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Summary

Excavation revealed a middle to late Bronze Age settlement in Billingborough Parish.

Full description

Ditches on J. Pickering aerial photographs. {1}{2}

Bronze Age settlement site, ditches, hearths, traces of structures, pottery, flints, worked bone, some traces of salt-making. {3}{4}{5}{6}

Excavations on a site in Billingborough parish revealed a middle to late Bronze Age settlement that was abandoned, probably because of marine flooding, after about 500 years or so. Later, during the late Bronze Age and early Iron Age, salt-making took place at this location (PRN 32862). The salt-making phase of activity was succeeded, after a gap of about a century, by a new settlement during the middle to late Iron Age (PRN 32860). The later Iron Age settlement was also abandoned and in the early Romano-British period a new field system was laid out in this area (PRN 35515).
The middle to late Bronze Age settlement was established in about the middle of the second millennium BC and continued until, perhaps, the very early first millennium BC. The main feature of the settlement was an enclosure, ditched on three sides, that enclosed an area of approximately 0.23 hectares. There was some tentative evidence for dividing the Bronze Age use of the enclosure into two periods, notably from the pottery evidence. The question of whether the settlement site was re-used or in continuous use during this time is unresolved.
Within the enclosure were a number of features some of which were sealed by a possible Bronze Age occupation surface in one small part of the excavated area. The features included postholes of a possible fence line and six possible four-post structures. There was no evidence for any houses. There was evidence for a tree, standing inside the enclosure which was not removed when the enclosure was first established.
The pottery is an important assemblage from a middle Bronze Age settlement site of which there are few in eastern England. There are two assemblages from the site for the period of the settlement, with a much greater diversity of forms and fabrics in the later assemblage. Fired clay loomweights provide evidence for weaving. There was also bone and antler working debris on the site with pins, needles and gouges found in these materials.
It is likely that some of the flint assemblage from the excavation is from this settlement. It was not possible to separate out the later flints and so the flint assemblage for the excavation is recorded in the record of pre-middle Bronze Age activity (PRN 35513).
Analysis of the animal bone found on the site showed that cattle were the most numerous animals, mostly kept for their meat rather than as dairy animals. Sheep were also present and primarily kept for their meat. Some pigs were also present. There were also bones of horse, red deer, roe deer and dog. {7}{8}

<1> Parish card index of the former South Lincolnshire Archaeology Unit, -,1977, - (Index). SLI2132.

<2> PICKERING, J., 1962-86, RCHME, A8; B7-B11, 1977 (Aerial Photograph). SLI154.

<3> A.J. White (ed.), 1977, 'Archaeology in Lincolnshire and South Humberside, 1976' in Lincolnshire History and Archaeology, vol.12, p.72 (Article in Serial). SLI758.

<4> Peter Chowne, 1978, 'Billingborough Bronze Age Settlement: An Interim Note' in Lincolnshire History and Archaeology, vol.13, pp.15-21 (Article in Serial). SLI679.

<5> A.J. White (ed.), 1979, 'Archaeology in Lincolnshire and South Humberside, 1978' in Lincolnshire History and Archaeology, vol.14, pp.68-9 (Article in Serial). SLI765.

<6> Parish card index of the former South Lincolnshire Archaeology Unit, - Chowne P (Index). SLI2132.

<7> South Lincolnshire Archaeological Unit, 1996, Excavations at Billingborough 1975-78, LCNCC 173.1996 (Archive). SLI7302.

<8> Peter Chowne, Rosamund Cheal and A.P. Fitzpatrick, 2001, Excavations at Billingborough, Lincolnshire, 1975-78: a Bronze-Iron Age settlement and saltern site, pp.7-14, 21, 32-40, 67-72, 79, 84-85, 89-92. (Bibliographic Reference). SLI7301.

Monument Types

• BANK (EARTHWORK) (Middle Bronze Age to Late Bronze Age - 1500 BC to 1000 BC)
• DITCH (Middle Bronze Age to Late Bronze Age - 1500 BC to 1000 BC)
• ENCLOSURE (Middle Bronze Age to Late Bronze Age - 1500 BC to 1000 BC)
• PIT (Middle Bronze Age to Late Bronze Age - 1500 BC to 1000 BC)
• SETTLEMENT (Middle Bronze Age to Late Bronze Age - 1500 BC to 1000 BC)

Associated Finds

• ANIMAL REMAINS (Middle Bronze Age to Late Bronze Age - 1500 BC to 1000 BC)
• AWL (Middle Bronze Age - 1500 BC to 1001 BC)
• DAGGER (Middle Bronze Age - 1500 BC to 1001 BC)
• GOUGE (Middle Bronze Age - 1500 BC to 1001 BC)
• LOOMWEIGHT (Middle Bronze Age - 1500 BC to 1001 BC)
• NEEDLE (Middle Bronze Age - 1500 BC to 1001 BC)
• PICK (Middle Bronze Age - 1500 BC to 1001 BC)
• PIN (Middle Bronze Age - 1500 BC to 1001 BC)
• PLANT REMAINS (Middle Bronze Age - 1500 BC to 1260 BC)
• RAZOR (Middle Bronze Age - 1500 BC to 1001 BC)
• SHERD (Middle Bronze Age to Late Bronze Age - 1500 BC to 1000 BC)

Associated Events

• Excavation at Billingborough

Sources and further reading

Related records

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