Monument record MWX3350 - Bestwall Quarry Archaeological Project, Bronze Age pottery manufacture

Dumps of raw and fired clay and hearthstone (possibly used to obtain iron oxide for use as a pigment) found across site. Specific features include:

Phase 3, 1994. Fields B and D: complex feature, 15m long, spread 1m below the present ground surface. Spread of flint gravels, some burnt, lying on sandy flint subsoil. Worked and cracked flint distributed throughout. At east and west ends were dumps of clay and Middle Bronze Age pottery. A further dump of clay containing worked, cracked and burnt flint and associated with Bronze Age pottery was also revealed. Feature possibly related to pottery manufacture (1)
Phase 6, 1997. Field F: Dumps of raw clay, fired clay, burnt flint and hearthstone suggest pottery production on site (2)
Phase 7, 1998. Field C: a sub circular feature 3.8m by 5m with a max depth of 0.25m cut into natural sand which had been burnt bright red. The pit fill was charcoal-rich and finds included raw clay, fired clay, burnt and worked flint, parts of several hearthstone querns and small amounts of copper slag. Substantial quantities of pottery were retrieved from at least seven vessels including one almost complete biconical urn with a shoulder decoration of fingernail impressions and two imperforate lugs. This feature was interpreted as a firing floor used during pottery manufacture. Field G: a pit containing over-fired and distorted pot sherds interpreted as wasters was excavated (see WX3628). First evidence for EBA pottery production. Large amounts of burnt flint, hearthstone, Purbeck limestone, raw and partially fired clay attributable to pottery industry throughout the Bronze Age and into the Iron Age. Stone and burnt flint used as filler in many pottery types (3)

<1> Ladle L, 1994, Bestwall Quarry Archaeology Project, Phase 3 - 1994 (Unpublished document). SWX8521.

<2> Ladle L, 1997, Bestwall Quarry Archaeological Project, Phase 6 - 1997 (Unpublished document). SWX8526.

<3> Ladle L, 1998, Bestwall Quarry Archaeological Project, Phase 7 - 1998 (Unpublished document). SWX8528.

Record last edited

Jun 4 2021 3:51PM