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  • Mythe To Mitcheldean Mains Reinforcement, Gloucestershire - Radiocarbon Dating

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    This is one of seven specialist reports relating to archaeological investigations carried out in advance of the construction of a water pipeline in Gloucestershire. Following desk-based assessment, geophysical survey and trial trenching of the 8.8 km route, three sites between Churchdown and Coombehill in the southern half of the route were identified for detailed excavation. These three areas were investigated by Wessex Archaeology between April and July 2012. The work was carried out for Morgan Sindall Plc on behalf of Severn Trent Water. Area C was located between Gloucestershire Airport at Staverton and the M5 near junction 11. This area contained the remains of part of a Middle Iron Age enclosure and a series of Romano-British (mid-2nd century AD) ditches. In each phase of activity dating was provided by pottery finds. Area D1 lay 2 km south of Area C, to the west of the M5 and south of Brookfield Road in Churchdown. This area also contained evidence of activity in the Iron Age and Romano-British periods. The earliest feature was a curved ditch – probably part of a 10 m-diameter roundhouse – which was dated to the Early to Middle Iron Age by pottery and may have been broadly contemporary with the enclosure in Area C. Area D1 was settled again in the 1st century AD, initially with a ditched enclosure which was replaced in the 2nd century by a farm building constructed on stone foundations. After the abandonment of the building, the final phase of activity, in the 3rd/4th century, comprised field ditches with no structural evidence for occupation. Limited pottery finds provided the dating evidence. Area D2 lay just 70 m south of Area D1 in Churchdown. This area also contained Early to Middle Iron Age activity in the form of pits and postholes but no clear structures were identified. This was the only excavated area to contain Late Iron Age settlement features including two roundhouses (with diameters of 9 m and 10 m) and a disturbed human burial. Dating evidence was provided by 1st-century AD pottery and two radiocarbon dates. Modelling of these dates shows that one of the roundhouses was probably occupied in the 1st century BC and very likely prior to the Roman Conquest. After the occupation of the roundhouses, sometime in the 1st or 2nd centuries AD, the evidence for settlement in Area D2 ceased and it was used solely for agriculture, as represented by field and enclosure ditches.

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    This is one of seven specialist reports relating to archaeological investigations carried out in advance of the construction of a water pipeline in Gloucestershire. Following desk-based assessment, geophysical survey and trial trenching of the 8.8 km route, three sites between Churchdown and Coombehill in the southern half of the route were identified for detailed excavation. These three areas were investigated by Wessex Archaeology between April and July 2012. The work was carried out for Morgan Sindall Plc on behalf of Severn Trent Water. Area C was located between Gloucestershire Airport at Staverton and the M5 near junction 11. This area contained the remains of part of a Middle Iron Age enclosure and a series of Romano-British (mid-2nd century AD) ditches. In each phase of activity dating was provided by pottery finds. Area D1 lay 2 km south of Area C, to the west of the M5 and south of Brookfield Road in Churchdown. This area also contained evidence of activity in the Iron Age and Romano-British periods. The earliest feature was a curved ditch – probably part of a 10 m-diameter roundhouse – which was dated to the Early to Middle Iron Age by pottery and may have been broadly contemporary with the enclosure in Area C. Area D1 was settled again in the 1st century AD, initially with a ditched enclosure which was replaced in the 2nd century by a farm building constructed on stone foundations. After the abandonment of the building, the final phase of activity, in the 3rd/4th century, comprised field ditches with no structural evidence for occupation. Limited pottery finds provided the dating evidence. Area D2 lay just 70 m south of Area D1 in Churchdown. This area also contained Early to Middle Iron Age activity in the form of pits and postholes but no clear structures were identified. This was the only excavated area to contain Late Iron Age settlement features including two roundhouses (with diameters of 9 m and 10 m) and a disturbed human burial. Dating evidence was provided by 1st-century AD pottery and two radiocarbon dates. Modelling of these dates shows that one of the roundhouses was probably occupied in the 1st century BC and very likely prior to the Roman Conquest. After the occupation of the roundhouses, sometime in the 1st or 2nd centuries AD, the evidence for settlement in Area D2 ceased and it was used solely for agriculture, as represented by field and enclosure ditches.

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    14 views4 pages

    Mythe To Mitcheldean Mains Reinforcement, Gloucestershire - Radiocarbon Dating

    Uploaded by

    Wessex Archaeology
    This is one of seven specialist reports relating to archaeological investigations carried out in advance of the construction of a water pipeline in Gloucestershire. Following desk-based assessment, geophysical survey and trial trenching of the 8.8 km route, three sites between Churchdown and Coombehill in the southern half of the route were identified for detailed excavation. These three areas were investigated by Wessex Archaeology between April and July 2012. The work was carried out for Morgan Sindall Plc on behalf of Severn Trent Water. Area C was located between Gloucestershire Airport at Staverton and the M5 near junction 11. This area contained the remains of part of a Middle Iron Age enclosure and a series of Romano-British (mid-2nd century AD) ditches. In each phase of activity dating was provided by pottery finds. Area D1 lay 2 km south of Area C, to the west of the M5 and south of Brookfield Road in Churchdown. This area also contained evidence of activity in the Iron Age and Romano-British periods. The earliest feature was a curved ditch – probably part of a 10 m-diameter roundhouse – which was dated to the Early to Middle Iron Age by pottery and may have been broadly contemporary with the enclosure in Area C. Area D1 was settled again in the 1st century AD, initially with a ditched enclosure which was replaced in the 2nd century by a farm building constructed on stone foundations. After the abandonment of the building, the final phase of activity, in the 3rd/4th century, comprised field ditches with no structural evidence for occupation. Limited pottery finds provided the dating evidence. Area D2 lay just 70 m south of Area D1 in Churchdown. This area also contained Early to Middle Iron Age activity in the form of pits and postholes but no clear structures were identified. This was the only excavated area to contain Late Iron Age settlement features including two roundhouses (with diameters of 9 m and 10 m) and a disturbed human burial. Dating evidence was provided by 1st-century AD pottery and two radiocarbon dates. Modelling of these dates shows that one of the roundhouses was probably occupied in the 1st century BC and very likely prior to the Roman Conquest. After the occupation of the roundhouses, sometime in the 1st or 2nd centuries AD, the evidence for settlement in Area D2 ceased and it was used solely for agriculture, as represented by field and enclosure ditches.

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    MYTHE TO MITCHELDEAN, GLOUCESTERSHIRE (84963): RADIOCARBON DATING


    Alistair J. Barclay and Sarah F. Wyles
    July 2014
    Two radiocarbon dates were obtained on samples submitted to the Scottish Universities
    Environmental Research Centre (SUERC) (Table 1). They have been calculated using the
    calibration curve of Reimer et al. (2013) and the computer program OxCal (v4.2.3) (Bronk
    Ramsey and Lee 2013) and cited in the text at 95% confidence and quoted in the form
    recommended by Mook (1986), with the end points rounded outwards to 10 years. The
    ranges in plain type in the radiocarbon tables have been calculated according to the
    maximum intercept method (Stuiver and Reimer 1986). All other ranges are derived from the
    probability method (Stuiver and Reimer 1993).
    The aim of the radiocarbon dating programme was to determine the age of construction for
    gully 327, part of roundhouse A, through the precise dating of deposits of charred grain and
    human bone (Table 1). SUERC-50590 is on a fragment of human skull from gully 327 (slot
    811, fill 812) and SUERC-50589 is on charred grain (slot 811, fill 812).
    The radiocarbon result for SUERC-50590 (190 cal BC 10 cal AD at 95% confidence) is
    likely to be earlier than that for SUERC-50589 (160 cal BC 50 cal AD at 95% confidence)
    (72% probability), although it can be noted that both are statistically consistent 7  
    T(5%)=3.8) indicating that they could be of a similar date. However, the skull fragment is
    assumed to derive from a burial disturbed by the construction of the roundhouse gully and is
    therefore treated as a terminus post quem in Figure 1 (shown as After). In contrast the
    charred grain is considered to derive from the use of the roundhouse and is therefore closer
    in date to its construction and certainly its use (120 BC 30 AD (90.4%) at 95% probability
    and 60 cal BC 10 cal AD (59.2%) at 68% probability).

    References
    Bronk Ramsey, C and Lee, S, 2013 Recent and phased development of the Program OxCal,
    Radiocarbon 55, (2-3), 720-730
    Mook, WG, 1986 Business Meeting: recommendations/resolutions adopted by the twelfth
    international radiocarbon conference, Radiocarbon 28, 799
    Reimer, PJ, Bard, E, Bayliss, A, Beck, JW, Blackwell, PG, Bronk Ramsey, C, Buck, CE,
    Cheng, H, Edwards, RL, Freidrich, M, Grootes, PM, Guilderson, TP, Haflidason, H, Hajdas,
    I, Hatte, C, Heaton, TJ, Hoffmann, DG, Hogg, AG, Hughen, KA, Kaiser, KF, Kromer, B,
    Manning, SW, Nui, M, Reimer, RW, Richards, DA, Scott, EM, Southon, JR, Staff, RA,
    Turney, CSM and van der Plicht, J, 2013, IntCal13 and Marine13 Calibration Curves 0
    50,000 Years BP, Radiocarbon 55 (4), 1869-87
    Stuiver, M, and Reimer, P J, 1986 A computer program for radiocarbon age calculation,
    Radiocarbon, 28, 102230
    Stuiver, M, and Reimer, P J, 1993 Extended 14C data base and revised CALIB 3.0
    calibration program, Radiocarbon, 35, 21530

    14

    C age

    Table 1 Radiocarbon measurements on samples from Roundhouse A Gully 327


    Laboratory
    Code

    Context & sample

    13C

    SUERC-50589

    Charred cereal grain,


    Hordeum vulgare

    -23.7

    SUERC-50590

    Human bone, left


    parietal

    20-9

    Figure 1

    G15
    N

    C:N
    Ratio

    8.4

    3.2

    Posterior density estimate

    Radiocarbon
    age BP

    Calibrated date range


    (95% confidence)

    Posterior density
    estimate (95%)
    probability

    203529

    160 cal BC 50 cal AD

    120 BC 30 AD
    (90.4%)

    207330

    190 cal BC 10 cal AD

    180- 20BC
    (93.9%)

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