Durham E-Theses Iron age societies in the Severn-Cotswolds: Developing narratives of social and landscape change Moore, Thomas Hugh How to cite: Moore, Thomas Hugh (2003) Iron age societies in the Severn-Cotswolds: Developing narratives of social and landscape change, Durham theses, Durham University. Available at Durham E-Theses Online: http://etheses.dur.ac.uk/3682/ 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 Iron Age societies in the Severo-Cotswolds: Developing narratives of social and landscape change Volume 1 Thomas Hugh Moore Thesis submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Department of Archaeology University of Durham A copyright of this thesis rests with the author. No quotation from it should be published without his prior written consent and information derived from it 2003 should be acknowledged. - 2 JUN 2004 Declaration This thesis is the result of my own work. No part of this thesis has been submitted for a degree at this or any other university. The copyright of this thesis rests with the author. No quotation from it should be published without prior written consent and information from it should be acknowledged. Abstract Iron Age societies mthe Severn-Cotswolds: developing narratives of social and landscape change Thomas Hugh Moore The Severn-Cotswold region occupies a pivotal position in Iron Age studies, lying at the interface between the well-studied regions of Wessex, the Upper Thames Valley and the Welsh Marches. In contrast to them, the Sevem-Cotswolds has continued to be neglected despite the rich potential demonstrated by earlier surveys and excavations. This study sets the Iron Age of the Severn-Cotswold region in a national context. Both the older material and the mounting new evidence from rescue excavations are examined and interpreted in the light of recent theoretical advances. Aerial photographs have been used to enhance understanding of unexcavated sites which, alongside a database of excavated sites, provide a morphological framework to assess variation in settlement form and social organisation. The material culture and exchange networks of the later 1" 1 millennium BC are also assessed within a wider social context stressing the need to incorporate production, exchange and deposition when studying Iron Age societies. This material is used to construct a narrative of social and landscape change identifying the complexity of community reactions to wider cultural developments. It is suggested that a radical transformation in the form and organisation of settlements took place at the beginning of the later Iron Age, reflecting changes in social organisation and a greater emphasis on defining the household. Examination of the settlement and material culture evidence suggests complex social networks developed in the later Iron Age. It is against this background that the emergence of new settlement forms and communities in the late Iron Age needs to be understood. For my grandfather, Charles Edward Stuart (1902-1990) Acknowledgments Thanks must go to all the staff at the SMRs, County archives and Contract Units whom I have consulted and who gave valuable information and assistance. These include; Tim Grubb and Jan Wills (Gloucestershire), Bob Sydes (B&NES), David Evans (South Gloucestershire) Deborah Overton and Derek Hurst (Worcestershire), staff at Wiltshire SMR, Chris Webster (Somerset) Vince Russett (North Somerset), Sue Hughes and Claire Davies (GGAT), Rebecca Roseff, Melissa Seddon and Tim Hoverd (Herefordshire), Peter Davenport (Bath Archaeological Trust), Andy Young (Avon Archaeological Unit) and Julie Gardiner (Wessex Archaeological Trust). Thanks to Angie Bolton (Finds Liaison officer West Midlands), Phil Dixon for discussion on unpublished material from Crickley Hill, Peter Fowler for correspondence on Butcombe, David Heslop, Fiona Roe for her helpful and informative correspondence on quern sources, Steve Rippon for comment on possible sites in the Somerset levels, Simon Cox (Cotswold Archaeology) for information on the salterns at Weston-super-Mare and Nick Barton for information on Cave sites in the Wye Valley. Warm thanks to all at Cotswold Archaeology, particularly Neil Holbrook, for access to their archives, infomtation on numerous unpublished investigations and, not least, for putting up with my frequent visits and requests. I would also like to thank JD Hill, Richard Hingley, Richard Reece, Rachel Pope, Laura Cripps and Andy Wigley for very different but equally stimulating and thought provoking conversations which have always helped me develop my ideas even if we have not always agreed. Thanks to Anne O'Connor and John Creighton who lent me their computers after mine died in the process. I would like to thank the AHRB for fmtding this research, although a big thank you must also go to my family, Durham University Hardship fund and Richard Reece for their financial support in the last year without whom this would probably never have been finished. Special thanks to my supervisor, Colin Haselgrove, who has always been supportive and encouraging. Were it not for him I would not have returned to do a PhD. Also a big thank you to Pam Lowther for all her hard work. Last, but not least, thanks to Mum, Dad, Nan, Jim, Sam, Lef Sigalos, Tim Havard, James Bruhn, Laura Cripps, Ed Cork, Beccy Scott and all in Room 001 for putting up with me, providing beer and light relief and keeping me together through the last very trying year. Contents of Volume 1 Acknowledgements Contents page ll List of figures vii Chapter 1. Introduction 1.1 Studying Iron Age social change 1 1.2 Current approaches to Iron Age regional settlement and landscape studies 2 1.3 Structure and agency 2 1.4 Processes of change: what happened to 'transitions'? 3 1.5 A question of scale 4 1.6 Why the Severn-Cotswolds? 6 1. 7 Structure of this study 8 Chapter 2. The Archaeological Resource 2.1 Analysing the archaeological resource 9 2.1.1 Archaeology in the region and its role in setting research agendas 10 2.1.1.1 Archaeology in the Severn-Cotswolds before 1990 10 2.1.1.2 The archaeological resource since 1990 12 2.1. 2 Defining sites and creating databases 14 2.2 Quantifying the infom1arion 17 2.2.1 Quality index 17 2. 2. 2 Results 18 2.3 Conclusions: the effect ofPPG 16 on the archaeological resource 21 Chapter 3. The Chronological Framework 3.1 Introduction: creating chronological frameworks 24 3.2 Previous chronological frameworks for the Sevem-Cotswolds 25 3.3 Chronological indicators 28 3.4 Radiocarbon dates 28 3.4.1 Dating of the sub-rectangular enclosures 29 3.4. 2 Dating of storage pits 31 3.4.3 Dating the rectangular buildings at Goldcliff 32 3.4.4 Dating of the Somerset Lake Villages 33 3.4.5 Conclusions 34 3.5 Pottery and chronology 34 3.5.1 Early Iron Age wares 34 3.5.2 Dating of 'middle' Iron Age wares 36 3.5.3 Increasing use of regional wares 40 3.5.4 Radiocarbon dates and 'middle' Iron Age wares 41 3.5.5 Pottery and dating the later Iron Age 43 3.5.6 Pottery as a chronological indicator on the Welsh side of the Severn 46 3.5.7 Conclusions on later Iron Age wares 47 3.6 Brooches 48 3. 6.1 Hallstatt 49 3.6.2 La Tene NB 49 3.6.3 Late La Tene/1 st century AD brooch assemblages 50 3.7 Coins and currency bars 52 11 3.8 Glass beads 53 3.9 Conclusions: a chronological framework for the region 55 Chapter 4. The Morphological Framework 4.1 The role of cropmark evidence in studying Iron Age societies 59 4.1.1 Current approaches to cropmark landscapes and alternative perspectives 60 4.1.2 Defming morphological groups 63 4.1.3 Dating of cropmark sites 64 4.1.4 Methodology 64 4.2 The morphological framework 66 4.2.1 Rectilinear and sub-rectangular enclosures 66 4.2.2 Curvilinear enclosures 71 4.2.3 Polygonal and 'irregular' enclosures 72 4.2.4 Unenclosed and agglomerated settlement 73 4.2.5 Banjo enclosures 76 4.2.6 Large enclosures and hillforts 78 4.3 Settlement fonn in the Severn-Cotswolds 78 4.3.1 Entrance orientation 79 4.3.2 Enclosure size 81 4.3.3 Variation in hillfort form in the Sevem-Cotswolds 83 4.3.4 Site density 89 4.3.5 Regional and inter-regional differences in settlement form 90 4.4 Site location and land use 95 4.4.1 Site location 95 4.4.2 Relationship oflron Age sites to soil types 97 4.5 Conclusions 99 Chapter 5. Household and Community 102 Part I 5.1 Reconstructing Iron Age societies from settlement form and layout I 03 5.1.1 Past approaches to social organisation: the household 104 5.1.2 Theoretical problems of recreating society from settlement space 107 5.2 The analysis 110 5.2.1 Problems with the evidence from the study area 110 5.2.2 Enclosed settlements 113 5.2.2.1 Early Iron Age 113 5.2.2.2 Later Iron Age enclosures 114 5.2.3 'Unenclosed' settlements 119 5.2.3.1 Late Bronze Age and early Iron Age 119 5.2.3.2 Later Iron Age 121 5.2.3.3 Other Later Iron Age wtenclosed settlements 123 5.2.3.4 The Lake Villages 126 5.2.4 Bounding the unenclosed 127 5.2.5 Division of space in 'hillforts' and larger enclosures 128 5.2.5.1 Early Iron Age 128 5.2.5.2 Later Iron Age 130 5.2.5.3 Late Iron Age large enclosures 131 5.3 Circular structures: form, size and implications for social organisation 133 5.3.1 Chronological differences 134 5.3.2 Entrance orientation 136 5.