Archaeology Magazine - June 1948 - 12

ARCHAEOLOGY

76
The objects found with these features, consisting mainly of pottery, established their date
in three periods.
Two small pits produced a considerable quantity of the neolithic pottery called
Neolithic B or Peterby British archaeologists
borough Ware, conventionally dated to 2000 B.c.
or a little later. They belonged to one of many
groups of this culture, traces of whose small open
settlements have been found along the length of
the Thames valley.
At the other end of the time-scale, a small enclosure of the later Pre-Roman Iron Age had been
formed on the site, intersecting the huts belonging
to the main enclosure.
But it is with the main enclosure itself that this
article is really concerned; and this, the datable
evidence clearly showed, went back to the dawn of
the British Early Iron Age, if not actually to the
transition from Bronze to Iron, the conventional
date for which is 500 B.C. or a little later. Greater
definition will only be possible when the mass of
pottery from the site has been studied in detail.
Here it must be sufficient to note that the appearance of fortified settlements of this and similar
types was the inevitable concomitant of the disturbed political and economic conditions which followed the discovery and exploitation of the new
metal; and that this also is the period in which the
expansion of the Keltic-speaking peoples can first
be clearly recognized.
Traces

of Prehistoric

Buildings

The really remarkable discovery in connection
with this site, however, lies in the traces of the
buildings found inside it.
In the northern half of the enclosure had been
a series of eleven huts. The indications of their
former existence consisted of a series of circular
or semi-circular gulleys in two sizes, with overall
diameters of about 45 and about 35 feet. The
circular gulleys had entrance-gaps ; they frequently
had deeper, sump-like ends. The obvious explanation was that they served as drains for surface
and their fillings were a fairly
and roof-water
uniform dark soil in which occasional fragments
of bone and pottery were found.
Within the area of such gulleys on other sites,
post-holes have often been found and are reasonas the lasting elements of the
ably interpreted

frame on which the structure of the hut was supsuch post-holes occurred
At Heathrow
ported.
in some huts but were rare or absent in others; the
roofs of the latter group may have been supported
on walls of solid but perishable materials such as
There
turf, of which all traces had disappeared.
were no traces of internal structures apart from
one or two hearths or fire-pits ; but the hearths also
were often outside the hut, at or near the entrance.
Elsewhere distributed over the area were signs
of less organized occupation : areas of dark soil
which though . ploughed through produced their
a few pits and post-holes.
quota of potsherds;
About half of the enclosure, however, appears to
have been a blank : the main occupation was under
the lee of the ramparts on the north side of the .
compound.
This picture of a comparatively small domestic
area with a large vacant space is in keeping with
what has been observed on many other of these
small settlements which have been more or less
It would seem that such
completely explored.
essential
to the life of the
were
"empty" spaces
no
doubt
for
various nondesettlement, serving
but
for
thé folding of
script activities,
especially
stock when it had to be brought into the compound.
Marks

of an Iron

Age

Temple

The most important and exciting discovery on
the site, however, remains to be described.
Halfthe
west
side
of
the
way along
compound near
the base of the bank, the first clearing of the topsoil revealed the outline of a rectangular gulley,
its main axis roughly east-west, with an entrance
opening in its east side. The gulley was small:
feet wide, its overall length 18 feet, its
1^-2
width 13 feet. Surrounding it 6-8 feet away was
a series of circular or sub-rectarçgular marks suggesting large post-holes (up to about 1.4 inches in
sometimes spaced out, sometimes run
diameter)
to
form irregular single marks.
The
together
overall dimensions of the complete structure were
37 by 32 feet.
The possible significance of this arrangement
was at once apparent : its resemblance on plan to
the classical Greek temple, with central shrine or
cella and enclosing peristalith, opened up the interesting and important likelihood that this would
prove to be a temple earlier than any yet recorded

Archaeology Magazine - June 1948

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Archaeology Magazine - June 1948