Prehistoric and Dark Age Settlement Remains from Cheviot Quarry, Milfield Basin, Northumberland

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

“…For example, the distribution 'start_Neolithic Settlement (incl 'pits')' is the estimated date for the start of Neolithic settlement activity. The large square brackets down the left hand side along with the OxCal keywords define the model exactly samples collected during fieldwork undertaken as part of this and other studies (see Passmore & Waddington 2009;Johnson & Waddington 2008), as well as by a thorough re-interpretation of previously published results by several archaeologists (Harding 1981;Miket 1985;Miket et al 2008).…”

“…Until relatively recently Neolithic settlement evidence was considered a very rare occurrence in northern counties of England with the period typically represented by, and conceived through, a variety of monument forms such as cairns, long mounds, henges, and occasional 'midden pits'. This state of affairs has changed significantly, for north Northumberland at least, with discoveries of Neolithic pits and at least one structure at Thirlings (Miket 1976;Miket et al 2008), and, subsequently, a range of Neolithic structures and related hearth and midden pits at sites including Bolam lake (Waddington & Davies 2002), Whitton Park in Milfield village (Waddington 2006), Cheviot Quarry North, Cheviot Quarry South (Johnson & Waddington 2008), and Lanton Quarry (Waddington 2009). At the Bolam Lake site, for example, a cluster of midden pits containing Carinated Bowl ceramics, struck flints, and a broken stone axe head fragment were located 7 m to the east of a structure that comprised a triangular arrangement of post-holes spatially associated with two further heavily truncated pits (F9 and F10) which both contained Carinated Bowl ceramics.…”

“…There is another type of pit that has been recognised from the Bolam Lake site, this being a rock-cut storage pit lined with some kind of organic material, although this too was ultimately backfilled with redeposited midden material (Waddington & Davies 2002). Midden pits are typically located within, next to, or close by the various types of structures mentioned above, or in small clusters as at Cheviot Quarry North (Johnson & Waddington 2008), or as large clusters as at Cheviot Quarry South (ibid.) and Thirlings (Miket et al 2008).…”

“…Northumberland, north-east England, and the Milfield Basin in particular, are geographicallydefined areas that host a wealth of Neolithic archaeological remains. Significant campaigns of archaeological fieldwork have taken place over recent years examining different components of the landscape (eg, Johnson & Waddington 2008;Miket et al 2008;Passmore & Waddington 2009;in press;Waddington 1998;2007a; and so it is timely that these new findings are summarised so as to be available to national and international audiences. The implications of this work are farreaching given that Northumberland occupies something of a geographical pivot in terms of access to, through, and around the British Isles.…”

“…The research has focused on the study of prehistoric-early medieval landscape development and the use of a geoarchaeological approach to inform future management of this landscape. The earliest publication deriving from this research (Waddington 1999) has been followed by a stream of publications that deal with both the archaeological and palaeoenvironmental findings, partly stemming from commercial quarrysite excavations (eg, Johnson & Waddington 2008;Waddington 2000;, as well as the archaeological management framework for the area (Passmore et al 2002;Waddington 2008), and two volumes of synthesis (Passmore & Waddington 2009;in press). The first of these sets out much of the new data and provides an in-depth discourse on the management approach, whilst the second sets out additional new data and provides a narrative from the Mesolithic through to the early medieval periods.…”