EXCAVATION OF SAXON PITS ATTIDWORTH, 1999 



247 



pastures measuring 12, 6, and 2 square furlongs 

 (VCH Wilts xv, 159). 



The date range for the pottery accords well with 

 the evidence from Cadley Road, Collingbourne 

 Ducis, c. 5 km up the Bourne valley, where sandy 

 and both organic- and chalk-tempered wares were 

 also present, associated with ten sunken-featured 

 buildings (SFBs) (Timby 200 1 ) . Radiocarbon dates 

 for the SFBs provide a date range of AD 430-990 

 (Pine 2001). That site also produced a range of 

 domestic items including bone pin beaters, combs 

 and pins, together with clay spindlewhorls, and 

 loomweights, hones and quernstones in various 

 types of rock and some metalworking debris. 



The animal bone, in particular that from Pit 

 310, has some interesting similarities with material 

 from Collingbourne Ducis (Hamilton-Dyer 2001). 

 The bone is in good condition and of a wide variety. 

 Sheep/goat is unusually dominant, cattle 

 numerically secondary, with pig very much a minor 

 component. The bias in favour of sheep could be 

 related to the local environment; the chalk slopes 

 are ideal for sheep pasture, but pigs and cattle could 

 also be easily accommodated in woods and pasture 

 along the Bourne. In terms of meat in the diet, beef 

 would probably have been at least as important as 

 sheep; although more numerous these are quite 

 small animals in comparison to cattle. However, 

 the few ageable sheep jaws are of prime meat 

 animals and compare favourably with 

 Collingbourne Ducis. 



Roe was clearly a frequently hunted animal in 

 this area, as the bones from Collingbourne Ducis 

 indicate, but why a single shed antler was discarded 

 into Pit 3 10 is less clear. The occurrence of a similar 

 find in Bedford may not be pure chance; they may 

 have been deliberately collected, perhaps for folk 

 medicine or other use that has left no mark, and 

 then discarded. 



The dog in Pit 319 lived to a good age. It was a 

 strong and robust animal that had suffered and 

 survived at least one, possibly two, traumatic injuries 

 during its life. It was clearly held in some regard - 

 whether as a hunting dog, a stock herding/guarding 

 animal, a fighting/baiting dog or simply as a pet - 

 being deliberately buried in one of the quarry pits 

 rather than left for scavengers. 



Overall, the excavation provides only a 

 fragmentary glimpse of what is presumably much 

 more extensive evidence for a Saxon farmstead or 

 settlement in Tidworth. The two small groups of 

 pits have together provided a small assemblage of 

 material that, although limited in range and 



quantity, indicates at least two episodes of activity 

 and adds significantly to a growing body of evidence 

 for the location and economic basis of early to 

 middle Saxon settlement in the Bourne Valley. 



ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS 



This report was compiled by Julie Gardiner, based 

 on field notes and a preliminary draft by David 

 Godden, with analysis of and contributions on the 

 pottery by Lorraine Mepham, the animal bone by 

 Sheila Hamilton-Dyer and the other artefacts by 

 Moira Laidlaw. The illustrations are by S.E. James 

 and Karen Nichols. Full reports on all the finds 

 and animal bone assemblages are held in the archive 

 that will, in due course, be deposited with the 

 appropriate museum. 



The fieldwork was commissioned by the 

 Defence Housing Executive (DHE) through the 

 Defence Estate Organisation (DEO). The 

 collaborative roles of the DEO Archaeologist, Ian 

 Barnes, and the Wiltshire County Archaeological 

 Service, particularly Duncan Coe, are gratefully 

 acknowledged. We also thank Steve Ford ofThames 

 Valley Archaeological Services for providing us with 

 a copy of the draft paper on Cadley Road, 

 Collingbourne Ducis. The fieldwork was supervised 

 by David Godden with additional test pitting by 

 Julie Lovell and James Wright. The project was 

 managed on behalf of Wessex Archaeology by 

 Roland J C. Smith and Mick Rawlings. 



Bibliography 



CUNLIFFE, B.W., 1993, Wessex to AD 1000, Harlow: 



Longman 

 EAGLES, B., 1994, 'The archaeological evidence for 



settlement in the fifth to seventh centuries AD', in 



M. Aston and C. Lewis (eds), The Medieval 



Landscape of Wessex, 13-32. Oxford: Oxbow Books 

 HAMILTON-DYER, S., 2001, 'Animal Bone', in J. Pine, 



'The excavation of a Saxon settlement at Cadley 



Road, Collingbourne Ducis,Wiltshire', WANHM 94, 



88-117 

 HASLAM, J., 1980, 'A Middle Saxon smelting site at 



Ramsbury, Wiltshire', Medieval Archaeology 24, 1- 



68 

 HINTON, DA., 1994, 'The archaeology of eighth- to 



eleventh-century Wessex', in M. Aston and C. Lewis 



(eds), The Medieval Landscape of Wessex, 33-46. 



Oxford, Oxbow Books 

 JOPE, E.M., 1972, 'Pre-conquest pottery', in C.A. Ralegh 



Radford, 'Excavations at Cricklade: 1948-1963', 



