Pit Alignments in the Milfield Basin, and the Excavation of Ewart 1

Miket, Roger

doi:10.1017/s0079497x00008896

Cited by 31 publications

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“…Just over 400 m to the south of the site lies Ewart Henge (NT 956317), a Class II henge around 20 m in diameter. Between this and the site, two pit alignments have been recorded, with the excavation of Alignment 1 producing sherds in the Grooved Ware style (Miket 1981). An elongated enclosure some 50 m in length with rounded terminals, and circular feature lying within its southern end, has been interpreted as a pos sible mortuary enclosure (Miket 1976, 128 and pl.…”

Section: Location (Illus 1 and 43)mentioning

confidence: 99%

Thirlings: A Neolithic Site in Northumberland

Miket¹,

Edwards²,

O'Brien³

2008

Archaeological Journal

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r o g e r m i k e t a n d b e n j a m i n e d w a r d s , w i t h c o l m o ' b r i e n Excavation at Thirlings, Northumberland revealed very extensive pit and post-pit features of Neolithic date. Some were suggestive of circular, trapezoidal and possibly rectangular structures. Radiocarbon dates indicate activity commencing around the beginning of the fourth millennium bc and continuing intermittently until at least the mid-third millennium bc. The pottery assemblage was substantial, and included Early Neolithic Carinated Bowl, and later Neolithic pottery in a variety of impressed styles that include Peterborough Wares as well as Grooved Ware. This collec tion adds considerably to the pottery record from the period in Northumberland. There was some evidence for cereal cultivation. Spatial analysis of deposition on the site was undertaken alongside the abrasion analysis of the pottery sherds. Mechanisms to explain the findings are discussed, and the nature of occupation on the site is interpreted in light of recent thinking on the nature of the British Neolithic.

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Section: Location (Illus 1 and 43)mentioning

confidence: 99%

Thirlings: A Neolithic Site in Northumberland

Miket¹,

Edwards²,

O'Brien³

2008

Archaeological Journal

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“…1), as well as a double pit alignment, ring ditch cemeteries and burial mounds of stone or earth raised over distinctive cist and pit burials to create extensive ceremonial and burial landscapes. It is also possible that some of the single pit alignments may date to this period, such as those encompassing the Ewart henge complex (Miket 1981;Waddington 1997). This possibility is leant some support by the recent publication of excavations on single pit alignments in south-east Scotland 45 km north-west of the Milfield Basin at Eweford East and Knowes (Shearer & McLellan 2008).…”

Section: Monumentalising the Landmentioning

confidence: 99%

Towards Synthesis: Research and Discovery in Neolithic North-East England

Waddington

Marshall

Passmore

2011

Proc. Prehist. Soc.

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The Tweed Valley and its tributaries, and particularly the Milfield Basin in north Northumberland, is an area of strategic significance in the geography of the British Isles and it hosts a rich and varied multi-period archaeological and palaeoenvironmental record. This paper summarises some of the key findings for the Neolithic resulting from a long-term and in-depth landscape research project and provides a new chronological sequence for the Neolithic of the region.Attention is drawn to the discovery of what appears to be a new type of Neolithic structure associated with settlement activity hitherto unrecognised in Britain: post-built timber buildings based on a triangular arrangement of timbers. The paper then turns to a consideration of subsistence and land-use practices and the evidence for cereal agriculture from the immediate outset of the Neolithic in the region. Since 1999 many more radiocarbon measurements have become available for Neolithic activity in the area and, together with those obtained before 1999, have been recalibrated and subjected to Bayesian modelling to produce more precise estimates for Neolithic activity. Important findings include the provision of a more robust estimate for dating the onset of the Neolithic in the region, as well as establishing a chronological framework for the Neolithic–Beaker period ceramic sequence. It also reveals that the current dating available for the henge monuments indicates that this ritual complex most likely dates to the Beaker period and not to the Neolithic proper as they do in some other parts of Britain. Truly ‘Neolithic’ ceremonial monuments in the Milfield Basin remain elusive and few of the potential sites that have so far been identified have yet to be tested by excavation and scientific dating. A clear zoning of rock art is apparent, with hundreds of sites all clustered on the Fellsandstone escarpment, while a variety of Neolithic burial types is attested suggesting the region formed a meeting ground for different cultural influences.

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“…The Milfield basin is widely recognized for the wealth and diversity of its archaeological remains (Higham, 1986), and particularly for regionally and nationally important sites spanning three specific periods. A series of major neolithic sites that occur on the valley floor, including henges and associated features (Harding, 1981;Miket, 1981;Waddington, 1996Waddington, , 1997, pit alignments (Miket, 1981) and settlements (Harding, 1981;Miket, 1987;Waddington, 1999), have prompted Higham (1986, p. 46) to characterize the basin as 'the heartland of the Neolithic in the north-east'. Encircling the basin are several well-preserved hillfort sites, notably Yeavering Bell (Tate, 1862;Hope-Taylor, 1977) and Dod Law (Smith, 1990), that were occupied during the Iron Age and into the Romano-British periods.…”

Section: Physiography Geology and Archaeology Of The Milfield Basinmentioning

confidence: 99%

Geoarchaeology of the Milfield Basin, northern England; towards an integrated archaeological prospection, research and management framework

Passmore

Waddington

Houghton

2002

Archaeological Prospection

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This paper presents the results of geoarchaeological investigations undertaken on the valley floor of the Milfield Basin in Northumberland, northern England. The area has a regionally and nationally important archaeological record, including a series of major neolithic and Anglian settlements, but has hitherto lacked archaeological assessment and management guidelines appropriate to the wide range of late-glacial and post-glacial environmental settings in the basin. This project has used geomorphological techniques to delimit and classify a total of nine valley floor landform elements in terms of their geomorphology and their known and potential archaeological and palaeoenvironmental associations. Terraced glaciodeltaic and glaciofluvial sand and gravel landforms comprise the oldest landform elements described here and have formed the primary regional focus for prehistoric and early historic settlement and associated subsistence and ritual activity. These landforms have experienced little post-glacial geomorphological activity, but their multiperiod archaeological landscapes lie beneath a shallow soil cover and are vulnerable to land-use activities that disturb terrace soils and underlying sediments. A second group of landform elements are of Holocene age and include localized surface peats, alluvial fans, colluvial deposits and extensive deposits of terraced alluvium. Archaeological landscapes in these environments may lie buried intact and unrecorded beneath protective covers of sediment although locally they may have been subject to erosion and reworking by fluvial and slope processes. Holocene alluviation may account, at least in part, for the paucity of recorded archaeology in these parts of the basin. However, peat and organic-rich sedimentary sequences identified here (including four 14 C dated peat sequences) offer an opportunity to elucidate the environmental context and land-use histories of local prehistoric and early historic communities in the basin, and hence also should be regarded as an archaeological resource.Discussion of landform elements and their archaeological associations is followed by a brief outline of evaluation criteria developed with the aim of ensuring effective long-term management of archaeological and palaeoenvironmental resources. It is concluded that geoarchaeological analysis of landform elements may be considered central to development of frameworks intended to underpin future programmes of archaeological research and the development of cultural resource management and evaluation strategies.

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Pit Alignments in the Milfield Basin, and the Excavation of Ewart 1

Cited by 31 publications

References 0 publications

Thirlings: A Neolithic Site in Northumberland

Thirlings: A Neolithic Site in Northumberland

Towards Synthesis: Research and Discovery in Neolithic North-East England

Geoarchaeology of the Milfield Basin, northern England; towards an integrated archaeological prospection, research and management framework

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