Fiskerton

by Field, Naomi; Pearson, Mike Parker; Parker Pearson, Michael

• ISBN13: 9781842170649
• ISBN10: 1842170643
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2004-05-01
• Publisher: Oxbow Books Ltd

Summary

A report of the 1981 excavations on the bank of the River Witham and the insights into this important aspect of the Iron Age religion and culture. Included are detailed descriptions of the Iron Age, Roman and Medieval artifacts and the human and animal bones found at the site. A comparison of the Fiskerton deposition with other British, Iris and European examples of ritual or votive deposition in water and the discussion of the construction and appearance of the causeway are also included.

Table of Contents

List of Illustrations
Preface
Summary - Resume - Zusammenfassung
List of Contributors
Acknowledgements
The Timber Causeway	p. 1
Topography and setting	p. 1
The excavation	p. 2
The Environmental Setting of the Causeway	p. 17
The soils	p. 17
The plant remains: macrofossils and pollen	p. 19
The insects	p. 22
Environmental overview	p. 23
The Wooden Remains	p. 25
Tree-ring analysis of the causeway timbers	p. 25
The wood	p. 38
The Iron Age Weaponry and Tools	p. 49
The Iron Age military items	p. 49
The iron tools	p. 63
The condition and metallographic examination of the ironwork	p. 74
Detailed scientific examination of axe-head 413	p. 85
The Other Iron Age Artefacts	p. 87
The Iron Age pottery	p. 87
The bone and antler artefacts: their manufacture and use	p. 92
The amber and jet artefacts	p. 111
The worked stone	p. 113
The Roman and Medieval Artefacts	p. 115
The Roman pottery	p. 115
The Roman tile	p. 115
The Roman metalwork	p. 118
The Roman whetstones	p. 120
The post-Roman pottery and tile	p. 124
The post-Roman metalwork	p. 124
The Human and Animal Bones	p. 125
The human bones	p. 125
The radiocarbon dates for the human bones	p. 127
The mammalian and bird bones	p. 127
The fish bones	p. 131
The Fiskerton Causeway	p. 133
The construction and appearance of the causeway	p. 133
Lunar eclipses, Saros cycles and the construction of the causeway	p. 136
Social implications of lunar eclipse measurement for calendrical knowledge and archaeoastronomy	p. 144
Fiskerton in Its Local and Regional Setting	p. 149
Finds from the River Witham	p. 149
The Palaeolithic to Earlier Neolithic landscape	p. 150
The Late Neolithic and Early Bronze Age landscape	p. 153
The Middle and Late Bronze Age landscape	p. 153
Other possible causeways in the Fiskerton area	p. 159
Activity contemporary with the Fiskerton causeway	p. 160
Activity post-dating the Fiskerton causeway	p. 167
The Fiskerton Votive Assemblage and Its Context	p. 171
Votive deposition in the Witham	p. 171
The Fiskerton artefact assemblage	p. 173
Celtic art and its social and depositional context	p. 178
The British and European Context of Fiskerton	p. 179
Continental comparisons	p. 179
British and Irish comparisons	p. 184
Regional Social Dynamics in Later Prehistoric Eastern England	p. 189
Deposition and settlement	p. 189
Votive deposits as boundary phenomena	p. 190
Other Archaeological Excavations at Fiskerton	p. 195
Perrins Cottages, High Street	p. 195
Nelson Road	p. 196
References	p. 199
Colour Plates	p. 211
Index	p. 223
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