prehistoric pottery from the Trust’s excavation at Brightlingsea

This week, Trust archaeologist Emma Holloway and Trust pottery specialist Steve Benfield are working here at Roman Circus House on the prehistoric pottery from our excavation at Moverons Quarry at Brightlingsea in Essex. We conducted the excavation at Moverons Quarry from the 1st September 2014 to the 1st April 2015. Emma is now drawing the pottery fragments and Steve is writing the report on the pottery. They are working through all the pottery from the site in chronological order so, of course, it is the prehistoric pottery first.

The site produced evidence of centuries of continuous human activity on the site, on the highest land on the ‘isle’ of Brightlingsea. The activity extends from the prehistoric to the post-medieval periods, ranging from funerary, through domestic, to agricultural activity. The prehistoric evidence from the site includes a Bronze Age ring-ditch (the remains of a funerary monument); a large number of prehistoric tree-throw pits, created during land clearance; other pits; and prehistoric pottery, with a concentrated group of pottery in one pit. Steve thinks that all the pottery from the site together constitutes a remarkable collection of pottery, and the prehistoric pottery assemblage is very extensive and diverse (in date).

The site produced an almost complete run of prehistoric pottery, from the Neolithic (and possibly the Early Neolithic, as well), the Late Neolithic, the Late Neolithic/Early Bronze Age, the Middle Bronze Age, the Early Iron Age, and even a little from the Late Iron Age, with only a couple of gaps. (In Britain, the Neolithic = 4,000 BC to 2,500 BC; the Bronze Age = 2,500 BC to 800 BC; and the Iron Age = 800 BC to AD 43 – the Romans invaded this part of Britain in AD 43.)  The site also produced fragments of possible Late Bronze Age and Middle Iron Age date, but Steve is still working on the dating of some of the prehistoric pottery.

Some of the most interesting prehistoric pottery fragments date to the Late Neolithic, to the Late Neolithic/Early Bronze Age, and to the Middle Bronze Age. For example, the site produced a number of fragments of Grooved Ware pottery, which dates to the Late Neolithic. The fragments show stabbed decoration in the grooved lines which are typical of Grooved Ware. Grooved Ware vessels are usually large bucket-shaped pots and they occur across Britain: they are often associated with henge monuments, including Stonehenge, and they may have been used for ritual feasting. One Grooved Ware vessel from the site, represented by three joining fragments, was a hemispherical bowl: it is unusual in form and in being decorated on the inside.

We have been able to partly reconstruct a Beaker beaker, the joining fragments of which were excavated from a pit with some fragments of bone. This beaker would have been used as a drinking-vessel: Steve says that these beakers are ‘always interesting’. The beaker is quite finely decorated across almost the whole surface. These beakers show a very wide range of decoration, and it is possible that each vessel is unique and was individually decorated. This beaker dates to the Late Neolithic/Early Bronze Age. Beaker beakers often derive from burials, but Beaker burials aren’t very common. This beaker is a variant of a type which is found across the Continent and which is associated with the earliest evidence of metal-working. We have also been able to partly reconstruct a Middle Bronze Age urn, the joining fragments of which were excavated from a ditch. The urn was small and globular in form, made of a burnished (smooth) fabric, and our vessel includes a cordon and a handle; originally, it probably had two handles. These prehistoric pottery vessels were probably all made locally and used on this site by people living at Brightlingsea, thousands of years ago…

See the item in this blog titled ‘Excavation update: prehistoric life at Brightlingsea’ at www.thecolchesterarchaeologist.co.uk/?p=16600 , posted on the 6th December 2014.

The excavation was funded by Brett Aggregates and supervised by Trust archaeologist Mark Baister.

The images were taken today (15th June) and they show Emma drawing the Beaker beaker; her rough preliminary drawing of the beaker with its tracing; the beaker itself; some Grooved Ware pottery fragments, each representing a different vessel (the three joining fragments represent the unusual hemispherical bowl); and the joining fragments of the Middle Bronze Age urn.

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