Hostname: page-component-848d4c4894-75dct Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-06-09T17:52:11.191Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

A Mirror Burial at Dorton, Buckinghamshire

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  23 May 2014

Michael Farley*
Affiliation:
Buckinghamshire County Museum, Aylesbury, Bucks

Abstract

The excavation of a ‘Welwyn-type’ burial exposed during pipe-laying is described. The cremation, accompanied by a decorated mirror, was contained within a wooden box. Other grave goods included amphorae, flagons, a cup and an iron ring with associated timber. The grave is the most westerly of its type. It is suggested that the combination of grave goods indicates a synthesis between two elements in late Iron Age society, and a BC date for the burial is proposed. Specialist reports include a study of the decorative technique used on the mirror and of its composition, also of the ceramic, soils and bone, with appendices on conservation and on a possible amphora burial from Aston Clinton.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © The Prehistoric Society 1983

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Allen, J. Romilly, 1904. Celtic Art in Pagan Times.Google Scholar
Birchall, A., 1965. ‘The Aylesford-Swarling culture: the problem of the Belgae reconsidered’, Proc. Prehist. Soc. 31, 211367.Google Scholar
Bushe-Fox, J. P., 1926. First report on the excavation of the Roman fort at Richborough, Kent, Soc. Ants. Lond. Res. Reps. VI.Google Scholar
Cabotse, J. and Périchon, R., 1959. ‘Les fouilles de Joseph Décheletteau MontBeuvray, en 1907’, Ogam 11, 11172.Google Scholar
Coles, J. M., Heal, S. V. E. and Orme, B. J., 1978. ‘The use and character of wood in prehistoric Britain and Ireland’, Proc. Prehist. Soc. 44, 145.Google Scholar
Déchellete, J., 1914. Manuel d'Archéologie, Vol. 11, Part III.Google Scholar
SirDryden, Henry, 1845. ‘Roman and Romano-British Remains at and near Shefford, Co. Beds.’, Trans. Camb. Antiq. Soc. Google Scholar
Evans, A. J. 1890. ‘On a Late Celtic Urnfield at Aylesford, Kent’, Archaeologia 52, 315–88.Google Scholar
Farrar, R. A. H., 1954. ‘Archaeological fieldwork in Dorset 1953–54’, Proc. Dorset Nat. Hist. and Arch. Soc. 76, 9094.Google Scholar
Fox, A. and Pollard, S., 1973. ‘A decorated bronze mirror from an Iron Age settlement at Holcombe, near Uplyme, Devon’, Antiq. J. 53, 1641.Google Scholar
Fox, Cyril, 1923. Archaeology of the Cambridge Region.Google Scholar
SirFox, Cyril, 1958. Pattern and Purpose.Google Scholar
SirFox, Cyril, 1960. ‘A Celtic mirror from Great Chesterford’, Antiquity 34, 207–10.Google Scholar
Fox, Cyril and Hull, M. R., 1948. ‘The incised ornament on the Celtic mirror from Colchester, Essex’, Antiq. J. 28, 123–37.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Freestone, I. C., 1982. ‘Applications and potential of electron probe microanalysis in technological and provenance investigations of ancient ceramics’, Archaeometry 24, 99116.Google Scholar
Freudenberg, J., 1873. ‘Miscellen (7)’, Bonner Jahrbücher 53, 299300.Google Scholar
Gejvall, N. G., 1969. ‘Cremations’, Brothwell, D. R. and Higgs, E. (eds), in Science in Archaeology, 468–79.Google Scholar
Hawkes, C. F. C., and Hull, M. R., 1947. Camulodunum, Soc. Ants. Lond. Res. Reps. 14.Google Scholar
Hawkes, C. F. C., 1980. ‘From Caesar, and the century before him, to the Essex of Claudius’, Buckley, D. G. (ed.), Archaeology in Essex to A.D. 1500, CBA Res. Report 34, 5557.Google Scholar
Holmes, J. and Frend, W. H. C., 1957. ‘A Belgic chieftain's grave on Hertford Heath’, Trans. East Herts. Arch. Soc. 14, 119.Google Scholar
Hughes, M. J., Cowell, M. R. and Craddock, P. J., 1976. ‘Atomic Absorption techniques in Archaeology’, Archaeometry 18, 1937.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Johnson, A. E., 1975. ‘Excavations at Bourton Grounds, Thornborough, 1972–73’, Recs. Bucks. 20/1, 356.Google Scholar
Knocker, G. M., 1965. ‘Excavations in Collyweston Great Wood, Northamptonshire’, Archaeol J. 122, 5272.Google Scholar
Lloyd-Morgan, G., 1978. ‘The analyses of two Roman mirrors from Nijmegen’, J. Historical Metallurgy Soc. 12 (2), 107.Google Scholar
Lloyd-Morgan, G., 1981. ‘Roman Mirrors and the Third Century’, King, A. and Henig, M. (eds), in The Roman West in the Third Century.Google Scholar
Lowery, P. R., Savage, R. D. A. and Wilkins, R. L., 1976. ‘A Technical Study of the Designs on the British Mirror Series’, Archaeologia 105, 99126.Google Scholar
Lowery, P. R., Savage, R. D. A. and Wilkins, R. L., 1982. ‘The Technique of the Decoration on the Aston Mirror’, in Rook, T. et al. , ‘An Iron Age bronze mirror from Aston, Hertfordshire, Antiq. J. 62, 1834.Google Scholar
Macgregor, M., 1976. Early Celtic Art in North Britain.Google Scholar
Madsen, B. H., 1967. ‘A Preliminary Note on the use of Benzotriazole for Stabilizing Bronze Objects’, Studies in Conservation 12, 4, 163–66.Google Scholar
Mayer, J-A. and Hager, G., 1892. Die vorgeschichtlichen Römischen und Merovingischen Alterthümer des Bayerischen Nationalmuseums.Google Scholar
Panseri, C. and Leoni, M., 1957. ‘The Manufacturing Techniques of Etruscan Mirrors’, Studies in Conservation 3, 49763.Google Scholar
Partridge, C., 1981. Skeleton Green, Britannia Monograph 2.Google Scholar
Peacock, D. P. S., 1971. ‘Roman amphorae in pre-Roman Britain’, in Jesson, M. and Hill, D. (eds), The Iron Age and its Hillforts, 161–88.Google Scholar
Peacock, D. P. S., 1977. ‘Roman amphorae: typology, fabric and origins’, Coll. Ecole Française de Rome 32, 261–78.Google Scholar
Périchon, R. and Cabotse, J., 1966. ‘Céramique de Roanne’, Gallia 24, 2976.Google Scholar
Rodwell, W., 1978. ‘Rivenhall and the emergence of first century villas in northern Essex’ in Todd, M. (ed.), Studies in the Romano-British Villa, 1132.Google Scholar
Rook, T., Lowery, P. R., Savage, R. D. A. and Wilkins, R. L., 1982. ‘An Iron Age bronze mirror from Aston, Hertfordshire’, Antiq. J. 62, 1834.Google Scholar
Shaw, M., 1979. ‘Romano-British pottery kilns on Camp Hill, Northampton’, Northants. Archaeol. 14, 1730.Google Scholar
Smith, Charles Roach, 1852. ‘Roman Remains found at Mount Bures near Colchester’, Collectanea Antiqua 2, 2536.Google Scholar
Smith, R. A., 1912. ‘On Late Celtic Antiquities discovered at Welwyn, Herts’, Archaeologia 63, 130.Google Scholar
Spratling, M. G., 1970. ‘The Late Pre-Roman Iron Age bronze mirror from Old Warden’, Beds. Archaeol. J. 5, 916.Google Scholar
Spratling, M. G., 1979. ‘The debris of metal-working’ in Wainwright, G.J., Gussage All Saints, Dept. of Environment Archaeol. Rept. 10.Google Scholar
Stead, I. M., 1967. ‘A La Tène III burial at Welwyn Garden City’, Archaeologia 101, 162.Google Scholar
Stead, I. M., 1968. ‘A La Tène III burial at The Tene, Baldock, Herts’, Antiq. J. 48, 306.Google Scholar
Stead, I. M., 1971. ‘The reconstruction of Iron Age buckets from Aylesford and Baldock’, in Sieveking, G. de G. (ed.), Prehistoric and Roman Studies, 250–82.Google Scholar
Stead, I. M. 1976. ‘The earliest burials of the Aylesford culture’ in Sieveking, G. de G., Longworth, I. H. and Wilson, K. E. (eds), Problems in Economic and Social Archaeology, 401–15.Google Scholar
Stead, I. M., 1979. The Arras Culture.Google Scholar
Tchernia, A. and Zevi, F., 1972. ‘Amaphores vinaires de Campanie et de Tarraconaise à Ostie’, Coll. Ecole Française de Rome 10, 3567.Google Scholar
Thompson, I., 1982. Grog-tempered ‘Belgic’ pottery of south-eastern England. BAR Brit. Ser. 108.Google Scholar
Vouga, P., 1923. La Tine.Google Scholar
Waugh, H., Mynard, D. C., and Cain, R., 1974. ‘Some Iron Age pottery from mid and north Bucks with a gazetteer of associated sites and finds’, Recs. Bucks. 19/4, 373421.Google Scholar
Weller, S. G. P., 1974. ‘A late fourth century cremation from Billericay, Essex’, Antiq. J. 54, 282–83.Google Scholar
Wells, C., 1960. ‘A Study of Cremation’, Antiquity 34, 2937.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wheeler, R. E. M. and Wheeler, T. V., 1936. Verulamium: a Belgic and two Roman cities, Soc. Ants. Lond. Res. Reps. 11.Google Scholar
Whimster, R., 1977. ‘Iron Age Burial in southern Britain’, Proc. Prehist. Soc. 43, 329–48.Google Scholar
Whimster, R., 1981. Burial Practices in Iron Age Britain, BAR (Brit.) 90.Google Scholar
Williams, J. H., 1974. Two Iron Age sites in Northampton.Google Scholar
Woods, P.J., 1969. Excavations at Hardingstone, Northants., 1967–68.Google Scholar