remarkable results at Playgolf Colchester: Late Iron Age Camulodunum

Today (24th March), Trust archaeologist Don Shimmin completed the report on the watching brief which he conducted at Playgolf Colchester in Lexden in 2013, ahead of works to extend the club facilities. The site is on the west side of town and not far from the important archaeological site of the Stanway funerary enclosures, and just to the west of Moat Farm Dyke, part of the Iron Age defensive system of Camulodunum. During the watching brief, Don found some important evidence of burial features which are similar to those at the significant Stanway site.

A large funerary enclosure was known on the Playgolf site, from cropmarks identified in aerial photo.s, and one of the enclosure ditches was observed during the watching brief. Parts of two Late Iron Age or early Roman burials or burial features were found within the enclosure. One of the burial features (F3) was a Late Iron Age or early Roman unurned cremation burial, which produced an almost complete amphora and some worked bone, as well as fragments of cremated human bone. Another burial feature (F4) was partially uncovered nearby. This produced some remarkable finds: the fragments of at least five iron spear- or lance-heads, sherds of Late Iron Age or early Roman imported pottery, and some cremated human bone. The funerary enclosure and the burial features within it are comparable to the ditched enclosures excavated by the Trust at the significant Stanway site in 1987-1997.

The Stanway site is on the edge of the Late Iron Age oppidum of Camulodunum and it was in use during the period circa 50 BC to AD 70, the early years of Camulodunum. Among the significant discoveries at the Stanway site were burial chambers within funerary enclosures, including the important ‘doctor’s grave’ which contained a board game and medical instruments, and the ‘warrior’s grave’ which contained a spearhead and a possible shield. There were also other funerary-related features at the Stanway site, including chambers, pyre sites, mortuary enclosures, and pits with pyre debris. The enclosures at the Stanway site were the burial places of the local native aristocracy, which is interesting enough, but the site had continued in use for several decades after the Roman invasion of AD 43, which is extremely interesting.

The fragments of human bone buried in the two burial features at the Playgolf site are very fragmented. However, the remains buried in F3 seem to represent one individual, under 18 years of age. This individual was, perhaps, a member of an important local native family. The burial pit may have been square or sub-rectangular in shape and the amphora seems to have been placed upright in one corner. A couple of the burials at the Stanway site also had an amphora placed upright in one corner of the pit. The cremated bone was deposited in a pile on the floor of the burial pit in F3, and this is also paralleled at the Stanway site. The date of the amphora suggests that F3 probably dates to the 1st century AD, probably before circa AD 70. Most of the soil in the amphora has been excavated out but it produced no finds. The amphora is a Beltrán I type and is almost complete, as the spike has recently been broken off the body and the upper parts of the neck and handles are missing, perhaps removed by modern ploughing. The vessel is made of a sandy fabric with cream surfaces and a pale red core showing at the break. This fabric can be identified as part of the Cadiz fabric group. Beltrán I amphoras are principally ascribed an origin on the southern coast of Spain (Iberia). They are described as salazones, which were commonly used to contain a fish product, either fish sauce or salted fish. Complete amphoras of various types have been recovered from a number of Late Iron Age and early Roman burials in north Gaul and Britain. Beltrán I amphoras have been recorded in four burials in Britain, including one at the Stanway site (from the ‘doctor’s grave’, dated to circa AD 40-50/55).

The five iron spear- or lance-heads at the Playgolf site are really remarkable finds. These seem to have been placed on the base of the burial pit on top of organic material such as such as hay, straw or grass. Similar organic materials were identified on the pit floor in one of the burial chambers at the Stanway site. Don writes: ‘… The evidence from other comparable Late Iron Age warrior burials excavated in southern Britain suggests that the number of spears placed in a warrior burial was usually limited to one. Therefore, the discovery of at least five spear- or lance-heads in F4 is very unusual, if it was a burial. In conclusion, while it is likely that the pit with the spearheads at Playgolf (F4) was a warrior burial, the possibility that it was some other kind of feature, such as a Stanway-type chamber, cannot be ruled out without further excavation …’  The pottery in burial feature F4 allows us to date it more closely than F3, and so the probable date-range for F4 is circa AD 25-60. This date is supported by the similarities between the spear- or lance-heads from the Playgolf site and the single example from the ‘warrior’s grave’ at the Stanway site, which is dated circa AD 40-55. The five spear- or lance-heads are so remarkable that they were given coverage in the press both locally and nationally, for example, an item published in an issue of the British Archaeology magazine.

Don says that the contractors on site were very helpful during the watching brief. Playgolf Colchester are very interested in the results of the watching brief and are planning to install a small archaeological display in their new building, featuring the amphora. Our client is, in fact, coming to Roman Circus House tomorrow to look at the amphora.

For more information on the site and on the Stanway site, read CAT Report 709 in our online archive at http://cat.essex.ac.uk and an item about the Stanway site on the British Archaeology web-site at www.archaeologyuk.org/ba/ba99/feat3.shtml

The images show the new coffeehouse at Playgolf Colchester, the amphora on the ground, and burial feature F3.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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