A total area of 3.1ha, taking in much of a settlement largely of
the earlier Middle Iron Age (c.450 to c.150BC), was excavated in
1998 in advance of development. Two small pit groups, radiocarbon
dated to the Middle Bronze Age, produced a bronze dagger and a
small pottery assemblage. The Iron Age settlement comprised several
groups of roundhouse ring ditches and associated small enclosures
forming an open settlement set alongside a linear boundary ditch.
Its origin lay in the 5th century BC with a single small roundhouse
group. Through the 4th and 3rd centuries BC the settlement expanded
with the original structures replaced by a principal roundhouse
group accompanied by at least a further two groups of roundhouses
and enclosures and minor outlying structures. A group of structures
and enclosures set apart from the main domestic area was the focus
for copper alloy casting, producing an assemblage of crucibles and
fragments from investment moulds for the production of horse
fittings, as well as bone, antler and horn working debris. The site
also produced good assemblages of pottery and animal bone, an
assemblage of saddle querns and a potin coin. The settlement had
been abandoned by the middle of the 2nd century BC, although the
main boundary ditch survived at least as an earthwork. By the early
1st century AD a series of ditched enclosures were created to the
north of the boundary ditch, perhaps a small ladder settlement,
which fell out of use soon after the Roman conquest. One enclosure
contained two small roundhouses and other curvilinear gullies may
have formed animal pens in the corners of two enclosures. This
final phase is dated by some Late Iron Age pottery, an Iron Age and
a Roman rotary quern, and a small quantity of Roman roof tile. The
discussion considers the physical, social and economic structure of
the settlement. The distribution of finds around the ring ditches
is examined as well as the size of enclosed roundhouses. There is
an overview of the Iron Age roundhouse in the Midlands, using well
preserved sites as exemplars for the range of evidence that can
survive. A typology and chronology for Iron Age pottery is
provided, and the date of introduction of the rotary quern is
discussed, and the consequent effect on the size of storage jars is
examined. Middle Bronze Age pits and a small cremation cemetery,
and Late Iron Age to early Roman settlement on the site of the
nearby deserted medieval village of Coton are also described. With
contributions by Trevor Anderson, Paul Blinkhorn, Pat Chapman,
Steve Critchley, Karen Deighton, Tora Hylton, Dennis Jackson, Ivan
Mack, Anthony Maull, Gerry McDonnell, Matthew Ponting and Jane
Timby. Illustrations by Andy Chapman, Pat Walsh and Mark Roughley.
General
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