246 THE WILTSHIRE ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND NATURAL HISTORY MAGAZINE 



Table 2: The analysed animal bones 



Feature Con- horse cattle sheep/ pig roe 



310 311 1 



310 312 1 



314 315 - 

 314 316 1 



319 320 - 

 319 5603- 



323 324 - 



402 403 - 

 402 404 - 

 402 405 - 



Total 3 

 percent 



29 

 5 



46 



3 

 44 



goat 



64 11 

 17.3 24.1 



1 

 4.1 



33 

 0.4 



cattle- 



sheep- dog 



fowl 



goose 



bird 



amph- 



Total 



size 



size 







frags 



ibian 





60 



1 



8 



2 



15 



2 



4 

 197 



2 



- 



_ 



_ 



_ 



. 



15 



4 



- 



- 



- 



- 



- 



21 



5 



1 (118) 



- 



- 



- 



6 



13 



- 



- 



- 



- 



- 



- 



2 



73 

 12.4 



2 (119) 8 

 27.4 0.8 



15 

 0.8 



5.6 



% cattle, sheep, pig 38 52. 9 9. 1 



(numbers in brackets refer to total number of fragments which comprise one individual dog) 



2 

 3 



2 



266 

 3 



(130) 



(383) 



121 



AREA 2 



The only certain archaeological feature recorded 

 in Area 2 was a ditch (402) running north-west to 

 south-east in the central part of Block 4, of which a 

 4m long section was excavated. This ditch was 2.7m 

 wide and 1.2m deep with a steep, V-shaped profile. 

 The brown clay loam fills contained 1 5 undiagnostic 

 struck flints, fragments of burnt flint and seven 

 fragments of animal bone. All of the bone was from 

 domestic species and included a distal humerus 

 fragment from a neonatal calf with dog gnaw marks. 

 No further Bronze Age pottery was recovered from 

 this area. 



DISCUSSION 



These two groups of Saxon pits are the first 

 recorded from Tidworth. The original function of 

 the pits is unclear though it is likely that, with the 

 possible exception of pit 3 1 9, they were simple chalk 

 quarries, the chalk most probably being used for 

 building purposes. Although no settlement 

 structures were recorded during the excavation the 

 material incorporated into the pits is clearly of 

 domestic origin including small quantities of 

 pottery, stone, metalworking debris, butchered and 

 fragmentary animal bone and some small metal and 



stone objects. Much of the bone appears to represent 

 butchery waste deliberately dumped into the pits 

 and quickly covered over. 



The position of early-middle Saxon rural sites 

 in river valleys in Wessex is well known (see, for 

 instance Eagles 1994, 14-15, fig. 1.1; Hinton 1994; 

 Cunliffe 1993, chapter 9) and early Saxon sites in 

 the Bourne Valley are recorded at Collingbourne 

 Ducis (settlement and cemetery: Pine 2001) and 

 Winterbourne Gunner (cemetery: Musty and 

 Stratton 1964) with further finds around 

 Collingbourne Kingston (Eagles 1994) and a pagan 

 Saxon burial reported from Perham Down to the 

 east of Tidworth (VCH Wilts xv, 155). 



The pottery evidence suggests that the 

 settlement or farmstead from which this material 

 derived persisted over several generations. Clearly 

 at least two episodes of pit-digging are evident. The 

 western group of pits, together with pit 329 in the 

 eastern group, contained exclusively organic- 

 tempered sherds of probable 5th-8th century date, 

 while the remaining pits in the eastern group 

 contained only limestone/chalk-tempered wares 

 which would suit an 8th- 10th century date. That 

 the area was settled and farmed in the 1 1 th century 

 at least can be deduced from the fact that a large 

 estate called Tidworth is recorded as having been 

 fragmented in 1066 (VCH Hants iv, 391; VCH Wilts 

 xv, 153). By Domesday North Tidworth had land 

 for 6V2 ploughteams with 6 3 A hides in demesne and 



