INVESTIGATION OF THE WHITESHEET DOWN ENVIRONS 1989-90 191 
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Fig. 18 Mollusc histogram from the Iron Age soil and colluvium at Whitesheet Quarry 
Although there are only 94 sherds in the 
collection, it is interesting to note that there are no 
Middle Iron Age saucepan pots, which date from 
the 3rd century BC to the pre-Conquest period. 
Therefore, the range of material represented spans 
the All Cannings Cross phase of the Early Iron Age 
through to the earlier part of the Middle Iron Age. 
ENVIRONMENTAL DATA 
A column of samples for snails was taken through 
the hillwash and buried soil to provide some 
environmental context, while bulk samples from 
pit 1215 were analysed for charred remains. 
Land snails from the buried soil 
by Michael Ff. Allen 
The buried soil (1225) displayed a dark humic silty 
Joam, an almost apedal bB horizon, and a silty light 
_ grey stone-free bA horizon with very little obvious 
evidence of any biotic activity. The overlying 
slopewash deposit was an amorphous, 
heterogeneous silty loam, suggesting rapid 
deposition of subsoil material. 
The molluscan assemblage (Figure 18) from the 
bB horizon was impoverished and almost 
exclusively contained slug plates of Limacidae/ 
Deroceras (Table 10). The bA horizon, however, 
produced a larger assemblage in which the 
dominant species were Pupilla muscorum and 
Vallonia excentrica, the latter being super-abundant. 
This type of assemblage is exemplified by Evans 
and Williams (1991, 122) Group 4: heavily grazed 
grassland with no scrub. 
Despite the highly calcareous nature of the 
deposit, and lack of large clasts, the hillwash 
contained surprisingly few shells. Nevertheless, 
two broad groups can be detected within the 
assemblage (Figure 18). The lower portion of the 
deposit was again dominated by Pupilla muscorum 
and Vallonia excentrica, but now accompanied by 
Trichia hispida and a range of other shade-loving 
species. This assemblage, although still typical of 
grassy swards, is more likely to result from slightly 
longer herbaceous vegetation or arable ploughwash 
contexts (Bell 1983). 
The upper part of the hillwash deposit 
produced a slightly different mollusc assemblage 
characterised by greater species diversity, an 
increase in shade-loving species and a major 
reduction in Pupilla numbers. A more shaded 
environment is indicated here, probably 
comprising taller herbaceous communities 
(ungrazed) and shrubs, that may represent the 
