Antiq J 50

ST 6225. Continued excavations in July-August 1969 failed to confirm the Early Neolithic enclosed settlement hinted at in 1968, but added Late Neolithic pottery to the known cultural sequence. For the Iron Age, particular interest attaches to evidence for stake-built round houses; to a rich collection of iron and bronze arms and armour perhaps from a workshop; and to a rectangular shrine with animal sacrifices. The moment of the Roman Conquest is represented by a field oven with military bronzes. For the 5th-6th centuries AD the plan of a timber hall was traced, and it was shown that timber and re-used Roman masonry had played a large part in the rampart and gateway. Au. Appendices treat an EIA shield mount, an 11th century bone plaque and human skeletal material.

[SU 6204]. Excavations have produced evidence of occupation throughout the Saxon period. After the cessation of standard Roman wares and local hand-made types early in 5th century, two Grubenhauser were built. The contemporary assemblage, assignable to mid-5th century, included ?imported carinated bowls and local hand-made grass-tempered wares made in the Roman tradition. Late in 5th or early in 6th century stamped Saxon urns appear and probably continue, alongside the grass-tempered tradition, into 7th century. By mid-8th century hand-made jars in gritty fabrics, like those from Hamwih, appear in a substantial rubbish deposit of the initial occupation of the hall complex. By 10th century a new style of wheel-thrown pottery, called here Portchester ware, is dominant. Mass-produced and distributed largely from the Isle of Wight to central Hampshire and from the Sussex border to the River Meon, Portchester ware had gone out of use by 1100 at the latest. Au(abr)

Numerous recent finds prompt a discussion and illustrated catalogue of this ware, first noticed in 1931. Distribution is concentrated in Yorkshire, with a possible outlier in S Wales. The slightly sandy fabric is buff to orange-red, with erratic and rudimentary decoration in red paint quite unlike the 4th century Crambeck wares. Most of the forms imitate samian originals such as Dr 37, 29 and flanged bowls. On Continental and British evidence the date range may be put at AD 75-120.

TF 126941 etc. The name Maxey Type is proposed for wares recently recognised in Lincolnshire as close relations of pottery in Group III assemblages at Maxey (Northants). The distribution so far apparent lies between the Humber and the Welland Valley. Several deserted medieval villages have yielded the wares, but the largest collection comes from a settlement site at Normanby le Wold. The fabric is hand-made with a shell filling which is currently undergoing microscopic study. Pierced lugs continue from earlier traditions, rims are usually plain and flat-topped, and surfaces may be carefully wiped. Preliminary results of thermoluminescence dating tend to confirm the Middle Saxon date, 7th-9th century, deduced on other grounds.

SY 657866. Seven gold pins noticed recently in place in the Ridgeway gold pommel form the only British example of exclusively functional gold pins dated to the Wessex period. The Hameldon Down pommel repair, although functional, was also decorative. A Breton parallel from La-Garenne, Morbihan, is the only other instance of purely functional pin use and still has two pins in place with their heads hidden by the continuous decoration of the piece. The Ridgeway pommel's shape and associations suggest that, like La-Garenne, it is late in the pin typology. Both may be from contemporary graves, which if not transitional Wessex I/Wessex II, might be early Wessex II (see also 71/1145). Au

[SU 525246]. The results of the 1968-9 seasons of excavation at Bottom Pond Farm are described, especially the layout of the pre-Roman settlement. Problems of the siting of the settlement, the land usage and the function of storage pits are discussed, and two inscribed bronze rings and an embossed bronze plaque (all of Roman date) are described in detail. Au

At Castle Yard the pre-Roman and Roman defences were examined and a large salient discovered at the SW corner of the Roman walled town. A Saxon street and its building lay within this, buried below the castle earthworks of 1067. At Lankhills sixty 4th century graves were excavated, four producing evidence of an alien military element, further evidence of which at the Cathedral Green and elsewhere suggests the presence of a Germanic garrison. The excavation of the Old Minster was completed by the examination of the E end of the 7th century church, and by the discovery of a west-work of continental type consecrated in 980. At Lower Brook Street four houses and other structures of the mid-12th to mid-13th century were excavated, one property being devoted entirely to cloth finishing. Three phases of St Mary's Church were examined and the latest stage of St Pancras' Church uncovered. At Wolvesey Palace the W hall can be dated to c 1110, the lead-piped water supply to early 12th century. Au(abr)

SE 948214. A cameo found at Eastfield, Winteringham, represents the profile bust of a Minerva and is closely paralleled only at Cologne. It is probably of 3rd century date. Brief details of the fourteen other cameos from Roman Britain are tabulated.