Monument record MWX3516 - Bestwall Quarry Archaeological Project, Charcoal Pits

Charcoal pits excavated in all phases of the Bestwall Quarry Archaeological Project.

Phase 1, 1992. Field A: 22 spreads of charcoal discovered during watching brief Phases 1 and 2, 1993. Field A: 19 charcoal features examined (41 over field), five containing worked flint, including a Neolithic blade flake. Field B: only one dense spread of charcoal, seven shallow linear charcoal features and three shallow spreads of thickly dispersed charcoal associated with post-medieval finds (1) Phase 3, 1994. Fields B and D: 145 randomly spread charcoal pits, some containing Roman pottery (2) Phase 4, 1995. Field C: 113 charcoal pits, 13 with late Iron Age and 27 with Roman pottery. Burnt flint was common to most pits and there was also a quantity of worked flint. Possible function of pits as bonfire clamps during pottery production. One very large pit may have been used for charcoal making (3) Phase 5, 1996. Fields E and P: 127 pits in total with an average diameter of 1m, generally bowl shaped with concentrations of charcoal on their bases. Seven pits with Iron Age pottery and 20 with Roman. Worked flints present as flakes. In Field E one large pit (2.6m diameter 0.53m deep) produced 50 pieces of flint debris and a broken sandstone 'rubber'. Another pit in Field P (0.9m wide and 0.38m deep) had a dense fill consisting of large chunks of charred wood identified as oak (4) Phase 6, 1997. Field F: 143 charcoal pits investigated, 91 containing worked flint or pottery, Iron Age pottery found in 20 and Roman in 42 (5) Phase 7, 1998. Fields C, F and G: 89 pits were excavated in Fields C, F and G, 45 with no dating material. A high proportion showed evidence of in situ burning. On ceramic evidence pits seem to date from the MBA to the Roman period. MBA pottery found in five charcoal pits and LBA in one in Field G (6) Phase 8, 1999. Field H: 64 charcoal pits, one dated to the Iron Age and 20 to the Roman period. Field R: 96 charcoal pits, some dated to the MBA, five to the Iron Age and 30 to the Roman period. Pits varied from smears of charcoal on the surface to thick dense concentrations. The deeper pits generally showed evidence of in situ burning in the form of burnt red sand (7) Phase 10, 2001. Field J: 140 charcoal pits excavated. Nine MBA charcoal pits, two associated with a hut structure, one rectangular pit with large pottery deposit, large rim fragment from a decorated urn placed in the base of another, the bases of these two were burnt. Ten charcoal pits with Iron Age pottery with Durotrigian pottery from bead rimmed jars. 48 attributed to the Roman period (8) Phase 11, 2002. Field T: 33 charcoal pits. One MBA charcoal pit containing a single piece of flint tempered pottery. Three Late Iron Age charcoal pits and seven dated to the Roman period. Field N: 14 charcoal pits, six dated to the Roman period (9)

Record last edited

Jun 4 2021 3:52PM