph of a traditional style landing stage from the

    medieval port at Bucklers Hard is included1.

    Thanks again for all your support for our work.

    Nancy Hollinrake

    5th

    November 2014

    1 Plate D7: WA4077. Remains of the post-medieval landing stage at Buckler's Hard, New Forest Rapid

    Coastal Zone Assessment Survey Phase 2: Field Assessment, Prepared by Wessex Archaeology, Report

    ref.: 72201.1, December 2010