EXCAVATIONS IN 1999 ON LAND ADJACENT TO WAYSIDE FARM, DEVIZES 



205 



Out of the Phase 1 samples, only the Iron Age 

 pits were productive. The six pits that were sampled 

 for plant macrofossil analysis all produced fairly 

 large quantities of charred plant remains, ranging 

 in concentration from 8 fragments per litre to 1 24 

 frags per litre (see the bottom of Table 1 6) . The 

 assemblages were broadly similar in character, 

 consisting of emmer/spelt wheat (Triticum 

 dicoccum/spelta) and hulled barley (Hordeum 

 vulgare) grain and chaff, with a similar range of 

 weed seeds to each other. The ratios of grain to 

 chaff and weed seeds did differ to some extent, with 

 two pits being dominated by chaff and weed seeds 

 (F3037 and F3022), but the remaining four pits 

 containing more grain and fewer weed seeds. The 

 two chaff and weed-rich pits are towards the centre 

 of the cluster in close proximity to each other, but 

 it is difficult to detect any other particular 

 similarities between the assemblages. It is likely that 

 all of the pits were being filled with a similar type of 

 material, consisting primarily of burnt crop 

 processing waste. 



Based on the proportions of glume bases that 

 were identifiable to species level, spelt wheat 

 {Triticum spelta) appears to have been the 

 predominant cereal represented by the burnt waste, 

 followed by hulled barley with small amounts of 

 emmer (X dicoccum). As is noted below, these 

 cereals are very typical of Iron Age sites in southern 

 England. In addition, the weed assemblages are also 

 very similar, indicating that crop husbandry 

 practices were remarkably uniform at this time. 

 Chess (Bromus sect. Bromus) was the dominant 

 weed in the Iron Age pits at Wayside Farm, as is the 

 case in many storage pits. Cleavers (Galium 

 aparine), dock (Rumex sp.) and small-seeded weed 

 vetches (Vicia/Lathyrus sp.) were also frequent, and 

 are common in other assemblages from this period. 

 Other weed seeds were recovered less frequently, 

 but include indicators of more calcareous soils 

 (Galium cruciata, Sherardia arvensis) as well as 

 acidic ones (Rumex acetosella, Spergula arvensis). 

 Blinks (Montia fontana ssp. minor) is characteristic 

 of soils that are often waterlogged during the winter. 



The presence of several onion couch tubers 

 (Arrhenatherum elatius var. bulbosum; four in pit 

 3022) and eleven fragments of hazelnut shell 

 (Corylus avellana) in pit F3020 indicates that other 

 types of burnt waste were also present. These 

 remains may represent fuel or tinder used to start a 

 fire, particularly since one of the most likely 

 explanations for the presence of charred crop 

 processing waste in the base of Iron Age storage 



pits is that the remains represent fuel used to start 

 a fire in order to sterilise the pit (Monk 1991, 106). 

 Other explanations include the use of burnt waste 

 to seal the base of the pit, or the charred remains of 

 material used to close the top of the pit (ibid). 

 Whichever explanation applies, burnt crop 

 processing waste is so characteristic of the primary 

 fills of Iron Age storage pits that deliberate use of 

 this type of material is implied. 



COMPARISONS WITH OTHER 

 IRON AGE SITES LN 

 SOUTHERN ENGLAND 



The combination of primarily spelt wheat chaff with 

 barley and some emmer chaff has been recorded 

 from Iron Age grain storage pits across southern 

 England. In some cases weed seeds were more 

 frequent than chaff fragments (e.g. Brighton Hill 

 South, Carruthers 1995), but this may be the result 

 of differential preservation. In all cases, burnt crop 

 processing waste was present in the base of the 

 storage pits. These sites include Danebury 

 (Campbell 2000), Lains Farm (Carruthers 1991), 

 Old Down Farm (Green 1981), Easton Lane 

 (Carruthers 1989), Brighton Hill South 

 (Carruthers 1995) and Winnall Down (Monk 

 1985). The recovery of stored grain from Iron Age 

 pits is much less common, although a mixed deposit 

 of emmer and spelt wheat still in spikelet form was 

 recovered from an Early Iron Age storage pit at 

 Sturminster Marshall (Carruthers, in Valentin 

 forthcoming). Only one pit at Danebury produced 

 evidence of a stored crop, consisting of spelt with 

 some barley (Jones 1984). These two cases suggest 

 the deliberate burning of a stored crop, perhaps due 

 to spoilage, or an accidental fire. Such events are 

 less likely to occur than pits simply falling into 

 disuse. Any stored grain remaining in the pit at the 

 time of abandonment would rot away leaving no 

 trace, but the charred lining would be preserved, 

 particularly if the pit was backfilled within a short 

 space of time. These primary deposits are a valuable 

 source of information about the arable economy in 

 the Iron Age, whether or not they contain evidence 

 of stored crops. 



DISCUSSION 



This excavation at Wayside Farm has established 

 two main phases for the site; late Iron Age - c. 3rd 



