IRON AGE SETTLEMENT AND ROMAN ACTIVITY AT BRICKLEY LANE, DEVIZES 



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moderately good considering that much of the 

 material is handmade and not very robust. The 

 sherd preservation is typical of non-primary rubbish 

 deposits. There are no complete vessels although 

 there are a few apparent ancient joins within 

 contexts, and at least one profile can be 

 reconstructed. Surface preservation is generally 

 quite good and surface finishes such as burnishing 

 could be identified on many sherds. 



Methodology 



The material was sorted into broad fabric groups, 

 based on the macroscopically visible inclusions 

 present in the pastes, and coded accordingly. Sub- 

 divisions were made, aided with a x20 binocular 

 microscope, based on the size and frequency of the 

 inclusions. For the Roman material use was made 

 of the national Roman reference codes where 

 relevant (Tomber and Dore 1 998) . A quantification 

 by sherd count and weight for each recorded context 

 was made and the data entered as an Excel 

 spreadsheet. Table 1 summarises the quantities of 

 each defined fabric. Table 2 summarises the main 

 distinguishing fabric characteristics and associated 

 forms based on featured sherds. Table 3 details the 

 pottery recovered from the environmental samples. 

 The contexts were grouped into ceramic phases 

 on the basis of the pottery present and these form 

 the basis of the following report. 



Ceramic phase 1 : early Prehistoric 

 The earliest recognisable material present consists 

 of 17 very fragmentary sherds, probably from a 

 single vessel (Figure 7.1) from pit 19. The sherds 

 had spalled, probably as the result of heat. The paste 

 (fabric EP 1 ) is very fine with no visible filler. One 

 fragmentary rim sherd and joining bodysherd show 

 the vessel to have been decorated on both the 

 interior and exterior surfaces with twisted-cord 

 impressions. The rim is internally concave. This type 

 of vessel and decoration is typical of Peterborough 

 style dating to the later Neolithic. 



Three other sherds were noted which also 

 appear to date to the earlier prehistoric period 

 although in all cases theses were redeposited in later 

 contexts. A single large coarse, calcined flint- 

 tempered sherd (fabric EP2), perhaps urn, was 

 redeposited in a ditch in Area 4. A small scrap of 

 sandy ware with flint-tempering (fabric EP3) came 

 from the fill of rut in the trackway and a small grog- 

 tempered sherd (fabric EP4) typical of early Bronze 

 Age technology came from an Area 1 pit. 



Ceramic phase 2: middle-late Iron Age 

 Most of the assemblage, some 703 sherds (78%), 

 is typical of the middle to later Iron Age of this 

 area. The group as a whole is remarkably 

 homogeneous both in terms of fabric and form. 

 Sandy fabrics (fabrics SI and S2) dominate the 

 group, the latter having a typical glauconitic paste 

 suggestive of a source from the local Lower 

 Greensand deposits. The vessels appear to mainly 

 comprise plain, burnished saucepan pots (Figure 

 7.2-3) or vessels developed from the saucepan-style 

 and slightly more ovoid jars (Figure 7.4-6) and 

 globular bowls (Figure 7.7). Only three saucepan 

 pots are decorated: a sherd from an Area 1 pit has 

 a tooled arc (Figure 7.3); whilst sherds from pits 

 88 and 98 have a burnished lattice design (Figure 

 7.2). A fine, shelly limestone fabric (LI) was also 

 used to make saucepan pots. 



Some sherds contain carbonised residue on the 

 internal surfaces or external sooting. Other sherds 

 had calcareous furring on the interior from 

 containing or heating water. 



The saucepan pots generally date the 

 assemblage to the middle or later Iron Age (400- 

 100 BC).The type is well known across theWessex 

 region with comparable examples from sites in 

 Wiltshire, typified by Cunliffe (1991, 81) as the 

 Yarnbury-Highfield style. Examples similar to those 

 at Devizes also occur further afield at Hengistbury 

 Head (Brown 1987, ill. 180) where the type appears 

 to continue into the later Iron Age period (Brown 

 1987,305). 



In addition to the pottery there were three 

 joining pieces of a perforated slab or vessel (Figure 

 7.9) from an Area 1 pit whose purpose or function 

 is unknown. The fabric is the same as that used for 

 the saucepan pots. 



Ceramic phase 3: Late Iron Age - early Roman 

 The presence of a number of handmade grog- 

 tempered sherds which show some broad 

 semblance to the later Savernake pottery (Annable 

 1961, 142-55), along with some bead-rimmed 

 vessels, suggest continued activity in the area in the 

 1st century AD. Early Roman pottery is represented 

 by grog-tempered sherds from the local Savernake 

 industry, again mainly bead-rimmed jars. Of 

 particular note is the presence of a single imported 

 South Gaulish samian dish (Drag form 15/17) of 

 pre-Flavian date. This sherd occurred in a ditch in 

 Area 4 alongside Savernake ware. Odd imported 

 wares noted at other 1st century sites in Wiltshire 

 such as Oare (Cunnington 1909; Swan 1975), 



