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Excavations at Little Woodbury

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  27 May 2014

John Brailsford
John Brailsford
Affiliation:
Dept. British and Medieval Antiquities, British Museum
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Extract

While examining the pottery from Little Woodbury in 1939–40, Professor Hawkes observed that the critical pottery from the lower filling of the Ditch ‘DA’ was so sparse as to be useless for comparative purposes. On his suggestion, the Council of the Prehistoric Society decided that a substantial section of the Ditch should be cleared for the purpose of obtaining additional material from the primary filling, and in the spring of 1947 it became possible to put this project into effect. The work was superintended by Mr J. W. Brailsford and Professor Stuart Piggott and Mrs C. M. Piggott, with the assistance of Mrs M. F. Brailsford and members of the Archaeological Society of Bishop Wordsworth's School, Salisbury. The Prehistoric Society is indebted to the landowner, Mr F. H. T. Jervoise, F.S.A., for permission to carry out the excavation, and to his tenant, Mr Tilley, for the interest and cooperation which he showed throughout.

Two ten-foot lengths of the Ditch ‘DA’ were cleared, in the northern sector, Pl. XXIV lower (inset). Significant finds of pottery and other objects were recovered from all levels of the filling, though it was confirmed that layers ‘A’ to ‘C’ were very poor in archaeological material. The pottery is included with that from the pre-war excavation in the Pottery Report, and the small finds are described in the general report on small finds (Part V).

Reports on the animal bones by Dr F. C. Fraser, of the Dept. of Zoology, British Museum (Natural History), and on the non-marine mollusca by Mr A. E. Ellis of Epsom College are appended to this note.

Type
Research Article
Information
Proceedings of the Prehistoric Society , Volume 15 , 1949 , pp. 156 - 168
Copyright
Copyright © The Prehistoric Society 1949

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References

page 156 note 1 P.P.S. 1948, 1Google Scholar.

page 156 note 2 P.P.S. 1940, figs. 2–4, pp. 36–8Google Scholar.

page 157 note 1 cf. Curwen, , Antiquity, IV, 97Google Scholar, and Rivers, Pitt, Excavations ın Cranborne Chase, IV, 24Google Scholar.

page 157 note 2 Rivers, Pitt, Excavations in Cranborne Chase, IV,Google Scholar Pl. 262 and Pl. 307.

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page 158 note 1 op. cit., 39–40.

page 158 note 2 cf. The similar layer at Swallowcliffe, W.A.M., LIII, Pl. II.

page 158 note 3 The presence of numerous snail-shells in the lower filling of the Ditch seems to be additional evidence that this filling accumulated slowly as the product of natural agencies.

page 159 note 1 P.P.S. VI, Pt. 1 (1940), 53Google Scholar.

page 161 note 1 P.P.S. VI, Pt. 1 (1940), 53Google Scholar. cf. Highfield, (W.A.M. XLVI, 587, 607)Google Scholar.

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page 162 note 1 Maiden Castle Report, 48.

page 162 note 2 Maiden Castle Report, 321 ff.

page 163 note 1 Dunning, G. C., Arch. Journ. XCI (1934), p. 269Google Scholar. Maiden Castle Report, 267, fig. 87.

page 163 note 2 e.g. All Cannings Cross, Pl. 18, nos. 12, 13; Maiden Castle Report, 254, fig. 81; W.A.M. XLIII (1925), 82Google Scholar, Pl. XI, C.36 (Swallowcliffe).

page 163 note * i.e. with the edge chipped, either deliberately or by use.

page 164 note * i.e. with the edge chipped, either deliberately or by use.

page 165 note * i.e. with the edge chipped, either deliberately or by use.

page 167 note 1 ‘The Human Remains of the Iron Age and other Periods from Maiden Castle, Dorset’, by Goodman, C. N. and Morant, G. M., Biometrika, Vol. XXXI, 1940Google Scholar.