Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-s2hrs Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-19T06:55:23.055Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

A Later Bronze Age Well Complex at Swalecliffe, Kent

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  21 April 2011

Robert Masefield ,
Nicholas Branch ,
Peter Couldrey ,
Damian Goodburn  and
Ian Tyers
Robert Masefield
Affiliation:
RPS Planning, Transport and Environment, Mallams Court, 18 Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxfordshire OX 14 4RP, UK. E-mail: . (RM)
Nicholas Branch
Affiliation:
Royal Holloway University of London, Department of Geography, Queens Building, Egham Hill, Egham, Surrey TW20 OEX, UK. E-mail: .
Peter Couldrey
Affiliation:
Belmont, Maidstone Road, Hadlow, Tonbridge, Kent TN11 OHR, UK. E-mail: . (PC)
Damian Goodburn
Affiliation:
The Cottage, Tonge Corner, Tonge, Sittingbourne, Kent ME9 9BA, UK. (DG)
Ian Tyers
Affiliation:
Dendrochronology Laboratory, Department of Archaeology, University of Sheffield, Western Bank, Sheffield S10 2TN, UK. E-mail: . (IT)
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

This paper examines the significance of seventeen later Bronze Age wells found during construction at Swalecliffe, in north-east Kent. The unusual depth of the features made for exceptional preservation of wooden structural elements, including steps and revetments, demonstrating rare evidence for woodworking and woodmanship. Extensive biological remains facilitated environmental reconstruction, and a lengthy dendrochronological sequence corroborates the internationally important Flag Fen chronology. Dendrochronological and radiocarbon dates demonstrate around 500 years of seemingly continuous use and replacement of wells. Votive deposits and apparatus used for water collection provide glimpses of small-scale ritual and domestic activities. The highly unusual concentration of wells is compared to contemporary sites regionally and elsewhere.

Type
Research Article
Information
The Antiquaries Journal , Volume 83 , September 2003 , pp. 47 - 121
Copyright
Copyright © The Society of Antiquaries of London 2003

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

Adkins, Pet al 1985. ‘Rook Hall’, in ‘Work of the Essex County Council Archaeology Section 1983–4’ (ed Priddy, D), Essex Archaeol Hist, 16, 82–122.Google Scholar
Allen, D and Haggart, H (eds) 1995. The Quaternary of the Lower Reaches of the Thames. Field Guide, Quat Res Ass Techn Guides, DurhamGoogle Scholar
Allen, T 2002. ‘Churchwood Drive, Chestfield’, in Canterbury's Archaeology 1999–2000, 20–6, CanterburyGoogle Scholar
Baillie, M, Pilcher, J and Pearson, G 1983. ‘Dendrochronology at Belfast as a background to high-precision calibration’, Radiocarbon, 25 (2), 171–8CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Barber, M 2001. ‘A time and a place for bronze’, in Bronze Age Landscapes: Tradition and Transformation (ed Brück, J), 161–9, OxfordGoogle Scholar
Barford, P 1988. ‘Salt production equipment’, in Excavation at the North Ring, Mucking, Essex: A Late Bronze Age Enclosure (ed Bond, D), E Anglian Archaeol Rep, 43, 39–41, ChelmsfordGoogle Scholar
Barham, A 1993. ‘Preliminary stratigraphic evaluation and environmental archaeological assessment of the eastern approach to the Medway Tunnel’, Site Assessment Report 93/03, Institute of Archaeology, University of LondonGoogle Scholar
Barrett, J 1978. ‘The EPRIA prehistoric pottery’, in ‘Excavations at a Neolithic causewayed enclosure, Orsett, Essex 1975’ (eds J Hedges and D Buckley), Proc Prehist Soc, 44, 219–308Google Scholar
Barrett, J 1980. ‘The pottery of the Late Bronze Age in later Bronze Age Lowland England’, Proc Prehist Soc, 46, 297–320Google Scholar
Barrett, J and Bond, D 1988. ‘The pottery’, in Excavation at the North Ring, Mucking, Essex: A Late Bronze Age Enclosure (ed Bond, D), E Anglian Archaeol Rep, 43, 25–37, ChelmsfordGoogle Scholar
Barrett, J, Lewis, J and Walsh, K 2001. ‘Perry Oaks – a history of inhabitation, Part 2’, London Archaeol, 9:8, 221–7Google Scholar
Becker, B 1993. ‘An 11,000-year German oak and pine dendrochronology for radiocarbon calibration’, Radiocarbon, 35 (1), 201–13Google Scholar
Behre, K 1981. ‘The interpretation of anthropogenic indicators in pollen diagrams’, Pollen et Spores, 23, 225–45Google Scholar
Bennell, M 1996. ‘Swalecliffe Wastewater Treatment Works: an archaeological evaluation’, RPS unpublished report, November 1996Google Scholar
Bennell, M 1998. Under the Road: Archaeological Discoveries at Bronze Age Way, Erith, Bexley Council, LondonGoogle Scholar
Bond, D (ed) 1988. Excavation at the North Ring, Mucking, Essex: A Late Bronze Age Enclosure, E Anglian Archaeol Rep, 43, ChelmsfordGoogle Scholar
Bourgeois, J and Hageman, B 1998. ‘Sint-Gillis-Waas (o.-VI.) 1997: Verder noodonderzoek van de ijzertijdnederzetting’, Lunela, Archeologia protohistorica, VI, 88–93Google Scholar
Branch, Net al 1997a. ‘Swalecliffe Wastewater Treatment Works: palaeoenvironmental assessment’, ArchaeoScape Consulting unpublished report, January 1997Google Scholar
Branch, Net al 1997b. ‘Swalecliffe Wastewater Treatment Works: palaeoenvironmental assessment reports, Stage II’, ArchaeoScape Consulting unpublished report, October 1997Google Scholar
Branch, Net al 2001. ‘Biological investigations at Swalecliffe, Kent’, ArchaeoScape Consulting unpublished report no. 07/01, in ‘Swalecliffe WWTW Enhancements (Southern Water): archaeological monitoring and excavation final report. Vol 2: The later Bronze Age waterhole site’ (ed R Masefield), RPS unpublished reportGoogle Scholar
Brigham, T, Goodburn, D, Tyers, I and Dillon, J 1995. ‘A Roman timber building on the Southwark waterfront, London’, Archaeol J, 152, 1–72Google Scholar
Brown, D and Baillie, M 1992. ‘Construction and dating of a 5000-year English bog oak tree-ring chronology’, in Tree Rings and Environment (ed Eggertsson, O), LUNDQUA Rep, 34, 72–5Google Scholar
Brown, N 1988. ‘A Late Bronze Age enclosure at Lofts Farm, Essex’, Proc Prehist Soc, 54, 249–302CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Brown, N 1996. ‘The archaeology of Essex c 1500–500 BC’, in The Archaeology of Essex: The Proceedings of the Writtle Conference (ed Bedwin, O), 26–37, ChelmsfordGoogle Scholar
Brunning, R, Johnson, S and Morgan, R 2000. ‘Wood and woodworking at Goldcliffe 400–1 BC’, in Prehistoric Intertidal Archaeology in the Welsh Severn Estuary (eds Bell, M, Caseldine, A and Neumann, H), CBA Res Rep, 120, 169–207Google Scholar
Burchell, J 1925. ‘The shell mound industry of Denmark as represented at Lower Halstow, Kent’, Proc Prehist Soc, 5, pt 1, 73–8Google Scholar
Burrin, P and Scaife, R 1984. ‘Aspects of Holocene valley sedimentation and floodplain development in southern England’, Proc Geol Ass, 95, 81–96Google Scholar
CAT 1996. ‘Interim report on work carried out by the Canterbury Archaeological Trust’, Archaeol Cantiana, CXVI, 318–19Google Scholar
Champion, T 1980. ‘Settlement and environment in later Bronze Age Kent’, in The British Later Bronze Age (eds Barrett, J and Bradley, R), BAR Brit Ser, 83, 223–46, OxfordGoogle Scholar
Cherrette, B 1999. ‘Waterputten te Sint-Gillis-Waas en te Berlare (o.-VI.): een houtanalytish onderzoek’, in Lunela, Archeologia protohistorica, VIII, 26–32Google Scholar
Coles, J, Heal, V and Orme, B 1978. ‘The use and character of wood in prehistoric Britain and Ireland’, Proc Prehist Soc, 44, 1–45CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Conolly, A 1943. ‘Report of plant remains from Minnis Bay, Birchington, Kent’, in ‘A report on the Late Bronze Age site at Minnis Bay, Birchington, Kent’ (ed F Worsfold), Proc Prehist Soc, 20, 44–7Google Scholar
Darrah, R and Goodburn, D forthcoming. ‘Woodworking studies’, in The Dover Bronze Age Boat Report (ed Clarke, P), English Heritage/Canterbury Archaeological TrustGoogle Scholar
De Brisay, K and Evans, K (eds) 1975. Salt – The Study of an Ancient Industry, ColchesterGoogle Scholar
Devoy, R 1979. ‘Flandrian sea-level changes and vegetational history of the lower Thames estuary’, Phil Trans Roy Soc London, B285, 355–410Google Scholar
Drewett, P, Rudling, D and Gardiner, M 1988. The South East to AD 1000, London and New YorkGoogle Scholar
Elsden, N 2001. ‘Excavations at 36–40 Tanner Street and 159–161 Tower Bridge Road, Bermondsey’, London Archaeol, 9:10, 275–82Google Scholar
English Heritage 1998. Dendrochronology: Guidelines on Producing and Interpreting Dendrochronological Dates, LondonGoogle Scholar
Framework Archaeology 2000. ‘Perry Oaks Sludge Works, Western Perimeter Road, Heathrow, London Borough of Hillingdon’, unpublished project design, update note 2Google Scholar
Fulford, M, Champion, T and Long, A (eds) 1997. England's Coastal Heritage: A Survey for English Heritage and the RCHME, Engl Heritage Archaeol Rep, 15, LondonGoogle Scholar
Gale, R 2001. ‘The identification of the smaller wooden components from Bronze Age pits at Swalecliffe’, RPS unpublished analysis reportGoogle Scholar
Godwin, H 1964. ‘Vegetational history of the Kentish Chalk Downs as seen at Wingham and Frogholt’, Veröffentlichungen des Geobotanischen Institutes Rubel, 37, 83–99, ZurichGoogle Scholar
Goodburn, D 1991. ‘A Roman timber building tradition’, Archaeol J, 148, 182–204Google Scholar
Goodburn, D 1992. ‘Woods and woodland: carpenters and carpentry’, in Timber Building Techniques in London c 900–1400 (ed Milne, G), London Middlesex Archaeol Soc Spec Pap, 15, 106–31Google Scholar
Goodburn, D 1994. ‘Trees underground: new insights into trees and woodmanship in SE England c 800–1300’, Botanical J Scotland, 46, 4, 658–62Google Scholar
Goodburn, D 1999. ‘Waterlogged woodwork from Three Oak Lane, Southwark’, unpublished assessment report, Museum of London Specialist ServicesGoogle Scholar
Goodburn, D 2001a. ‘An assessment of the prehistoric woodwork found during evaluation excavations for the A13 Extension Project, E London’, unpublished assessment report, Museum of London Specialist ServicesGoogle Scholar
Goodburn, D 2001b. ‘A revised assessment of the prehistoric woodwork recovered during rescue excavations at the Swalecliffe Water Treatment Works, NE Kent’, RPS unpublished analysis reportGoogle Scholar
Goodburn, D 2001.c ‘Wooden remains as an archaeological resource: some new insights from London's wetlands’, in Estuarine Archaeology: The Severn and Beyond. Archaeology in the Severn Estuary, II (ed Rippon, S), Exeter, 187–96Google Scholar
Goodburn, D and Minkin, J 1998. ‘Prehistoric waterlogged woodwork from Atlas Wharf, Isle of Dogs, London’, unpublished assessment report, Museum of London Specialist ServicesGoogle Scholar
Goodsall, R 1965. ‘Oyster fisheries on the north Kent coast’, Archaeol Cantiana, 80, 118–51Google Scholar
Harrison, E 2000. ‘Pottery and fired clay’, in ‘A Late Bronze Age landscape at South Hornchurch, Essex’ (eds E Gutterman and J Last), 337–44, Proc Prehist Soc, 66, 319–59Google Scholar
Hillam, J 1987. ‘Tree-ring dating of oak timbers from the Hasholme logboat’, unpublished Anc Mon Lab Rep 35/1987, LondonGoogle Scholar
Holmes, S 1981. Geology of the Country around Faversham, Geological Survey of Great Britain. Memoir for 1: 50,000 geological sheet 273, Institute of Geological SciencesGoogle Scholar
Jansma, E 1995. ‘RemembeRings’, Nederlandse Archeologishe Rapporten, 19Google Scholar
Jones, M and Bond, D 1980. ‘Later Bronze Age settlement at Mucking, Essex’, in The British Later Bronze Age (eds Barrett, J and Bradley, R), BAR Brit Ser, 83, 471–82, OxfordGoogle Scholar
Kerney, M 1964. ‘Late-glacial and post-glacial history of the chalk escarpment near Brook, Kent’, Phil Trans Roy Soc London, B248, 135Google Scholar
Kolchin, B 1989. Wooden Artefacts from Medieval Novgorod, BAR Int Ser, 495, OxfordGoogle Scholar
Long, A 1995. ‘Sea-level and crustal movements in the Thames estuary, Essex and East Kent’, in The Quaternary of the Lower Reaches of the Thames. Field Guide (eds Allen, D and Haggart, H), Quat Res Ass Techn Guides, DurhamGoogle Scholar
Macpherson-Grant, N 1994. ‘The pottery’, in ‘Monkton Court farm evaluation, 1992’ (eds Perkins, D, Macpherson-Grant, N and Healy, E), 248–88, Archaeol Cantiana, 114, 237–316Google Scholar
Macpherson-Grant, N 2000. ‘Context-based quantification and assessment of the ceramic assemblage from Long Rock’, CAT unpublished reportGoogle Scholar
Masefield, R 1997. ‘Swalecliffe Wastewater Treatment Works: an archaeological watching brief’, RPS unpublished reportGoogle Scholar
Masefield, R 2001. ‘Swalecliffe WWTW Enhancements (Southern Water): archaeological monitoring and excavation final report. Vol 2: The later Bronze Age waterhole site’, RPS unpublished reportGoogle Scholar
Masefield, R and Wenban-Smith, F 2000. ‘Swalecliffe Wastewater Treatment Works: an archaeological evaluation’, RPS unpublished reportGoogle Scholar
Moore, J and Jennings, D 1992. Reading Business Park. A Bronze Age Landscape, Oxford Univ Comm Archaeol Monogr, 1, OxfordGoogle Scholar
Moore, P, Webb, J and Collinson, M 1991. Pollen Analysis, OxfordGoogle Scholar
Moore, P and Wilmott, A 1976. ‘Prehistoric forest clearance and the development of peatlands in the uplands and lowlands of Britain’, in ‘Papers to be presented at the 5th International Peat Congress, 4 vols, Poznan, Poland, Sept 1976’, 1–15Google Scholar
Mudd, A 1995. ‘The excavation of a Late Bronze Age/Early Iron Age site at Eight Acre field, Radley’, Oxoniensia, LX, 21–65Google Scholar
Murphy, P 1996. ‘Environmental archaeology’, in The Archaeology of Essex: The Proceedings of the Writtle Conference (ed Bedwin, O), 168–80, ChelmsfordGoogle Scholar
Murray, E, Bendry, R and Nicholson, R 2001. ‘The animal bones from Swalecliffe Waste Water Treatment Works’, RPS unpublished reportGoogle Scholar
Neve, J 1999. ‘Dendrochronology of the Flag Fen Basin’, unpublished Anc Mon Lab Rep, 58/1999, LondonGoogle Scholar
Needham, S P 1987. ‘The Bronze Age’, in The Archaeology of Surrey to 1540 (eds Bird, J and Bird, D G), Surrey Arch Soc, 97–138, GuildfordGoogle Scholar
Needham, S P 1991. Excavation and Salvage at Runneymede Bridge, 1978: The Late Bronze Age Waterfront Site, LondonGoogle Scholar
Needham, S P and Longley, D 1980. ‘Runneymede Bridge, Egham: a Late Bronze Age riverside settlement’, in Settlement and Society in the British Later Bronze Age (eds Barrett, J and Bradley, R), BAR Brit Ser, 83, 2 vols, 397–436, OxfordGoogle Scholar
O'Connell, M 1986. ‘The Heathrow/Stanwell Cursus’, Curr Archaeol, 99, 122–5Google Scholar
O'Connor, B 1980. Cross-Channel Relations in the Later Bronze Age, BAR Brit Ser, S91, OxfordGoogle Scholar
Orme, B and Coles, J 1983. ‘Prehistoric woodworking from the Somerset Levels 1: timber’, Somerset Levels Pap, 9, 19–43Google Scholar
Orme, B and Coles, J 1985a. ‘Prehistoric woodworking from the Somerset Levels 2: species selection and prehistoric woodlands’, Somerset Levels Pap, 11, 7–24Google Scholar
Orme, B and Coles, J 1985b. ‘Prehistoric woodworking from the Somerset Levels 3: roundwood’, Somerset Levels Pap, 11, 25–50Google Scholar
O'Sullivan, A 1997. ‘Neolithic, Bronze Age and Iron Age woodworking techniques, in trackway excavations in the Mountdillon Bogs, Co. Longford, 1985–91’, Trans Irish Archaeological Wetland Unit, 3, 291–342, DublinGoogle Scholar
Parfitt, K 1993. ‘The Dover boat’, Curr Archaeol, 133, 4–8Google Scholar
Parfitt, K 1996. ‘Herne Bay Waste Water Pipeline’, in Canterbury's Archaeology 1994–1995, 16–19, CanterburyGoogle Scholar
Parfitt, K and Macpherson-Grant, N 1992. ‘Site plan of Long Rock’, unpublished planGoogle Scholar
Peterken, G 1996. Natural Woodland, CambridgeGoogle Scholar
Philp, C 1985. ‘Kent Arch. Rev. Reculver Excavation Group’, Counc Kentish Archaeol, 82, 32Google Scholar
Pryor, F 1984. Excavation at Fengate, Peterborough, England. The Fourth Report, Northamptonshire Archaeol Soc Monogr, 2Google Scholar
Pryor, F 1991. Flag Fen Prehistoric Fenland Centre, LondonGoogle Scholar
Pryor, F 1994. ‘Flag Fen’, Curr Archaeol, 137, 179–84Google Scholar
Pryor, F, French, C and Taylor, M 1986. ‘Flag Fen, Fengate, Peterborough I: reconnaissance and initial excavation (1982–5)’, Proc Prehist Soc, 52, 1–24Google Scholar
Rackham, O 1976. Trees and Woodland in the British Landscape, LondonGoogle Scholar
RCHME 1995. Thames Gateway: Recording Historic Buildings and Landscapes on the Thames Estuary, LondonGoogle Scholar
Rohl, B and Needham, S P 1998. The Circulation of Metal in the British Bronze Age: The Application of Lead Isotope Analysis, Brit Mus Occas Pap, 102, LondonGoogle Scholar
Sands, R 1997. Prehistoric Woodworking: The Analysis and Interpretation of Bronze and Iron Age Toolmarks. Wood in Archaeology Vol 1, London (UCL, Institute of Archaeology)Google Scholar
Scaife, R 1987. ‘A review of later Quaternary plant microfossil and macrofossil research in southern England: with special reference to environmental archaeological evidence’, in Environmental Archaeology: A Regional Review Volume II (ed Keeley, H), Hist Build Monuments Comm Eng Occas Pap, 1, 125–79, LondonGoogle Scholar
Scaife, R and Burrin, P 1985. ‘The environmental impact of prehistoric man as recorded in the Upper Cuckmere valley at Stream Farm, Chiddingly’, Sussex Archaeol Collect, 123, 27–34Google Scholar
Seager-Thomas, M 2001. ‘Stone finds’, in ‘Swalecliffe WWTW Enhancements (Southern Water): archaeological monitoring and excavation final report. Vol 2: The later Bronze Age waterhole site’ (ed R Masefield), RPS unpublished reportGoogle Scholar
So, K 1963. ‘Some aspects of the form and origin of the coastal features of north-east Kent’, unpublished PhD thesis, University of LondonGoogle Scholar
Stebbing, W 1934. ‘An Early Iron Age site at Deal’, Archaeol Cantiana, 46, 207–9Google Scholar
Taylor, M 1992. ‘Flag Fen: the wood’, Antiquity, 66, 476–98Google Scholar
Thomas, C and Rackham, J (eds) 1996. ‘Bramcote Green, Bermondsey: a Bronze Age trackway and palaeo-environmental sequence’, Proc Prehist Soc, 61, 221–53Google Scholar
Thompson, M 1956. ‘A group of mounds on Seasalter Level, near Whitstable, and the imbanking in this area’, Archaeol Cantiana, 70, 44–67Google Scholar
Topping, P and Swan, V 1995. ‘Early salt-working sites in the Thames Estuary’, in Thames Gateway: Recording Historic Buildings and Landscapes on the Thames Estuary, 28–40, LondonGoogle Scholar
Tyers, I 1998. Tree-ring Analysis and Wood Identification of Timbers Excavated on the Magistrates Court Site, Kingston upon Hull, East Yorkshire, ARCUS (Archaeological Research and Consultancy at the University of Sheffield) Rep, 410, SheffieldGoogle Scholar
Tyers, I 1999a. Dendro for Windows Program Guide, 2nd edn, ARCUS Rep, 500, SheffieldGoogle Scholar
Tyers, I 1999b. Dendrochronological Spot-dates of Timbers from Flag Fen (NTY99), near Peterborough, Cambridgeshire, ARCUS Rep, 513, SheffieldGoogle Scholar
Tyers, I 2001. Tree-ring Analysis of Archaeological Timbers from Swalecliffe, Kent, CfA (English Heritage Centre for Archaeology) Rep, 67/2001, PortsmouthGoogle Scholar
Vuorela, I 1973. ‘Relative pollen rain around cultivated fields’, Acta Botanica Fennica, 102, 1–27Google Scholar
Waughman, M 1989. ‘Chigborough Farm, Goldhanger: the first season's excavation of an early settlement’, Essex J Field Archaeol, 24:1, 15–18Google Scholar
Wenban-Smith, F forthcoming. Late Pleistocene Deposits at Tankerton, SwalecliffeGoogle Scholar
Wilkinson, T and Murphy, P 1986. ‘Archaeological survey of the intertidal zone: the submerged landscape of the Essex coast, England’, Essex J Field Archaeol, 13:2, 177–94Google Scholar
Wilkinson, T and Murphy, P 1995. The Archaeology of the Essex Coast. Vol 1: The Hullbridge Survey, E Anglian Archaeol Rep, 71, NorwichGoogle Scholar
Williams, J and Brown, N (eds) 1999. An Archaeological Framework for the Greater Thames Estuary, ChelmsfordGoogle Scholar
Worsfold, F 1926. ‘An examination of the contents of the brickearths and gravels of Tankerton Bay S walecliffe, Kent’, Proc Geol Ass, 236–339Google Scholar
Worsfold, F 1943. ‘A report on the Late Bronze Age site excavated at Minnis Bay, Birchington, Kent, 1938–40’, Proc Prehist Soc, 9, 28–47Google Scholar
Wren, C and Harrison, M 1995. ‘Kent oyster coast environmental survey project: preliminary report’, unpublished reportGoogle Scholar
Yates, D 1999. ‘Bronze Age field systems in the Thames Valley’, Oxford J Archaeol, 18 (2), 157–70Google Scholar