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Dragonby: An Interim Report on Excavations on an Iron Age and Romano-British Site near Scunthorpe, Lincolnshire, 1964–9

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 November 2011

Jeffrey May
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Summary

The development of open-cast ironstone mining has made necessary emergency excavations on an apparently undefended Iron Age and Romano-British settlement of at least 20 acres, situated immediately near the Jurassic Way six miles south of the Humber estuary. In the Iron Age, the site was characterized by complex ditch systems and small irregular gullies, and only two huts, both circular, have been located in an excavated area of 1.7 acres. The main occupation probably began around 100 B.C. with an Iron B pottery assemblage. The sequence continued, apparently without abrupt break, into an Iron C assemblage very closely related to the ‘Aylesford—Swarling Culture’ of the Thames estuary region. More marked modification early in the first century A.D., most clearly defined by the introduction of Gallo-Belgic pottery, resulted in cultural similarities with Camulodunum. The occupation continued throughout the Roman period. The site was then characterized by an irregular system of metalled roads flanked by ditches, and plots of land defined by ditches and fences. Within these plots stood individual rectangular buildings of timber and stone, together with ovens, wells, pottery kilns, and other structures of an industrial or agricultural nature.

Type
Research Article
Information
The Antiquaries Journal , Volume 50 , Issue 2 , September 1970 , pp. 222 - 245
Copyright
Copyright © The Society of Antiquaries of London 1970

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References

page 224 note 1 Alternative names foir the site which have earlier appeared in archaeological literature are Sawcliffe Hill, Conesby Cliff, Money Field, and Dragonby Coin Field. Crosby Warren, now destroyed by mining, lay just to the south-west of the present excavated area.

page 224 note 2 Dudley, H. E., The History and Antiquities of the Scunthorpe and Frodingham District (Scunthorpe, 1931), 51–9Google Scholar, and the same author's Early Days in North-West Lincolnshire (Scunthorpe, 1949), 183–92Google Scholar.

page 224 note 3 The kiln excavation was by Dr. I. M. Stead. Of the Iron Age pottery, some was figured in East Midlands Archaeological Bulletin, 6 (1963), 5Google Scholar and 9, fig. 1.

page 226 note 1 East Midland Archaeological Bulletin, 7 (1964), 13–14Google Scholar and 7, fig. 2; ibid. 9 (1966), 17–18 and 23, fig. 3.

page 226 note 2 I am indebted to Professor H. Mattingly and Mr. L. R. Laing for comments on the Roman coins from Dragonby.

page 227 note 1 East Midland Archaeological Bulletin, 8 (1965), iiGoogle Scholar, fig. 4.

page 229 note 1 East Midland Archaeological Bulletin, 7 (1964), 13–14Google Scholar and 7, fig. 2.

page 232 note 1 It is interesting to compare this feature with the recently published trackway at Owslebury. Collis, J. R., ‘Excavations at Owslebury, Hants: an Interim Report’, Antiquaries Journal, xlviii (1968), 18–31CrossRefGoogle Scholar; see p. 21 and pl. viii, etc.

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page 236 note 1 C. F. C. Hawkes and M. R. Hull, Camulodunum, Reports of the Research Committee of the Society of Antiquaries of London, xiv, 1947.

page 236 note 2 R. E. M. and T. V. Wheeler, Verulamium: A Belgic and two Roman Cities, Reports of the Research Committee of the Society of Antiquaries of London, xi, 1936. See p. 149.

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page 238 note 1 East Midland Archaeological Bulletin, 8 (1965), 8Google Scholar, fig. 3, no. 2.

page 238 note 2 University of Nottingham current excavations; unpublished, but see interim report in ibid. 7 (1964), 5.

page 238 note 3 Ibid. 6 (1963), 5–6.

page 238 note 4 Ibid. 7 (1964), 21, fig. 3, no. 4.

page 238 note 5 A. Bulleid and H. St. G. Gray, The Glastonbury Lake Village, ii (1917), pi. LXXXI, p. 215; and pl. LXXXV, p. 270.

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page 238 note 9 D. Dudley, ‘An Excavation at Bodrifty, Mulfra Hill, Near Penzance, Cornwall’, ibid. 1–32; see p. 27, fig. 10, nos. 13, 16–20.

page 238 note 10 J. P. Bushe-Fox, Excavations at Hengistbury Head, Hampshire, in 1911–1912, Reports of the Research Committee of the Society of Antiquaries of London, iii, 191 5, pls. xii and xxi, Class F.

page 238 note 11 Hardy, H. R., ‘An Iron Age Pottery site near Horsted Keynes’, Sussex Archaeological Collections, lxxviii (1937), 252–65Google Scholar; see p. 258, figs. 11–12.

page 238 note 12 A. W. G. Lowther, ‘Pottery from Merle Common, Limpsfield, Surrey (June 1933)’, ibid. 1 (1946–7), 144–7; see p. 145, fig. 5.

page 238 note 13 Information from Mrs. M. U. Jones.

page 238 note 14 C. Fox, ‘A Settlement of the Early Iron Age at Abington Pigotts, Cambs. …’ Proc. Prehist. Soc. East Anglia, iv (1922–4), 211–33; see PP. 222–3 and pl- v, c.

page 238 note 15 Kersten, W., ‘Der Beginn der La-Tène-Zeit in Nordostbayern’, Prähistorische Zeitschrift, xxiv (1933), 96–174Google Scholar; see P. 137. Abb. 9. 1.

page 238 note 16 R. E. M. Wheeler, Maiden Castle, Dorset, Reports of the Research Committee of the Society of Antiquaries of London, xii, 1943, pp. 226–7 and fig. 70, no. 153.

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page 240 note 1 Perkins, J. B. Ward, ‘An Early Iron Age Site at Crayford, Kent’, Proc. Prehist. Soc. iv (1938), 151–67CrossRefGoogle Scholar. A hint regarding the dating of this ware has recently been made by ProfessorHawkes, C. F. C., ‘New Thoughts on the Belgae’, Antiquity, xlii (1968), 6–16CrossRefGoogle Scholar; see p. 14 n.

page 240 note 2 Fromols, J., ‘Recensement des tumulus et Hallstatt fouilles archéologiques dans la forêt des Pothées (Ardennes); fouilles de M M. Brisson, Loppin et Hégly en 1938 et 1939’. Mém. de la Soc. d'Agriculture, Commerce, Sciences et Arts du département de la Marne, 2me. Série, torn, xxix (1955), 5–32Google Scholar. See esp. figs. pp. 21, 22, 28–30.

page 240 note 3 H-E. Joachim, Die Hunsrück-Eifel-Kultur am Mittelrhein. Beihefte der Bonner Jahrbücher, Band 29, 1968. See esp. Taf. 5, nos. A2 and 6; Taf. 7, no. A1; Taf. 20, no. C1, etc. See also W. Dehn, Kreuznack, Teil 1 u.2. Kat. west-und süddeutscher Altertumssammlungen VII (Berlin, 1941), Abb. 82, pottery from Sarmsheim. It is scarcely present further south, but see H-J. Engels, Die Hallstatt fouilles und Latènekultur in der Pfalz (Speyer, 1967), Taf. 27, B7 and 13.

page 240 note 4 Birchall, A., ‘The Aylesford-Swarling Culture: The Problem of the Belgae reconsidered’, Proc. Prehist. Soc. xxxi (1965), 241–367CrossRefGoogle Scholar; see p. 333, fig. 10, nos. 73–9.

page 240 note 5 J. Fromols, op. cit., p. 23, fig. middle right.

page 242 note 1 A. Birchall, op. cit., p. 326, nos. 23–5.

page 242 note 2 Cf. R. E. M. and T. V. Wheeler, Verulamium: A Belgic and Two Roman Cities, Reports of the Research Committee of the Society of Antiquaries of London, xi, 1936, 168, fig. 19, no. 60b.

page 242 note 3 Kenyon, K. M., Excavations at the Jewry Wall Site, Leicester, Reports of the Research Committee the Society of Antiquaries of London, xv, 1948Google Scholar.

page 242 note 4 A surface find in the collection of Mr. H. R. Mossop of Marshchapel, Lincolnshire.

page 243 note 1 Ordnance Survey, Map of Southern Britain in the Iron Age, Chessington, Surrey, 1962, table facing p. 25; D. F. Allen, The Coins of the Coritani, British Academy, 1963.