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XIV.—The Discovery of Prehistoric Pits at Peterborough and the Development of Neolithic Pottery

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  15 November 2011

G. Wyman Abbott  and
Reginald A. Smith
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Extract

The series of relics exhibited to the Society come from an early settlement at Peterborough, dating from a time when flint was in general use, perhaps before the introduction of metal, at least among the poorer inhabitants of the country. The site is a promontory rising out of the Fens and lying on the north-east side of the town. The river Nene joined the Fens about half a mile to the south-west of the site, which is only a few feet above sea-level, and was almost surrounded in times of flood. So far as can be determined at present, the extent of the settlement is several acres, but the ground has not yet been moved except on the west side, where unfortunately no observations were taken. There were no surface indications of human habitation, and no burrows noticed on the promontory or in its neighbourhood. The subsoil is gravel, fine and coarse, varying in depth from 8 to 10 feet. The top 18 inches of gravel, underlying the soil, is reddish brown, mixed with a reddish loam, which sometimes occupies natural pockets 3 to 8 feet deep, cutting down through the gravel and at times reaching the cornbrash below.

Type
Research Article
Information
Archaeologia , Volume 62 , Issue 1 , 1910 , pp. 333 - 352
Copyright
Copyright © The Society of Antiquaries of London 1910

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References

page 334 note 1 Journal of Anthropological Institute, n. s. ii. (1899), 124Google Scholar.

page 335 note 1 These seem generally to date from the Early Iron Age, and many were found at Glastonbury. Examples are also known from Wilts. (Wilts. Arch. Mag. xxvii. 287Google Scholar); Highfield, Salisbury, and Hod Hill, Dorset; also Caburn, Mt., Lewes, (Archaeologia, xlvi. 467, pl. xxv. fig. 47Google Scholar); and an angular pattern has been found at Wonersh, Surrey (Surrey Arch. Collns. xxii. 199Google Scholar).

page 336 note 1 This type is mentioned by Lt. Gen. Pitt-Rivers in his Excavations in Cranborne Chase, iv. 163Google Scholar, and by Mr. J. R. Mortimer in his Forty Years' Researches in Yorkshire, 103.

page 340 note 1 Proc. Soc. Ant. Scot, xxxvi. 135Google Scholar, with figs.; see also Journal of Anthropological Institute, 1902, new ser. v. 398.

page 340 note 2 Proc. Soc. Ant. Scot., ix. 414, pl. xxiv. fig. 2 (7x4 in.)Google Scholar. The other type (fig. 1) resembles one from Bute figured in vol. xxxviii. 48, fig. 20 (diam. 5 in.). Anderson, Cf., Scotland in Pagan Times: Bronze and Stone Ages, 271.Google Scholar

page 341 note 1 Journal of Derbyshire Arch, and Nat. Hist. Soc, xi. (1889), 39, pl. ii. fig. 3Google Scholar. The height would be about 6 in.

page 341 note 2 Forty Years' Researches, 103, pl. xxxi. fig. 248.

page 342 note 1 British Barrows, 143, fig. 91 on p. 107.

page 342 note 2 Man, 1906, no. 44, fig. 5.

page 342 note 3 Thomas Bateman, Vestiges of the Antiquities of Derbyshire, 43. Most of the find is now in the Sheffield Museum.

page 342 note 4 Excavations in Cranborne Chase, iv. 67, pl. 261, fig. 17; see also fig. 10, and pl. 246, figs. 2–7; pl. 298, fig. 8; pl. 304, fig. 7; remarks on p. 163.

page 342 note 5 Archaeologia, xxxviii. 405Google Scholar.

page 343 note 1 Archaeologia, xxxviii. 415, figs. 8, 9Google Scholar.

page 345 note 1 Perhaps like one from Somersham, Hunts., 10⅘ in. high, preserved in the Cambridge Antiquarian Museum. Proc. Soc. Ant. Scot., xxxviii. 386, fig. 71Google Scholar.

page 346 note 1 Brögger, , Den arktiske Stenalder i Norge, 136, 137, etc.Google Scholar

page 346 note 2 Fornvännen, 1906, 101, figs. 8–26; cf. p. 257.

page 346 note 3 Ibid. 1910, 58, figs. 53, 73, 78–80.

page 346 note 4 Journ. Anthrop. Inst., xxxii. (new ser. v), 373Google Scholar; Proc. Soc. Ant. Scot., xxxviii. 323Google Scholar, with 172 figs. and map of distribution.

page 347 note 1 Examples in British Museum from Thurnam collection, found at Down, Wilsford (Archaeologia, xliii. pl. xxxi. fig. 1)Google Scholar, and Figheldean, Wilts.

page 347 note 2 This appears to be the case from Dr. Greenwell's tables in British Barrows, p. 458, and his additions in Archaeologia, lii. 1Google Scholar. Mr. J. R. Mortimer knows of no instance of the two types being found with the same body: when found in the same grave the drinking-cup is on a lower level (Forty Years' Researches, 223).

page 347 note 3 Greenwell, , British Barrows, 523Google Scholar; Journ. Anthrop. Inst., v. (1876)Google Scholar, pl. v. fig. 3 (view of stone chamber above which it was found).

page 348 note 1 See note ante.

page 348 note 2 A somewhat globular example from Oban (Anderson, Scotland in Pagan Times: Bronze and Stone Ages, 85, fig. 106) has rings enclosing parallel lines like the round-bottomed bowl on pl. XXXIX; and the later form, with double moulding and indented chevrons, has been found at Kinneff, Kincardineshire, and Tormore, Arran (ibid. figs. 66 and 117).

page 348 note 3 It may be added that drinking-cups of type β were found in pits at Hitcham, Bucks., and are now in the British Museum. A brief account is given in Maidenhead and Taplow Field Club Report, 1890 1, 46Google Scholar.

page 348 note 4 Proc. Soc. Ant. Scot., xlii. 308Google Scholar.

page 350 note 1 Proc. Soc Ant. Scot., xlii. (1907–1908), 253Google Scholar.

page 351 note 1 Journ. Anthrop. Inst., new ser. v. 397; Wood Martin, Rude Stone Monuments of Ireland, figs. 146–8. It should be noted that the only type found in Ireland is Mr. Abercromby's β type, corresponding to the Zonenbecher, tulip or bell-form beaker of the Continent, another indication that the beaker folk of our east coast never crossed St. George's Channel.

page 351 note 2 The round-bottomed bowl, drinking-cup, and food-vessel were all found in cairns near Crinan, Argyleshire, by Dr.Greenwell, (Proc. Soc. Ant. Scot., vi. 341, pl. xx. figs. 1–3)Google Scholar.