The Colchester Archaeologist 1996-7 - Colchester Archaeological ...

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approached the first of the enclosures.Since then, archaeological excavationhas been intermittent and targeted onlyon the areas imminently threatened bythe slowly advancing quarry face.Burials and enclosuresWork on the site up to last summerinvolved the examination of at leastparts of four of the enclosures. This hasenabled us to understand the nature ofthe site and construct a chronologicalsequence for its development which wecan summarise as follows.The smallest of the enclosures(Enclosure 2) was the earliest and thiswas probably the core of a farmsteaddating from the 3rd or 2nd century BC.The ditched area would have containedround-houses and it would have providedan enclosure containing animalsas well as houses. There are indicationsof a nearby ditched droveway whichwould presumably have been used tolead animals from the enclosure to pasturesa short distance away. The enclosureseems to contain lots of pits whichpresumably result from domestic occupationwithin it.Enclosure 1 was the next to be laidout. This was the first of the funeraryenclosures. Near the centre were theremains of a small timber chamber containinga few pieces of broken potteryand some scraps of burnt human bone.The chamber had been made ofwooden planks nailed together in theshape of a rectangular box. Like all theother funerary enclosures, it wasalmost entirely empty inside. We onlydiscovered one burial in the enclosure,and that took the form of a single potcontaining cremated bone.The remaining three enclosures thenfollowed. All were all funerary in purpose;Enclosures 3 and 5 seem to havebeen first, with Enclosure 4 being moreas infill between the two. Enclosure 3provided the first big find. We dealtwith all this in earlier issues of TheColchester Archaeologist (nos 5 and 6) sowe will not repeat it all here. Butreaders of those issues may recallthe remarkable 'warrior' grave inEnclosure 3, with its extraordinarilyrich collection of grave goods. Theseinclude over fourteen pottery vessels,two copper-alloy vessels, a fine glassbowl, two other glass vessels, andbrooches. The objects allow it to bedated to the AD 50s. Of particularnote - especially in the light of themore recent discovery in Enclosure 5 -is the collection of 20 glass countersand the remains of a folding woodengaming board. The counters had notbeen placed on the board but they hadeither been put in a pile or in a bagclose by it. However, of all the finds,the most significant were the remainsof a spear and what may have been ashield. At this time (AD 50s), Britonswould not have been allowed to carryarms. We are specifically told by the
historian Dio Cassius that Claudius disarmedthe defeated tribes atCamulodunum, so the presence ofthese items suggests that the deadperson must have enjoyed special privileges.Near the 'warrior' grave wasanother burial which, although notnearly so well endowed, is of equalinterest. This one contained two pots,two brooches, and an inkpot. The lastitem is very significant because itsuggests that the dead person had beenliterate.Normally we might have guessedthat the dead people sharing the enclosurehad been close relatives of theperson in the chamber. However thepresence of the spear and inkpot in thetwo graves suggest that, rather than relatives,these were the burial places ofhigh-ranking aides. The inkpot suggeststhe presence of a clerk, and the spearand possible shield the presence of anarmour bearer. Armour bearers didexist and the Greek writer Posidoniusgave an interesting description of aCeltic feast which features some.When many people dine together they sitin a circle, with the most important manin the central place, like the leader in achorus; this is someone who excels theothers by virtue of his martial skill, birthor wealth. Next to him sits the host, andthen alternatively on either side come allthe others, in order of rank. Their shieldbearersstand behind them and the spearsmensit in front in a circle like their lords,and feast in common in the same way.It needs to be noted that Posidoniuswas describing Celts in Gaul ratherthan Britain and he was writing morethan a century before our warriorburial. Nevertheless his account is stilllikely to be relevant here becauseof cultural and ethnic linksbetween the two groups of peoplesand the conservative nature of prehistoriccultures.Armour bearers could move in highcircles. The Roman historian Tacitustells us how Cartimandua, the contemporaryqueen of the Brigantes (a tribeinhabiting what is now the northernpart of England), replaced her husbandVenutius with his armour bearerVellocatus.Of course it could be that the personrepresented in our warrior burial wasnot an armour bearer, but instead hadsimply been a member of the nobilityburied with his arms. The upper classwas made up of land-owners for whom,as we can see in the quotation fromPosidonius, being a warrior was an outwardsign of their status. However,arms are not common in graves of thisperiod which is why we can considerless obvious explanations for their presencehere.The great summer of 1996By 1996, it had become clear that thesite was of great interest but thesummer of that year was to provideeven more spectacular results. The siteis large (about 300 m square) so thearchaeological excavations are costly.Most of the work has been funded byEnglish Heritage with additional supportfrom the Essex County Council,the Essex History Fair, the EssexHeritage Trust, and ColchesterBorough Council. The work of 1996was funded almost entirely by the siteowner, Tarmac Southern Ltd, withStephen Benfield - an archaeologist with jobsatisfaction.some extra help from the Essex CountyCouncil. Despite all the generous financialsupport, funds were still severelystretched, so that this year the workwas arranged around the summer holidaysto maximise student and othervoluntary help. A campsite was providednext to the excavation and awork force of up to 30 people at anyone time was assembled. The work washard and the site was hot and dusty butthe team performed well and with greateffect.The chamber in Enclosure 5 provedto be little different to the chambersexamined in the other enclosures,although it has helped us to review ourinterpretation of what happened tothem. In fact, there were fewer finds inthe backfill of this one than elsewhere,and these were broken into smallerfragments than we had found beforebecause the mourners seem to havemade a better job of smashing them atthe time of the burial ceremony. Therewere the usual nails around the sides ofthe pit and in its backfill, and therewere traces on some of the edges of thepit of the planks which formed the verticalsides of the chamber. The nailsaround parts of the sides clearly wereclose to their original positions: thewood had rotted but they had stayed inplace, thus showing us that the chamberhad been made of wooden planksheld together with nails. The chamberExcavation in progress of the grave with thegaming hoard.3
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