Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-mlc7c Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-06T01:17:17.110Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

New Scientific Dating of the Later Bronze Age Wells at Swalecliffe, Kent

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  21 April 2011

Robert Masefield ,
Alex Bayliss  and
Gerry McCormac
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Extract

The Swalecliffe later Bronze Age well complex was reported in detail in volume 83 of the Antiquaries Journal. The site comprised seventeen wells cut into the base of a previously reduced hollow. Groundwater could thus have been more readily accessed within the subsequently cut well pits. The depth of the base of the wells, at up to 2.5m below ground level, and their consequent waterlogged nature, allowed exceptional preservation of wooden linings and plank steps. Application of dendrochronological and radiocarbon dating suggested that the individual wells were used in sequence over a period of around 500 years, from an origin probably in the late thirteenth century BC to abandonment probably within the seventh century BC. The earlier phases (1–4) were dated mainly by dendrochronology, a 348-year sequence known as SWALECLF 1, whilst the later phases (5–7) were dated by a series of five radiocarbon dates.

Type
Shorter Contributions
Information
The Antiquaries Journal , Volume 84 , September 2004 , pp. 334 - 339
Copyright
Copyright © The Society of Antiquaries of London 2004

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

Bronk Ramsey, C 1995. ‘Radiocarbon calibration and analysis of stratigraphy: the OxCal Program’, Radiocarbon, 37 (2), 425–30CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bronk Ramsey, C 1998. ‘Probability and dating’, Radiocarbon, 40, 461–74CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bronk Ramsey, C 2001. ‘Development of the radiocarbon calibration program OxCal’, Radiocarbon, 43, 355–63CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Christen, J A and Litton, C D 1995. ‘A Bayesian approach to wiggle matching’, J Archaeol Sci, 22, 719–25CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Masefield, R, Branch, N et al. Couldrey, P, Goodburn, D et al. and Tyers, I 2003. ‘A later Bronze Age well complex at Swalecliffe, Kent’, Antiq J, 83, 47–121CrossRefGoogle Scholar
McCormac, F G 1992. ‘Liquid scintillation counter characterization, optimization, and benzene purity correction’, Radiocarbon, 34, 37–45CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mook, W G 1986. ‘Business meeting: recommendations/resolutions adopted by the twelfth International Radiocarbon Conference’, Radiocarbon, 28, 799CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pearson, G W 1984. ‘The development of highprecision 14C measurements and its application to archaeological timescale problems', unpub PhD thesis, Queen's University, BelfastGoogle Scholar
Stuiver, M and Polach, H A 1977. ‘Reporting of 14C data’, Radiocarbon, 19, 355–63CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Stuiver, M and Reimer, P J 1986. ‘A computer program for radiocarbon age calculation’, Radiocarbon, 28, 1022–30CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Stuiver, M and Reimer, P J 1993. ‘Extended 14Cdata base and revised CALIB 3.0 14C age calibration program’, Radiocarbon, 35(1), 215–30CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Stuiver, M, Reimer, P J, Bard, E, Beck, J W, Burr, G S, Hughen, K A, Kromer, B, McCormac, F G, van der Plicht, J and Spurk, M 1998. ‘INTCAL98 radiocarbon age calibration, 24,000–0 cal BP’, Radiocarbon, 40, 1041–84CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Yates, D 2001. ‘Bronze Age agricultural intensification in the Thames Valley and Estuary’, in Bronze Age Landscapes: Tradition and Transformation (ed J, Briick), 65–82, OxfordGoogle Scholar