Excavations at Ham Hill hillfort, Somerset - second season [2012]

A technical report on the first of three excavation seasons at Ham Hill hillfort in Somerset, Britain's largest hillfort. The current programme of investigations have been commissioned in advance of a quarry extension on the hill, which is a Scheduled Ancient Monument. As a combined project between the Cambrigde Archaeological Unit and the University of Cardiff this is one of the largest investigations within a hillfort in recent years, the archaeology of which is thus far dominated by rich Mid to Late Iron Age inhabitation.

Cambridge Archaeological Unit unpublished report 1101, 2012

A technical report on the first of three excavation seasons at Ham Hill hillfort in Somerset, Britain's largest hillfort. The current programme of investigations have been commissioned in advance of a quarry extension on the hill, which is a Scheduled Ancient Monument. As a combined project between the Cambrigde Archaeological Unit and the University of Cardiff this is one of the largest investigations within a hillfort in recent years, the archaeology of which is thus far dominated by rich Mid to Late Iron Age inhabitation.

2014

2015

This document presents the collated results of a three-year programme of excavation and post-excavation assessment at Ham Hill, Stoke-sub-Hamdon, Somerset by the Cambridge Archaeological Unit of the University of Cambridge and the Department of Archaeology at Cardiff University. An Update Project Design (UPD), issued in conjunction with this Post Excavation Assessment (PXA), provides an in-depth statement of potential and research programme.

Archaeologia Aeliana, 2012

Excavations at Harehaugh hillfort in Coquetdale, Northumberland, were carried out in 2002 as part of a wider project to determine the rate at which the monument was being damaged by erosion and how this was impacting upon significant archaeological remains. The results of the excavations and an associated, 10-year programme of erosion-scar monitoring indicate that erosion is having a very significant impact upon archaeological remains, some of which remain well preserved with the potential to reveal important information. Although the overall picture remains rather patchy and nothing approaching a complete chronological sequence for the site can yet be attempted, the 2002 excavations have provided significant new insights into the character and phasing of the site. The defences are shown to be of varied construction, possibly in part resulting from episodes of ad hoc repair, but include earthen and stone construction elements with at least one section of well-built stone revetment. Work in the interior revealed evidence for ephemeral structures as well as activities such as metalworking and cook ing. In terms of chronology, radiocarbon dates in the middle and later Iron Age were procured from wood charcoal, but there was insufficient evidence either to support or to challenge accepted notions on the phasing of Northumbrian hillforts. However, it was determined that an interior earthwork, prob - ably part of the earliest enclosure on the site and shown to be much more substantial then previously recognised, probably holds the key to the broad phasing of the site. Finally, some comments are offered on the significance and potential of the hillfort and its environs, and an attempt is made to place it in the context of regional Iron Age studies, particularly in the light of recent contextual surveys of hill - forts in upland Northumberland and discoveries of large lowland sites to the south.

Northamptonshire Archaeology, 2023

The results of the excavation of a length of the Iron Age hillfort rampart at Hunsbury Hill in 1988 are reviewed, with the original plan and sections now shown at consistent scales and with consistent orientations. A number of colour images of the excavations are also presented for the first time. In addition, the three radiocarbon dates have been recalibrated to enable a restatement of the date of construction of the original box rampart as, most probably, c.550-400 cal BC. A radiocarbon date from the continuous inner palisade slot, is slightly later, c.420-350 cal BC, and this provides no support for the suggestion that it was an initial standalone construction, pre-dating the box rampart. In fact, it may indicate that this revetment was an integral part of the box rampart construction that was subject to later refurbishment.

The Prehistoric Society , 2007

An archaeological excavation was undertaken at Hawthorn Rise, Tibberton, Worcestershire (NGR SO 9037 5779). It was undertaken on behalf of Speller Metcalfe Living Ltd, who intends a residential development for which a planning application will be submitted. The excavations at Tibberton revealed two large parallel ditches that ran roughly east to west around the slope of the hill. Whilst the full extent of the enclosure was not ascertained, the siting of these large contemporaneous ditches around the breast of a hill suggests a possible promontory fort function, potentially enclosing an area of c 1.8-4ha. The pottery recovered from these ditches suggests a Middle Iron Age origin, with closure in the Late Iron Age. This closure was represented by intentional backfilling of the ditches after they had been largely allowed to silt up, and then the placement of a two pots into pits cut into the top of the northern ditch. The pottery vessel type distribution suggests an ordered closure of the site. Later pits cutting the ditches contained possible conquest-era Severn Valley ware pottery, suggesting a limited amount of activity on the site following the demise of the earlier enclosure. A typical assemblage of domestic animal bone for the period was recovered from the site, although as it was largely from the ditch fills, it may have been skewed in favour of bones from larger species.

2010

This volume describes the results of archaeological investigations carried out between 2003 and 2006 on behalf of the Northmoor Trust in the parishes of Little Wittenham and Long Wittenham, Oxfordshire. The work included examination of cropmarks, large-scale geophysical surveys, fieldwalking and excavations. Geophysical survey was concentrated in and around the scheduled hillfort at Castle Hill, Little Wittenham (Oxfordshire SAM No. 208), and revealed a smaller enclosure within the hillfort dated by excavation to the late Bronze Age.The survey also suggested that otherwise archaeological features within the hillfort were relatively sparse. A section across the hillfort ditch and rampart did not produce a clear construction date, though in the interior both early and middle Iron Age pits were found, some containing human burials or bones. The hillfort ditch appears to have been cleaned out throughout the Iron Age, the spoil probably used to enhance the outer bank. The hillfort was also used in the late Roman period (4th century AD), when very large rectangular pits were dug, and midden material was piled up behind and over the Iron Age rampart. People were also buried in the interior at this time. Saxon finds were very few, but a medieval pit and a quarry indicate occupation in the 12th/13th centuries AD. Coring of peat deposits beside the Thames north of Castle Hill provided evidence of the environmental succession from the early Iron Age onwards. On the plateau below the hillfort cropmarks and geophysical survey revealed a dense settlement stretching west, to Hill Farm and beyond. This included a late Bronze Age and early Iron Age midden some 50 m across, a middle Iron Age curving boundary ditch down the middle with smaller sub-rectangular enclosures either side, and early and middle Iron Age penannular enclosures, four-post structures and pits. Settlement seems to have shifted southwards and westwards in the middle Iron Age, and late Iron Age or early Roman ditches were also found near to Hill Farm. The Roman settlement was mainly 2nd–3rd century AD, and probably consisted of four enclosures, one of which contained a masonry building (now largely destroyed) with a tiled roof, decorated with mosaic tesserae and painted wall plaster. This enclosure was approached by a ditched trackway, with a second larger enclosure alongside. A third enclosure was partly revealed north of Hill Farm, and a fourth enclosure (not investigated) lay alongside Roman field boundaries west of Hill Farm. Despite earlier finds at Hill Farm, no Saxon evidence was found in these excavations. The project has revealed a unique combination of late Bronze Age hilltop enclosure, external settlement and an adjacent midden. In the early Iron Age the hilltop enclosure was replaced by the hillfort, where feasting occurred, while the adjacent settlement around the midden grew to be one of the largest in the region.The midden was abandoned in the middle Iron Age, and a long boundary ditch may have divided this ancestral area off from settlement to the south and west. There was also more middle Iron Age activity within the hillfort, including a number of human burials. In the Roman period the settlement probably included a small villa, while the hillfort itself was probably reoccupied in the later 4th century AD. Intriguingly both Roman cremations and inhumations were buried around and within the hillfort, suggesting a continuity of burial location spanning 1000 years. Geophysical survey and evaluation trenches were also dug across a cropmark complex at Neptune Wood east of Long Wittenham, revealing an early Iron Age enclosure ditch, a Roman trackway and associated fields, and a pair of large middle Saxon pits or waterholes.

Worcestershire Recorder, 2023

In 2021-22 the North Worcestershire Archaeology Group (NWAG) undertook test pit excavations at Hillgrove, Boreley Lane, Ombersley. This work aimed to identify and record potential archaeological features, deposits, and finds at the site, including those associated with the nearby Roman settlement at Holt Fleet Caravan Park and the documented historic farmstead of Hillside Cottage. Four periods of activity were revealed by the excavations. Period 1 was defined by a scatter of later prehistoric and Roman finds, which offer glimpses of riverside occupation along the Severn gravels. This was followed in Period 2 by a small but sharply defined assemblage of early post-medieval finds, which relate to the occupation of a small farm known as Aylwards or Halwards. The farmhouse survives in the north-east of the site as the 17th- and 18th-century Hillside Cottage. Periods 3 and 4 are characterised by continued occupation into the late post-medieval and modern periods, and are associated with the remains of brick outbuildings, garden and horticultural features, as well as a large assemblage of pottery, glass, and other artefactual and environmental material.