Archaeologia Aeliana Series 5

NY 871673. A cist revealed by deep ploughing contained the disarticulated partial skeleton of a young woman and a bronze dagger. The few bones, presumably brought from a repository, had been arranged in imitation of a flexed burial. The dagger is a three-riveted plain EBA type. The combination of Neolithic and Bronze Age features in the burial, and the unusual association of dagger with female burial, are remarked. Reports on the human bones and the plant material (including rushes) are appended.

NY 700882. Documentary evidence for the general development of settlement in the valley is discussed, and transhumance identified as its typical way of life. Settlement maps are constructed for late 13th and mid-16th centuries: in the latter period bastles, estimated at one for every four-five settlements, are in evidence. By 1769 (map) social and economic changes caused permanent farms to replace the shielings. A ?16th century bastle-house on Belling Farm was excavated and two small farmsteads surveyed. The bastle-house had been deserted, then repaired and reoccupied in ?mid-19th century. Pottery and small finds are catalogued.

[NY 7066]. Discussion of the confused evidence for the finding of the guard-chamber hoard, and of each item individually, with new photographs. The gilt-bronze brooch is almost certainly the product of a Celtic workshop in N England c AD 70/80 and stems from the Continental thistle-brooch. The large silver trumpet-brooch, 18.5cm long, was probably locally commissioned by a soldier of east European origin. The silver chain-collar is likewise a fusion of Roman and native styles. The child's silver bracelet and some rings complete the hoard, whose deposition probably dates to Allectus' withdrawal of the garrison in 296.