Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-xbtfd Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-17T05:03:04.720Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Bogs, Bodies and Burnt Mounds: Visits to the Soar Wetlands in the Neolithic and Bronze Age

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  04 March 2013

Susan Ripper ,
Matthew Beamish ,
A. Bayliss ,
C. Bronk Ramsey ,
A. Brown ,
M. Collins ,
N. J. Cooper ,
G. Cook ,
J. Cook  and
A. Gouldwell
...Show all authors
Susan Ripper
Affiliation:
University of Leicester Archaeological Services, School of Archaeology and Ancient History, University of Leicester, University Road, Leicester, LE1 7RH
Matthew Beamish
Affiliation:
University of Leicester Archaeological Services, School of Archaeology and Ancient History, University of Leicester, University Road, Leicester, LE1 7RH
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

The recording and analysis of a burnt mound and adjacent palaeochannel deposits on the floodplain of the River Soar in Leicestershire revealed that the burnt mound was in use, possibly for a number of different purposes, at the transition from the Neolithic to the Bronze Age. An extensive radiocarbon dating programme indicated that the site was revisited. Human remains from the palaeochannel comprised the remains of three individuals, two of whom pre-dated the burnt mound by several centuries while the partial remains of a third, dating from the Late Bronze Age, provided evidence that this individual had met a violent death. These finds, along with animal bones dating to the Iron Age, and the remains of a bridge from the early medieval period, suggest that people were drawn to this location over a long period of time.

Type
Research Article
Information
Proceedings of the Prehistoric Society , Volume 78 , 2012 , pp. 173 - 206
Copyright
Copyright © The Prehistoric Society 2012

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

Aerts-Bijma, A.T., Meijer, H.A.J., & Plicht, J. van der. 1997. AMS sample handling in Groningen. Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research B 123, 221–5CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Aerts-Bijma, A.T., Plicht, J. van der & Meijer, H.A.J. 2001. Automatic AMS sample combustion and CO2 collection. Radiocarbon 43(2A), 293–8CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Andrews, P. & Cook, J. 1985. Natural modifications to bones in a temperate setting. Man 20, 675–91CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Anthony, I.M.C., Sanderson, D.C.W., Cook, G.T., Abernethy, D. & Housley, R.A. 2001. Dating a burnt mound from Kilmartin, Argyll, Scotland. Quaternary Science Reviews 20, 921–5CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Apling, H. 1931. Bronze Age settlements in Norfolk. Proceedings of the Prehistoric Society of East Anglia 6, 365–70CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Arch Search. 2012. http://ads.ahds.ac.uk/catalogue/search/boolean.cfm (accessed 10.08.12) York: Archaeological Data Service (distributor)Google Scholar
Barfield, L. & Hodder, M. 1987. Burnt mounds as saunas, and the prehistory of bathing. Antiquity 61, 370–9CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bayliss, A., Bronk Ramsey, C., Cook, G. & Plicht, J. van der. 2007a. Radiocarbon Dates from Samples Funded by English Heritage Under the Aggregates Levy Sustainability Fund 2002–4. Swindon: English HeritageGoogle Scholar
Bayliss, A., Bronk Ramsey, C., Plicht, J. van der & Whittle, A. 2007b. Bradshaw and Bayes: towards a timetable for the Neolithic. Cambridge Archaeological Journal 17(1), Supplement, 1–28CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bayliss, A. 2009. Rolling out revolution: using radiocarbon dating in archaeology. Radiocarbon 51, 123–47CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Beamish, M. 1998. A Middle Iron Age site at Wanlip, Leicestershire. Transactions of the Leicestershire Archaeological & Historical Society 72, 1–91Google Scholar
Beamish, M. 2003. Syston, Fosse Way (SK 618 127). Transactions of the Leicestershire Archaeological & Historical Society 77, 147–8Google Scholar
Beamish, M. 2005. Bronze Age Settlement at Ridlington, Rutland. Transactions of the Leicestershire Archaeological & Historical Society 79, 1–26Google Scholar
Beamish, M. 2009. Island visits: Neolithic and Bronze Age activity on the Trent Valley floor. Excavations at Egginton and Willington, Derbyshire, 1998–1999. Derbyshire Archaeological Journal 129, 17–172Google Scholar
Beamish, M. & Clarke, S. 2008. Rearsby Bypass Road Scheme, Leicestershire. Transactions of the Leicestershire Archaeological & Historical Society 82, 286–9Google Scholar
Bell, L.S., Skinner, M.F. & Jones, S.J. 1996. The speed of post mortem change to the human skeleton and its taphonomic significance. Forensic Science International 82(2), 129–40CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Boaretto, E., Bryant, C., Carmi, I., Cook, G., Gulliksen, S., Harkness, D., Heinemeier, J., McClure, J., McGee, E., Naysmith, P., Possnert, G., Scott, M., Plicht, J. van der & Strydonck, M. van 2002. Summary findings of the fourth international radiocarbon intercomparison (FIRI) (1998–2001). Journal of Quaternary Science 17, 633–7CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bradley, R. 2007. The Prehistory of Britain and Ireland. Cambridge: University PressCrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bradley, R. & Gordon, K. 1988. Human skulls from the River Thames, their dating and significance. Antiquity 62, 503–9CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bronk Ramsey, C. 1995. Radiocarbon calibration and analysis of stratigraphy: The OxCal Program. Radiocarbon 37, 425–30CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bronk Ramsey, C. 1998. Probability and dating. Radiocarbon 40, 461–74CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bronk Ramsey, C. 2000. Comment on ‘The use of Bayesian statistics for 14C dates of chronologically ordered samples: a critical analysis’. Radiocarbon 42(2), 199–202CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bronk Ramsey, C. 2001. Development of the radiocarbon calibration program OxCal. Radiocarbon 43, 355–63CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bronk Ramsey, C., Pettitt, P.B., Hedges, R.E.M., Hodgins, G.W.L. & Owen, D. C. 2000. Radiocarbon dates from the Oxford AMS system: Archaeometry datelist 30. Archaeometry 42, 259–79Google Scholar
Brown, A.J. & Hatton, J. 2010. Pollen Analysis of Palaeochannel Sediments. In Ripper, S., Watermead Country Park, Leicestershire [data-set]. York: Archaeology Data Service [distributor] (doi:10.5284/1000126)Google Scholar
Browning, J. 2008. The Environmental evidence: Animal bone. In Thomas, J. (ed.), 101Google Scholar
Buck, C. E., Cavanagh, W. G. & Litton, C. D. 1996. Bayesian Approaches to Interpreting Archaeological Data. Chichester, Wiley and SonsGoogle Scholar
Buckley, V. (ed.) 1990. Burnt Offerings. International Contributions to Burnt Mound Archaeology. Dublin: Wordwell LtdGoogle Scholar
Buckley, V. 1990. Experiments using a reconstructed fulacht with a variety of rock types: implications for the petromorphology of fulacht fiadh. In Buckley, V. (ed.), 170–74Google Scholar
Cantrill, T. C. 1913. Stone boiling in the British Isles. Report of the British Association for the Advancement of Science, (1913), 647–49Google Scholar
Cater, D. 2006. Ashby Folville to Thurcaston natural gas pipeline, Transactions of the Leicestershire Archaeological and Historical Society, 80, 225–28Google Scholar
Clark, R. 1995. Pontylue Farm, Syston: an archaeological evaluation, Transactions of the Leicestershire Archaeological and Historical Society, 69, 128–29Google Scholar
Clay, P. 2006. ‘The Neolithic and Early to Middle Bronze Age’. In Cooper, N. (ed.) ‘The Archaeology of the East Midlands: an Archaeological Resource Assessment and Research Agenda’ Leicester Archaeology Monograph 13Google Scholar
Coles, J. 1979. Experimental Archaeology. London: Academic PressGoogle Scholar
Collins, M. J., Nielsen-Marsh, C. M., Hillar, J., Smith, C. I., Roberts, J. P., Prigodich, R. V., Wess, T. J., Csapo, J., Millard, A. & Turner-Walker, G. 2002. The survival of organic matter in bone: a review. Archaeometry 44, 383–94CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Collins, M. J. 2010. Mercury Intrusion Porosimetry Analysis of human bone. In Ripper, 2010Google Scholar
Cook, J. 1986. The application of scanning electron microscopy to taphonomic and archaeological problems. In Roe, D.A. (ed.), Studies in the Upper Palaeolithic of Britain and Northwest Europe, 143–63. Oxford: British Archaeological Report S296Google Scholar
Cook, J. 1991. Marked human bones from the 1986–1987 excavations at Gough's cave, Somerset, England. In Barton, N., Roberts, A.J. & Roe, D.A. (eds) The Late Glacial in North-west Europe, 160–68. York: Council for British Archaeology Research Report 71Google Scholar
Cooper, L. & Hunt, L. 2005. An engraved Neolithic plaque with Grooved ware associations. Past 50, 10Google Scholar
Coward, J. & Ripper, S. 1999. Castle Donington, Willow Farm. Transactions of the Leicestershire Archaeological & Historical Society 73, 87–91Google Scholar
Crowson, A. 2004. Hot Rocks in the Norfolk Fens: the excavation of a burnt mound at Northwold, 1994–5. Gressenhall: East Anglian Archaeology Occasional Paper 16Google Scholar
Crowson, A. & Bayliss, A. 1999. Dating a burnt mound and its beakers at Northwold, Norfolk. In Evin, J., Oberlin, C., Daugas, J.P. & Salles, J.F. (eds) Actes du 3ème congrès international ‘Archéologie et 14C' Lyon 1998, 243–248. Lyon: Revue d'Archéometrie Supplement 1999/Société Préhistoire Française Mémoire 26Google Scholar
Darvill, T. 1988. Monuments Protection Programme, Monument Class Descriptions: Burnt Mounds (revision). Available from http://www.engh.gov.uk/mpp/mcd/bm.htm [accessed 3.4.2012]Google Scholar
Darvill, T. 2002. The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Archaeology. Oxford: University PressGoogle Scholar
Elliot, L. & Knight, D. 1998. A burnt mound at Holme Dyke, Gonalston, Nottinghamshire. Transactions of the Thoroton Society of Nottingham 102, 15–21Google Scholar
English Heritage. 1999. NMR Monuments Thesuarus. Available from: http://thesaurus.english-heritage.org.uk/thesaurus.asp?thes_no=1 [accessed 3.4.2012].Google Scholar
English Heritage. 2007. National Monuments Record. Available from: http://pastscape.english-heritage.org.uk/TextPage.aspx [accessed 9.3.2010]Google Scholar
Evans, J.G. & Simpson, D.D.A. 1991. Giant's Hill 2 Long Barrow, Skendleby, Lincolnshire. Archaeologia 109, 1–45CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Finn, N. 2011. Bronze Age Ceremonial Enclosures and Cremation Cemetery at Eye Kettleby, Leicestershire. Leicester: Leicester Archaeology Monograph 20Google Scholar
Garton, D. 1993. A burnt mound at Waycar Pasture near Girton. Transactions of the Thoroton Society of Nottingham 97, 148–9Google Scholar
Garton, D., Howard, A. & Pearce, M. 1997. Archaeological investigations at Langford Quarry, Nottinghamshire 1995–6. Tarmac Papers 1, 29–40Google Scholar
Greenwood, M. & Smith, D.N. 2005. A survey of Coleoptera from sedimentary deposits from the Trent Valley. In Brickley, M.B. & Smith, D.N. (eds), Fertile Ground: papers in honour of Professor Susan Limbrey, 53–67. Oxford: Oxbow Books/Association of Environmental Archaeologists Symposium 22Google Scholar
Greig, J. 2010. Plant macrofossils. In Ripper, 2010Google Scholar
Gouldwell, A.J. 2010. Animal bone. In Ripper, 2010Google Scholar
Hansen, M. 1987. The Hydrophilidae (Coleoptera) of Fennoscandia and Denmark Fauna. Leiden: Fauna Entomologyca Scandinavica 18CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hedges, R.E.M., Law, I.A., Bronk, C.R. & Housley, R.A. 1989. The Oxford accelerator mass spectrometry facility: technical developments in routine dating. Archaeometry 31(2), 99–113CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Heseltine, A. 1982. Baskets and Basket Making. Aylesbury: ShireGoogle Scholar
Hodder, M. 1990. Burnt mounds in the English West Midlands. In Buckley, (ed.) 1990, 106–11Google Scholar
Hughes, E.G. & Roseff, R. 1996. Excavations at Croft Quarry. Transactions of the Leicestershire Archaeological & Historical Society 68, 100–8Google Scholar
Jans, M.M.E., Nielsen-Marsh, C.M., Smith, C.I., Collins, M.J. & Kars., H. 2004. Characterisation of microbial attack on archaeological bone. Journal of Archaeological Science 31, 87–95CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jeffrey, P. 1991. Burnt mounds, fulling and early textiles. In Hodder, M. & Barfield, L. (eds) Burnt Mounds and Hot Stone Technology. Papers from the Second International Burnt Mound conference, Sandwell, 12th–14th October 1990. Sandwell: Sandwell Metropolitan Borough Council, 97–108Google Scholar
Jones, G. 2000. Evaluating the importance of cultivation and collecting in Neolithic Britain. In Fairbairn, A.S. (ed.), Plants in Neolithic Britain and Beyond, 79–84. Oxford: Oxbow Books/Neolithic Studies Group Seminar Papers 5CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kenward, H.K. & Hall, A.R. 1995. Biological Evidence from Anglo-Scandinavian Deposits at 16–22 Coppergate. London: Council for British Archaeology/Archaeology of York Fascicule 14.7Google Scholar
Kitchen, E. 2008. The use of insect remains to determine the nature of activity taking place upon a prehistoric burnt mound, located in Waycar Pasture, Girton. Unpublished BA thesis, University of BirminghamGoogle Scholar
Loveday, R. 2000. Aston Cursus, Derbyshire. Current Archaeology 167, 438–9Google Scholar
Loveday, R. 2012. Preservation and the pit problem – some examples from the Middle Trent Valley. In H. Anderson-Whymark, and Thomas, J. (eds), Regional Perspectives on Neolithic Pit Deposition: beyond the mundane, 100–11. Oxford: Oxbow Books/Neolithic Studies Group Seminar Papers 12Google Scholar
Martin, E. 1988. Swales Gen, Suffolk: a Bronze Age cooking pit? Antiquity 62, 358–9CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Marshall, P., Hamilton, W.D., Plicht, J. van der, Bronk Ramsay, C., Cook, G. & Goslar, T. 2009. Scientific dating. In Beamish, 2009, 62–81.Google Scholar
Maynard, D. 1993. Burnt Mounds around a pipeline in Dumfries and Galloway. Transactions of Dumfriesshire Galloway Natural History & Antiquities Society 68, 33–52Google Scholar
Meadows, J., Monkton, A., Ripper, S., Bayliss, A., Bronk Ramsey, C., Cook, G., Plicht, J. van der 2010. Radiocarbon dating. In Ripper, 2010Google Scholar
Meek, J. 1998. Syston, Melton Road. Transactions of the Leicestershire Archaeological & Historical Society 72, 184Google Scholar
Molleson, T. 1991. Cuts on human bones produced by metal implements. Anthropologie 29(3), 199–204Google Scholar
Monckton, A. 2000. Charred plant remains from site V. In Hughes, G., The Lockington Gold Hoard: An Early Bronze Age Barrow Cemetery at Lockington, Leicestershire, 78–81. Oxford: Oxbow BooksGoogle Scholar
Monckton, A. 2006. Environmental archaeology in the East Midlands. In Cooper, N. (ed.), The Archaeology of the East Midlands: an archaeological resource assessment and research agenda. Leicester: Leicester Archaeology Monograph 13Google Scholar
Monckton, A. 2010. Charred plant remains. In Ripper, 2010Google Scholar
Morgan, G. 2010. Charcoal. In Ripper, 2010Google Scholar
Moore, H. & Wilson, G. 1999. Food for thought: a survey of burnt mounds of Shetland and excavations at Tangwick. Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland 129, 203–37CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Noakes, J.E., Kim, S.M. & Stipp, J.J. 1965. Chemical and counting advances in Liquid Scintillation Age dating. In Chatters, R.M. & Olson, E.A. (eds), Proceedings of the Sixth International Conference on Radiocarbon and Tritium Dating, 68–92, Washington DC: National Bureau of StandardsGoogle Scholar
O'Drisceoil, D.A. 1988. Burnt mounds: cooking or bathing?. Antiquity 62, 671–80CrossRefGoogle Scholar
O'Drisceoil, D.A. 2002. An experiment in Bronze Age cooking: the Fulacht Fiadh, Castlemary 1993. In Davidson, A. & Sabiri, H. (eds), The Wide Shores of Gastronomy, 87–95. Berkeley, California: Ten Speed PressGoogle Scholar
O'Kelly, M.J. 1954. Excavations and experiments in ancient Irish cooking places? Journal of the Royal Society of Antiquities in Ireland 95, 105–55Google Scholar
Olsen, S.L. 1998. The identification of stone and metal tool marks on bone artifacts. In Olsen, S.L. (ed.). Scanning electron Microscopy in Archaeology, 337–60. Oxford: British Archaeological Report S452Google Scholar
Pasmore, A.H. & Pallister, J. 1967. Boiling mounds in the New Forest, Proceedings of the Hampshire Field Club & Archaeology Society 24, 14–19Google Scholar
Parker, M. & Jarvis, W. 2007. Brooksby Quarry, Melton Road, Brooksby. Transactions of the Leicestershire Archaeological & Historical Society 81, 211Google Scholar
Parker-Pearson, M. 1993. Bronze Age Britain. London: Batsford & English HeritageGoogle Scholar
Plicht, J. van der, Wijma, S., Aerts, A.T., Pertuisot, M.H. & Meijer, H.A.J. 2000. Status report: the Groningen AMS facility. Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research B 172, 58–65CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ripper, S. 1999. Evaluative excavations at Wanlip sewage Treatment works, Leicestershire. Transactions of the Leicestershire Archaeological & Historical Society, 73, 115Google Scholar
Ripper, S. 2010. Watermead Country Park, Leicestershire [data-set]. York: Archaeology Data Service [distributor] (doi:10.5284/1000126)CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Robinson, M. 2000. Further considerations of Neolithic charred cereals, fruit and nuts. In Fairbairn, A.S. (ed.), Plants in Neolithic Britain and Beyond, 85–90. Oxford: Oxbow Books/Neolithic Studies Group Seminar Papeprs 5CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Shackley, M. & Hunt, S-A. 1985. Palaeoenvironment of a Mesolithic peat bed from Austin Friars, Leicester. Transactions of the Leicestershire Archaeological & Historical Society 65, 1–12Google Scholar
Silvester, R.J. 1991. The Fenland Project, No. 4: Norfolk Survey, the Wissey Embayment and Fen Causeway. Gressenhall: East Anglian Archaeological Report 52Google Scholar
Smith, D. 1995. The Coleoptera from the environmental sequences at Kirby Muxloe, Leicestershire. Unpublished report to Leicestershire County Council Archaeology UnitGoogle Scholar
Smith, D.N. 2001. The Insect Remains from Willow Farm Business Park, Castle Donington, Leicestershire. University of Birmingham Environmental Archaeology Services Report 22. Unpublished report for the University of Leicester Archaeological ServicesGoogle Scholar
Smith, D.N. 2009. Insect remains. In Beamish, 2009, 134–7Google Scholar
Smith, D.N. & Howard, A.J. 2004. Identifying changing fluvial conditions in low gradient alluvial archaeological landscapes: Can Coleoptera provide insights into changing discharge rates and floodplain evolution? Journal of Archaeological Science 31, 109–20CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Smith, D.N., Roseff, R., Brown, A.G., Butler, S., Hughes, G. & Monckton, A. 2005. Archaeological and Environmental Investigations of a Late Glacial and Flandrian River Valley Sequence on the River Soar, at Croft, Leicestershire. The Holocene 15(3), 353–7CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Smith, D. & Tetlow, E. 2010. Insect remains. In Ripper, 2010Google Scholar
Smith, M. 2006. Bones chewed by canids as evidence for human excarnation: a British case study. Antiquity 80, 671–85CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Speed, G. 2010. The excavation of an enclosed Iron Age settlement at Hallam Fields, Birstall, Leicestershire. Transactions of the Leicestershire Archaeological & Historical Society 84, 27–75Google Scholar
Speed, G. 2011. Late Neolithic circular structure discovered in Leicestershire. Past 68, 2.Google Scholar
Stenhouse, M.J. & Baxter, M.S. 1983. 14C dating reproducibility: evidence from routine dating of archaeological samples. PACT 8, 147–61Google Scholar
Stuiver, M. & Kra, R.S. 1986. Editorial comment. Radiocarbon 28, 2B, iiGoogle Scholar
Stuiver, M. & Polach, H.A. 1977. Reporting of 14C data. Radiocarbon 19, 355–63CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Stuiver, M. & Reimer, P.J. 1986. A computer program for radiocarbon age calculation. Radiocarbon 28, 1022–30CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Stuiver, M. & Reimer, P.J. 1993. Extended 14C data base and revised CALIB 3.0 14C age calibration program. Radiocarbon 35, 215–30CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Stuiver, M., Reimer, P. J., Bard, E., Beck, J. W., Burr, G. S., Hughen, K. A., Kromer, B., McCormac, G., Plicht, J. van der & Spurk, M. 1998. INTCAL98 Radiocarbon age calibration, 24,000–0 cal BP. Radiocarbon 40, 1041–83CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Thomas, J. 1999. Understanding the Neolithic. London: RoutledgeGoogle Scholar
Thomas, J. 2008. Monument, Memory and Myth; use and re-use of three Bronze Age round barrows at Cossington, Leicestershire. Leicester: Leicester Archaeology Monograph 14Google Scholar
Turner-Walker, G., Nielsen-Marsh, C.M., Syversen, U., Kars, H. & Collins, M.J. 2002. Sub-micron spongiform porosity is the major ultra-structural alteration occurring in archaeological bone. International Journal of Osteoarchaeology 12, 407–14CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Vyner, B. & Wall, I. 2011. A Neolithic cairn at Whitwell, Derbyshire. Derbyshire Archaeological Journal 131, 1–131Google Scholar
White, T. D. 1992. Prehistoric Cannibalism at Mancos 5MTUMR-2346. Princeton: Princeton University PressCrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wilkinson, T. & Murphy, P. 1995. Archaeology of the Essex Coast Vol. 1: the Hullbridge survey. Chelmsford: East Anglian Archaeology 71Google Scholar
Yalden, D. 1999. The History of British Mammals. London: PoyserGoogle Scholar