An Iron-Age Settlement and Remains of Earlier Prehistoric Date beneath South Shields Roman Fort, Tyne and Wear

Hodgson, Nick; Stobbs, G. c.; Veen, Marijke van der; Croom, Alexandra; Waddington, Clive

doi:10.1080/00665983.2001.11079009

Cited by 8 publications

(4 citation statements)

References 20 publications

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“…This patterning is directly supported by the fieldwalking data for this valley which shows the greatest density of Neolithic stone tools on the sand and gravel terraces of the main valley floors (Passmore & Waddington 2009). Additionally, the distribution of stone axe heads also shows a clear river valley pattern (Burgess 1984, 133-5) which strengthens the view that the Neolithic occupation of Northumberland was very much initiated from the fertile lands along the courses of the main river valleys together with some settlement at estuaries (eg, Hodgson et al 2001) and the fertile coastal tracts (Waddington 2004).…”

Section: Settlementsupporting

confidence: 52%

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

Waddington

Marshall

Passmore

2011

Proc. Prehist. Soc.

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The Tweed Valley and its tributaries, and particularly the Milfield Basin in north Northumberland, is an area of strategic significance in the geography of the British Isles and it hosts a rich and varied multi-period archaeological and palaeoenvironmental record. This paper summarises some of the key findings for the Neolithic resulting from a long-term and in-depth landscape research project and provides a new chronological sequence for the Neolithic of the region.Attention is drawn to the discovery of what appears to be a new type of Neolithic structure associated with settlement activity hitherto unrecognised in Britain: post-built timber buildings based on a triangular arrangement of timbers. The paper then turns to a consideration of subsistence and land-use practices and the evidence for cereal agriculture from the immediate outset of the Neolithic in the region. Since 1999 many more radiocarbon measurements have become available for Neolithic activity in the area and, together with those obtained before 1999, have been recalibrated and subjected to Bayesian modelling to produce more precise estimates for Neolithic activity. Important findings include the provision of a more robust estimate for dating the onset of the Neolithic in the region, as well as establishing a chronological framework for the Neolithic–Beaker period ceramic sequence. It also reveals that the current dating available for the henge monuments indicates that this ritual complex most likely dates to the Beaker period and not to the Neolithic proper as they do in some other parts of Britain. Truly ‘Neolithic’ ceremonial monuments in the Milfield Basin remain elusive and few of the potential sites that have so far been identified have yet to be tested by excavation and scientific dating. A clear zoning of rock art is apparent, with hundreds of sites all clustered on the Fellsandstone escarpment, while a variety of Neolithic burial types is attested suggesting the region formed a meeting ground for different cultural influences.

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Section: Settlementsupporting

confidence: 52%

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

Waddington

Marshall

Passmore

2011

Proc. Prehist. Soc.

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“…This represents a mid Iron Age round house in north-east England which burnt down (Hodgson and Stobbs, 2002). The high wheat density data here can be explained by the formation processes: a large conflagration caused both the house and adjacent structures to burn down.…”

Section: Iron Age North-east Englandmentioning

confidence: 95%

Formation processes of desiccated and carbonized plant remains – the identification of routine practice

Veen

2007

Journal of Archaeological Science

181

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“…The possible existence of a causewayed enclosure -a type of site extremely rare north of the Wash -at Sprouston (Figure 45) has already been noted; others are suspected to exist at Hasting Hill, Tyne & Wear (Newman 1976) and at South Shields, Tyne and Wear, below the Roman fort of Arbeia, where ditch terminals were excavated (Hodgson et al 2001). (A further claimed example on Flodden Hill, overlooking the Milfield Basin, is considered to be unlikely given its position on a slope: Johnson & Waddington 2009, 246.)…”

Section: Early Neolithic To 3500 Bcmentioning

confidence: 95%

Neolithic Scotland: ScARF Panel Report

2012

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The main recommendations of the Panel report can be summarised as follows: The Overall Picture: more needs to be understood about the process of acculturation of indigenous communities; about the Atlantic, Breton strand of Neolithisation; about the ‘how and why’ of the spread of Grooved Ware use and its associated practices and traditions; and about reactions to Continental Beaker novelties which appeared from the 25th century. The Detailed Picture: Our understanding of developments in different parts of Scotland is very uneven, with Shetland and the north-west mainland being in particular need of targeted research. Also, here and elsewhere in Scotland, the chronology of developments needs to be clarified, especially as regards developments in the Hebrides. Lifeways and Lifestyles: Research needs to be directed towards filling the substantial gaps in our understanding of: i) subsistence strategies; ii) landscape use (including issues of population size and distribution); iii) environmental change and its consequences – and in particular issues of sea level rise, peat formation and woodland regeneration; and iv) the nature and organisation of the places where people lived; and to track changes over time in all of these. Material Culture and Use of Resources: In addition to fine-tuning our characterisation of material culture and resource use (and its changes over the course of the Neolithic), we need to apply a wider range of analytical approaches in order to discover more about manufacture and use.Some basic questions still need to be addressed (e.g. the chronology of felsite use in Shetland; what kind of pottery was in use, c 3000–2500, in areas where Grooved Ware was not used, etc.) and are outlined in the relevant section of the document. Our knowledge of organic artefacts is very limited, so research in waterlogged contexts is desirable. Identity, Society, Belief Systems: Basic questions about the organisation of society need to be addressed: are we dealing with communities that started out as egalitarian, but (in some regions) became socially differentiated? Can we identify acculturated indigenous people? How much mobility, and what kind of mobility, was there at different times during the Neolithic? And our chronology of certain monument types and key sites (including the Ring of Brodgar, despite its recent excavation) requires to be clarified, especially since we now know that certain types of monument (including Clava cairns) were not built during the Neolithic. The way in which certain types of site (e.g. large palisaded enclosures) were used remains to be clarified. Research and methodological issues: There is still much ignorance of the results of past and current research, so more effective means of dissemination are required. Basic inventory information (e.g. the Scottish Human Remains Database) needs to be compiled, and Canmore and museum database information needs to be updated and expanded – and, where not already available online, placed online, preferably with a Scottish Neolithic e-hub that directs the enquirer to all the available sources of information. The Historic Scotland on-line radiocarbon date inventory needs to be resurrected and kept up to date. Under-used resources, including the rich aerial photography archive in the NMRS, need to have their potential fully exploited. Multi-disciplinary, collaborative research (and the application of GIS modelling to spatial data in order to process the results) is vital if we are to escape from the current ‘silo’ approach and address key research questions from a range of perspectives; and awareness of relevant research outside Scotland is essential if we are to avoid reinventing the wheel. Our perspective needs to encompass multi-scale approaches, so that ScARF Neolithic Panel Report iv developments within Scotland can be understood at a local, regional and wider level. Most importantly, the right questions need to be framed, and the right research strategies need to be developed, in order to extract the maximum amount of information about the Scottish Neolithic.

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An Iron-Age Settlement and Remains of Earlier Prehistoric Date beneath South Shields Roman Fort, Tyne and Wear

Cited by 8 publications

References 20 publications

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

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

Formation processes of desiccated and carbonized plant remains – the identification of routine practice

Neolithic Scotland: ScARF Panel Report

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