Archaeologia Aeliana Series 4

NU 1026. One large and five small cairns were excavated. The large cairn yielded three Beaker inhumations and two cremations, one in an Enlarged Food Vessel, the other unaccompanied. A final burial may have been inserted into the cairn during the 3rd cent AD. The 14C date for the earliest Beaker burial is 1670 + 50 BC and the second Beaker burial followed closely on this. The third inhumation, accompanied by a late type of Beaker, was probably inserted into a cairn already raised over the first two and, at this stage, perhaps c 1500 BC, the cairn could have been enlarged by the addition of a well constructed kerb. The true nature of four of the small cairns was not entirely resolved and they may have been no more than the results of field clearance. A fifth apparently covered a grave, lacking any grave goods, but for carbonised material from this there is a 14C date of 2890 + 90 BC which poses a problem in itself. Further work had to be postponed. Appended are field observations on possible enclosed cremation cemeteries and on cairnfields generally in north Northumberland. Au(abr)

An examination of the division of labour between legions on the building of the wall uses the structural evidence of turrets, milecastles and the curtain together with epigraphic material but draws different conclusions from those of Stevens. Different structures and lengths can be attributed to different legions in the first stage of wall construction and in the building of forts when legions were re-deployed. A review of the evidence suggests AD 122 for the start of wall building, 124 for the dislocation of the first stage and 126-7 for the decision to narrow the wall. Evidence for the building of the Turf wall is uncertain without further excavation. BLC

The object of the comparison is to understand the economy of the two sites. Part 1 summarises the relative numbers of species and their ages at death. Corstopitum bones include data collected earlier. The sheep were similiar to the Soay type, slaughtered in their second year. The cattle were Bos longifrons and the pigs a long-legged domestic type, the horses about 14½ hands maximum height. In order of abundance, the species were ox, sheep, pig, horse, red deer at both sites (cf Woodcutts). Part 2 examines the relative numbers as a guide to the economy. Although comparison is not exact because of incomplete excavation and different assessing methods, tables are given of relative frequencies of food species from sixty ancient sites, Mesolithic to medieval. The ages at slaughter of Catcote and Corstopitum sheep are tabulated and histograms of bone size-ranges provided. Size-diversity of ancient cattle in general is discussed and a "neolithic ox" postulated, intermediate between the aurochs and the "Celtic ox" which gave place after Roman times to larger and variant forms. B W