EXCAVATION OF SAXON PITS ATTIDWORTH, 1999 



245 



£>■ 



.-=-*.* 



<2ZE5 



© 



20mm 



No. 2 only: 

 Fig. 3. Artefacts 



another pit, 208, the upper part of which had been 

 removed by house foundations. Its fill of mid-brown 

 clay loam contained two further limestone/chalk- 

 tempered Saxon sherds and two small chalk- 

 tempered sherds. The latter fabric (E441) is 

 comparable to examples known across west 

 Berkshire and north-east Wiltshire from at least the 

 early 11th century (Vince 1997, fabric group B; 

 Mepham 2000a). Part of the side-plate from a 

 composite bone comb was also recovered from this 

 pit, together with some undiagnostic fragments of 

 ceramic building material, 67 fragments of animal 

 bone, burnt flint, and 14 fragments of stone 

 including a tiny fragment of slate, one of greensand 



50mm 



with one worked surface, and two joining fragments 

 of oolitic limestone which appear to derive from an 

 object with a circular perforation or depression, 

 possibly a quern fragment. 



The only other datable finds were two sherds 

 of flint-tempered pottery (E442), dating from the 

 1 lth century or later (Vince 1997, fabric group A; 

 Mepham 2000a), from a further small pit (109) in 

 Block 1; a sherd of Laverstock-type fineware (E421) 

 and one coarse sandy ware of unknown source 

 (Q401), both of 13th- 14th century date and six 

 sherds of post-medieval (17th- 18th century) pottery 

 from layer 106, also in Block 1. 



