Finds

New finds from Trenches 2 and 3

Posted by steven on 14/07/2005 at 03:28 PM

Excavation of Trenches 2 and 3 at the High Pastures site has produced more finds during the past two weeks. Read on for details of a few of these.

The excavations in Trench 3 are now complete for this year and although the trench failed to produce any significant number of finds, it has produced quite a few sherds of pottery representing several vessels.

The rim sherd shown above is one of several diagnostic pieces recovered from the trench, although many others are from the main body of the pots they once represented. The image below shows two refitting pieces of pot also recovered from Trench 3.

We have also excavated the remaining artefact-rich deposits for this year in the Trench 2 extension. This area, that has formed a place of some significance in the prehistoric landscape at High Pastures, has continued to provide us with a wide range of artefacts and ecofacts during fieldwork in 2005. Three more bone and antler points/pins have been recovered from this part of the trench over the past week. The bone pin shown below can tell us quite a story with regards to its potential manufacture, use and modification, before it was deposited at the site.

The pin has been manufactured from a splinter of bone and has been reasonably well finished by polishing. The pin is broken at the head, where a small hole had originally been bored through. The pin may have been a dress fastener of some kind or possibly a piecer, the hole providing a potential attachment point or may have been for decoration. After the head of the pin had broken off it seems that attempts were made to repair it, and it is clear to see where a second hole as been started by boring through the bone. This must have been carried out from each side of the pin. However, when the second hole was started from the opposite side these did not line-up and it seems the pin was then abandoned. It was subsequently deposited in the ash-filled lenses of material identified in the Trench 2 extensions.

We have also recovered significant quantities of well-preserved animal bone from the Trench 2 extension, especially from the areas around the three hearth settings and the stone blocking fill above the entrance. Deposits include deer, cattle, sheep/goat and quite a lot of pig. The image below shows a part of the lower mandible of a wild boar, or a large domesticated pig, complete with two fairly large tusks.

Next entry: Possible Iron Age graffiti uncovered in Trench 3

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