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THE WILTSHIRE ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND NATURAL HISTORY MAGAZINE 



Danebury (Sellwood 1984, 346-349). Curved 

 blades are found in numerous shapes and sizes 

 which suggest a variety of functions. The relatively 

 shallow curve of the blade might suggest that it was 

 double-edged, although it was not possible to verify 

 this from the surviving fragments. Such blades were 

 interpreted at Danebury as reaping hooks although 

 the small size of the tool casts doubt on its use as a 

 scythe. It is possible that it was used to strip twigs 

 and foliage from poles during the manufacture of 

 wattle or for preparing fodder (Sellwood 1984, 349). 

 The fragmentary head of a small pick with a 

 chisel blade (sf 20, Figure 8.2) was found in an 

 Iron Age pit (224 - fill of 223, not illustrated) in 

 Area 1. The blade is rectangular, 30mm wide 

 throughout its length. The end is slightly curled over, 

 possibly through use. The socket of the tool is 

 fragmentary but the socket appears to be 

 rectangular or oval in section. The x-radiography 

 shows the beginnings of another point on the other 

 side of the socket, suggesting it was a double- 

 pointed tool that would probably have been used 

 in stone working, although it is possible that it was 

 used for woodworking. The pick is most similar in 

 size and shape to the double-pointed type 2 pick 

 found at Hod Hill, Dorset, which had a chisel at 

 one end and a spike-blade on the other (Manning 

 1989, 30, fig. 6, no. 2). The chisel end is a similar 

 size to the fragment from Devizes. 



The Roman objects 



Five Roman objects were recovered, three from 

 Roman deposits, and two from Anglo-Saxon 

 contexts. Three items probably relate to Roman 

 footwear and were found in Roman contexts. 

 Deposits filling the hollowed trackway produced a 

 hobnail fragment and two fragmentary strips with 

 turned-up ends which were probably cleats used 

 on the soles or heels of boots. One cleat is formed 

 from a rectangular strip (Manning 1989, pi. 61, 59) 

 and the other is smaller and leaf-shaped (Manning 



1989, pi. 61, no. 58). Both appear too small to have 

 been used to hold wood together. However, the 

 condition of both is poor. 



The two residual Roman items include aValens 

 coin (sf 18, from Anglo-Saxon pit 134) which was 

 probably minted in Trier and dated from 364-378 

 AD. The other object (sf 19, Figure 8.3) is a near- 

 complete catapult bolt-head that probably dates 

 from the mid- 1st century and was also found in pit 

 134. The shape of the object is typical with a 

 pyramidal head and a conical socket, which was 

 broken. The length of the bolt-head at 71mm is 

 also typical and the diameter of the socket (10mm) 

 is standard. Similar bolt-heads were classified as 

 type 1 at Hod Hill, Dorset, and were dated to the 

 mid- 1st century (Manning 1989, pi. 78, VI 85). 



Conclusion 



The Iron Age tools are both rare from Iron Age 

 contexts, and the pick head in particular is an 

 unusual find. Both objects hint at activities at the 

 site during this period, such as preparing materials 

 for the construction of houses or fences, and a pick 

 for working stone or wood for structures or for tools. 

 Post-Iron Age presence in the area is signalled by 

 an early Roman catapult bolt-head and Roman 

 footwear components and continues with the find 

 of a late 4th-century coin in an Anglo-Saxon 

 deposit. 



ENVIRONMENTAL 

 EVIDENCE 



Animal bone 



by Bethan Charles 



1151 fragments of bone were retrieved by hand from 

 the site (Table 5), of which only 21% could be 

 identified to species due to the poor and fragmentary 



Table 5: Number of hand-collected bone by species and period. 



PERIOD 



HORSE 



CATTLE 



SHEEP 



PIG 



DOG 



CAT 



UN 



3rd- IstBC 



6 



53 



91 



10 



1 







629 



LIA/ER 



























1 



Roman 







10 



4 















19 



Saxon 







21 



3 



2 







1 



135 



Medieval 







3 



















12 



Post Medieval 







15 



















44 



Undated 



4 



7 



8 



1 











71 



Total 



10 



109 



106 



13 



1 



1 



911 



UNIDENTIFIED 



