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THE WILTSHIRE ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND NATURAL HISTORY MAGAZINE 



Within Area A he identified two features, the 

 first of which he described as a cluster of 54 stones, 

 some burnt, in the north-east corner of Cutting 

 IVD (Fig. 1, Fl).This feature was associated with 

 numerous animal bones (cattle, sheep/goat, horse). 

 About lm southwest of these stones he recorded a 

 'saucepan type' pot, now missing, filled with 

 charcoal, lying lm deep in a dark charcoal layer. 

 Twelve metres south of the southwest corner of IVD 

 was a skull fragment from an adult male. 



In Cutting IVD, Extension Northwest D (Fig. 

 1, F2), a possible ditch approximately 1.8m deep 

 and 1.8m wide was excavated. The ditch appeared 

 to run SW7NE but was not excavated beyond the 

 boundaries of the cutting. Finds from the ditch 

 include remains of cattle, a clay loom-weight, a bone 

 handle, and an iron rod (probably post-mediaeval). 

 Pottery from the ditch is sparse; among the finds 

 are two fragments of a Gallo-Belgic beaker of the 

 mid 1st century AD, sherds of Savernake ware, and 

 small sherds of miscellaneous Romano-British 

 coarse wares. Grant King also reported a sherd of 

 2nd century samian 'near the top' of the ditch. 



Within Area B (Fig. 1 ) Grant King described a 

 series of irregular 'white stone blocks' capped by 

 'cob' (not further defined) . These formed a feature 

 roughly 5.8m long and 0.6-1 .5m wide with a right 

 angle end 'wall' at the eastern end. Within the first 

 section were two cavities 2.44m apart and 0.76m 

 deep. To the south, east, and west were more 

 irregularly shaped 'blocks'. Immediately to the 

 north of the main feature was an inhumation (no. 

 2); to the south was a pit (F3) filled with animal 

 bone, none of which survives. 



Small finds from within Area B include a 

 fragmentary bone comb of Roman type, a bone 

 spindle whorl, 74% of the iron nails found on the 

 site and three (and probably a further three) of the 

 seven large but fragmentary clay weights found. 

 Fragments of two quern stones and a whetstone 

 were also recovered. 



Burials 



Eight inhumations (Fig. 1) have been recorded 

 within the Detention Centre. Four (nos. 1, 2, 3, 5) 

 were excavated by Grant King with a further two 

 (nos. 4 and 8) noted in his excavation papers from 

 information supplied by prison staff. Two more 

 (nos. 6 and 7) were subsequently reported during 

 construction at the prison in 1981 and 1988. Four 

 have been identified as male, one as female. Three 

 had not been sexed at the time of discovery and are 



now missing. All those examined are adult. There 

 is no consistent orientation of the burials. 

 Inhumation 1 was supine with the head to the west; 

 inhumation 2 was also supine but with the head to 

 the north-east, and inhumation 3 was flexed with 

 the head to the north. The position of the other 

 inhumations is not recorded. With the possible 

 exception of inhumation 2, where 20 nails are 

 recorded 'near' the grave, none have coffins. Only 

 inhumation 6 had any grave goods (in this case 

 hobnailed footwear), although two others (nos. 2 

 and 3) were associated with small sherds of 

 Romano-British pottery. A bone comb was 

 recovered 'near' inhumation 2. Inhumation 1 was 

 found boxed with two possible polishing bones and 

 a third human ulna. Dating of most of the skeletons 

 is therefore ambiguous. A detailed description of 

 the graves and skeletons is in the archive. 



THE FINDS 



Pre-Roman Pottery 



by Paul Robinson 



A not insubstantial assemblage of over 260 

 potsherds and other items of later prehistoric date 

 were also recovered from the site by Mr Grant King. 

 The greater proportion of the sherds date from the 

 first half of the 1 st millennium BC, with a few sherds 

 which may be identified as from vessels in the 

 Middle Iron Age 'saucepan' tradition. There is no 

 evidence for a continuous sequence of pottery 

 throughout the latter part of the millennium 

 suggesting that there was probably a break in the 

 habitation sequence between the Middle Iron Age 

 and the late Iron Age/earliest Romano-British 

 phase. None of the pottery is stratified and only a 

 proportion is marked with its location. If these 

 marked sherds are indeed representative of the 

 whole collection, then it would appear that nearly 

 all of this later prehistoric pottery derives from Area 

 A. There is certainly a concentration of potsherds 

 from the vicinity of feature 1 (the hearth), which 

 may imply that this feature is perhaps from a 

 building of later prehistoric date. A few marked 

 sherds are associated with feature 2 (the ditch): 

 these may be contemporary with it or may be 

 residual. 



Seven main fabric types are represented: 



1 . Flint gritted fabrics (10 sherds). The identifiable 

 forms which are chronologically early in date are a small 



