192 THE WILTSHIRE ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND NATURAL HISTORY MAGAZINE 
Table 12. Whitesheet Quarry: Charred plant remains. 
Feature buried soil Pit 1215 
Context M225; 1216 1218 
Sample 1600 1603 1604 
Total volume (litres) 10 9 10 
Triticum cf dicoccum Schubl. 
Spikelet base - 1 - 
Glume bases 1 1 - 
Triticum cf spelta L. - - 2. 
Triticum dicoccum/spelta L. - i - 
Triticum sp. - 3 1 
Triticum sp./Secale cereale L. - 1 
Hordeum vulgare L. - 2 - 
Cerealia indet. 3+20f 3+25f 2+10f 
Chenopodium album L. 1 
Rumex sp. - - 
Corylus avellana L. (shell fragments) Z 
Galium cf aperine L. 1 
Bromus secalinus L. 2 2 
Unidentified seed: cf Compositae 1 
Cenococcum geophilum Fr. 9 
establishment of grassland succession communities 
on the immediate slope along with the retention of 
open grassland at the base. 
Plant remains 
by Pat Hinton 
In addition to small quantities of oak and ash 
charcoal from the buried soil and hazel, oak, and 
Pomoideae charcoal from pit 1215 (id. R. Gale), 
charred plant remains were recovered. Cereal 
grains were as poorly preserved as those from the 
causewayed enclosure. The wheat grains (Table 12) 
cannot be easily differentiated and the spikelet and 
glume bases which might be identifiable are also 
damaged. However, two with more rounded 
outlines and indications of veins on what remains 
of the body of the glumes are very likely to be 
Triticum Spelta (spelt), a grain resembling Secale 
cereale (rye) was found in pit 1215, and two grains of 
Hordeum vulgare (hulled barley) were identified, 
also from pit 1215. 
Nine sclerotia of Cenococcum geophilum (a 
fungus) found in the buried soil (1225) seemed to be 
charred and therefore contemporary with the 
deposit. Modern small, black sclerotia occur 
frequently amongst roots in more superficial soil 
samples but can be distinguished from ancient, 
charred sclerotia which are brittle and fracture in a 
characteristic fashion. 
With the exception of two fragments of hazel nut 
shell and an unidentified Compositiae seed, possibly 
of Matricaria sp., the remains included only cereals 
and arable weed seeds. A possible rye grain may have 
been present as a weed but, like the rye-brome 
(Bromus secalinus) which is often found with spelt, 
may well have been an accepted part of the harvest. 
The grains and weeds recovered from the site were 
probably bi-products of the treatment of crops but 
these were not necessarily grown in the immediate 
vicinity. A very minor component of hazelnuts only 
indicates that light woodland or scrub was available 
for exploitation at no great distance. 
DISCUSSION 
The pipeline appears to have intersected a small 
enclosed domestic settlement of Early-Middle Iron 
Age date located at the foot of Whitesheet Hill, 
while the presence of a single piece of ironworking 
slag suggests a potential industrial component. 
Sites of a similar date are known within this area, 
although most were excavated in the earlier part of 
the last century (eg. Clay 1924; 1925) or have not yet 
been fully published, for example Cow Down, 
Longbridge Deverill (Hawkes 1994). A site dating 
to the Middle Iron Age was found recently at Encie 
Farm, near Penselwood, only 10km_ from 
Whitesheet Hill (Newman and Morris 2001). 
