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A Reassessment of the Finds from Excavations at Roman Springhead, Published Between 1957 and 1984, and Interpretations Made About Their Use in Past Activities

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A Reassessment of the Finds from Excavations at Roman Springhead, Published Between 1957 and 1984, and Interpretations Made About Their Use in Past Activities Durham E-Theses Reappraising Penn and Harker: a reassessment of the nds from excavations at Roman Springhead, published between 1957 and 1984, and interpretations made about their use in past activities Jarrett, Richard How to cite: Jarrett, Richard (2008) Reappraising Penn and Harker: a reassessment of the nds from excavations at Roman Springhead, published between 1957 and 1984, and interpretations made about their use in past activities, Durham theses, Durham University. Available at Durham E-Theses Online: http://etheses.dur.ac.uk/2168/ Use policy The full-text may be used and/or reproduced, and given to third parties in any format or medium, without prior permission or charge, for personal research or study, educational, or not-for-prot purposes provided that: • a full bibliographic reference is made to the original source • a link is made to the metadata record in Durham E-Theses • the full-text is not changed in any way The full-text must not be sold in any format or medium without the formal permission of the copyright holders. Please consult the full Durham E-Theses policy for further details. Academic Support Oce, Durham University, University Oce, Old Elvet, Durham DH1 3HP e-mail: [email protected] Tel: +44 0191 334 6107 http://etheses.dur.ac.uk 2 Reappraising Penn and Harker: A reassessment of the finds from excavations at Roman Springhead, published between 1957 and 1984, and interpretations made about their use in past activities. Richard Jarrett. Department of Archaeology, Durham University. Submitted for the degree of MPhil (Archaeology), in 2008. Volume 1 of 3. The copyright of this thesis rests with the author or the university to which it was submitted. No quotation from it, or information derived from it may be published without the prior written consent of the author or university, and any information derived from it should be acknowledged. 1 8 DEC 2008 Reappraising Penn and Marker: A reassessment of the finds from excavations at Roman Springhead, published between 1957 and 1984, and interpretations made about their use in past activities. The purpose of this study is to re-assess the poorly understood, yet extensive, quantities of finds from the Roman 'temple site' at Springhead in North Kent. The publication of this material by William Penn and Sydney Marker in a series of reports, between 1957 and 1984, meant that the assemblage was never viewed as a whole, and a full analysis has never been undertaken. Recent work by Oxford Archaeology (1994) and Wessex Archaeology (1998-2001) led to a major increase in knowledge about the site, revealing three new temples in an extensive 'religious enclosure' and a large number of accompanying structures. It was, therefore, important that the large quantities of finds discovered during Penn and Marker's excavations were examined in relation to this work to provide as complete an understanding of the site as possible. The study sought to map the distribution of finds from Penn and Marker's excavations in time and space, and explore their relationship to the structural history of the site, to see what light they might shed on past activities, drawing on similar approaches used in current research on 'temple sites' in Roman Britain, which are felt to have yielded interesting information. The issues raised by current approaches to 'ritual' and 'structured deposition', which have played an important role in current studies of the distribution of finds and their significance to past activities, were also considered. Examination was undertaken, firstly, of the distribution of finds sharing similar forms and potential functions, to ascertain whether traits could be identified in their treatment and deposition that may have been significant as part of past activities. The importance of the material for understanding activities associated with other 'temple sites' in Roman Britain was also assessed. Analysis also took into account that while there may have been commonly held symbolic concepts affecting the use and treatment of finds on 'temple sites', such objects could have been used in many different ways once they had been brought there, in a variety of circumstances throughout its long history of use. Analysis was, therefore, also conducted upon relationships between finds deposited in archaeological features and strata from different periods, in an attempt to consider the potential for diversity in the use of objects at Springhead. The information obtained by the analysis was used to reappraise interpretations made about the site by Penn, Marker and various researchers, taking into consideration issues raised in current approaches towards 'interpretative archaeologies'. Acknowledgements: Thanks must be paid to all those who assisted with this work; Phil Andrews, Angi Britten and Andy Crockett at Wessex Archaeology. Leigh Allen and Nicola Scott at Oxford Archaeology. Helen Glass, the Channel Tunnel Rail Link Archaeologist, Councillors Les Beven and Alan Ridgers from Gravesham Borough Council. Vema Row, Victor Smith and Sandra Soder from the Gravesend Historical Society, Brian Philp and Deborah Cooper from the Council for Kentish Archaeology, Giles Guthrie from Maidstone Museum and John Shepherd at University College London. Thanks must also go to Dr. John Chapman, Dr. Richard Hingley, Professor Jennifer Price Dr. Steven Willis, Abby Antrobus, Fiona Cunningham, Adam Rogers, Melanie Sherratt, Linda Martin, Denise Charlton, Helen Drinkall and Carrie Drew all (at the time) at the University of Durham, and also to the Rosemary Cramp Fund and Gravesham Borough Council for offering financial assistance. Finally, special thanks must go to my family and Julie Parker. 3 Table of contents: 1: Outline of the archaeological remains from Springhead 9 1.1: The development of the site through the Iron Age and Roman periods 9 1.2: The significance of the site at Springhead to the surrounding environment, with the province of Britain, and the Roman Empire as a whole 17 2: Aims of this study and methods of analysis 21 2.1: Studying the distribution of finds from Penn and Marker's excavations 21 2.2: Reappraising interpretations made about the use of finds at Springhead 23 2.3: Methods of analysis 27 3. Detailed accounts of individual structures and features discovered during Penn and Harker's excavations 30 4: Assessing the records for the site: limitations and opportunities 60 4.1: Introduction 60 4.2: Problems with access to material and records from Penn and Harker's excavations 60 4.3: Limitations in standards of finds recording 61 4.4: The loss of finds from Penn and Harker's excavafions 63 4.5: Limitafions in chronological recording 65 4.6: Variations between excavation reports in standards of stratigraphic recording and details upon numbers of finds recovered 67 4.7: Potential of data from Penn and Barker's work for future publication 69 5: Analysis of the distribution of specific 'finds types' from Penn and Marker's excavations, interpreted as being associated with 'religious' activities 70 5.1: Figurines 70 5.2: Items of personal adornment 79 5.3: Miniature objects 95 5.4: Altars 5.5: Summary and discussion - Attempting to understand 'religious' activities at Springhead through analysis of the distribution of specific finds 'types' 104 6. Analysis of the distribution of specific 'finds types' from Penn and Barker's excavations, interpreted as being associated with 'productive' activities 110 6.1: Tools no 6.2: Items of culinary and dining equipment 117 6.3: Quern and mill stones 120 6.4: Needles 124 5 6.5: Spindle-whorls and loom weights 127 6.6: Hones 131 6.7: Summary and discussion - Attempting to understand 'productive' activities at Springhead through analysis of the distribution of specific finds 'types' 134 7: Analysis of the distribution of other specific 'finds types' from Penn and Harker's excavations 144 7.1: Introduction 144 7.2: Carved ornamental stone 145 7.3: Structural fittings and fastenings 147 7.4: Ornamental fixtures and fastenings 154 7.5: Glass vessels 158 7.6: Styli 162 7.7: Smaller quantities of particular 'finds types', where analysis of distribution provided little information on past activities, but which may provide insight into activities on other temple sites 165 8: The fragmentation of particular 'finds types' from Penn and Harker's excavations 194 8.1: Introduction 194 8.2: The condition of material from Penn and Harker's excavations and its potential significance in allowing an understanding of past activities 195 6 9. Analysis of relationships between finds deposited within archaeological contexts through the history of the site, together with examination of their fragmentation 203 9.1: Introducfion 203 9.2: Relafionships between finds from first and early second century contexts 204 9.3: Relafionships between finds from second and third century contexts 207 9.4: Relationships between finds from late third and fourth century contexts 214 10: Conclusions 224 10.1: The results of this study 224 I: Attempting to understand "religious' acfivities at Springhead through analysis of the distribufion of specific finds 'types' 225 II: Analysis of the fragmentation of finds deposited within archaeological contexts through the history of the site 232 III: Analysis of relafionships between finds deposited within archaeological contexts through the history of the site, together with examination of their fragmentation 235 10.2: The potenfial of this study for allowing further work on the archaeological remains from Springhead 241 7 Appendices: Appendix 1: Details on figurines from the excavations directed by Penn, Harker and Wessex Archaeology 263 Appendix 2: Details on items of personal adornment from the excavations directed by Penn and Harker 282 Appendix 3: Details on miniature objects from the excavations directed by Penn and Harker 407 Appendix 4: Details on altars from the excavations directed by Penn and Harker.. 412 Appendix 5: Details on tools from the excavations directed by Penn and Harker.
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