It’s been another exciting week of excavation at the multi-period Swartigill site, with some remarkable finds and intriguing developments within the structures.
Much of the focus this season has been on the hearths in the main structures, D and B. These impressive and complex features occupy a large area in each building and are likely to have performed multiple functions.
In Structure D, we’re also continuing to unpick a network of flues that fed the hearth with air, allowing the flames to reach higher temperatures. We think that, originally, there may have been a kiln in the centre of this building – one that generated enough heat to crack the stone of the walls!
Travis also found a remarkably well-preserved charred branch next to the hearth in Structure D. Finds like this are relatively rare and often provide us with valuable information about how people managed woodlands, stored their valuable resources and the tools they used to work and cut the wood.
Perhaps the position of this branch so close to the hearth is also significant – you can almost imagine it being used to stir the embers in the fire.
In Structure B, we are also investigating multiple flues, again for feeding air into the giant hearth. We continue to find large quantities of pottery all around this hearth, often in big conjoining sections. There are also multiple stone tools in the floor layers around the hearth, mostly cobbles that have been used as hammerstones and grinders.
These buildings form part of a long-lived settlement that was occupied throughout the Middle Iron Age, from the mid-4th century BC through into the 1st and 2nd centuries AD.
Some of the most eye-catching finds of the dig have come not from the occupation layers in Structures B and D, but from the rubble layers around the east side of the trench.
These include this beautiful glass bead, found by volunteer excavator Anthea Dean and pictured above. It was made from translucent teal glass with a sinuous band of opaque white and red glass around its edges.
This bead is very similar to a type found within a grave at Værnes in Trøndelag, Norway, which is dated to the late 9th century AD (AD850-900). This matches our dates for later phase occupation on the site, with AMS radiocarbon dates of between Cal 779 to AD827 and Cal 894 to AD945.
Along with the remarkable bead, the same small area also uncovered artefacts of a more domestic nature, including a very fine spindle whorl, made from stone. This small oval weight would have been mounted on a wooden shaft, which was used to spin raw fibres (probably wool or flax) into threads for weaving.
These finds add to a small, but growing, assemblage of artefacts dating from the Early Medieval or Norse period that echoes the abundant material we find from the more extensive Middle Iron Age phase of the site.
We have evidence for tasks that defined the everyday lives of these communities, such as quern stones for the grinding of grain, spindle whorls for textile production, and whetstones for sharpening their tools, alongside beads and other items of personal adornment that speak of their desire to express themselves through their appearance, display their wealth and their individuality.
We rounded off week two with an Open Day on Sunday, which was blessed by fantastic sunny weather and dozens of visitors. We were delighted to welcome so many people to the excavation and to have the opportunity to talk about this intriguing site, show off some our fantastic finds, and champion our team of volunteer and professional archaeologist who have worked so hard to make this such a successful project.
We have one more week of digging to go, so there is still time to come and visit. We will be covering the site on Friday, September 5, so if you’re thinking of making a visit, come along from Monday to Thursday this week, between 9am and 4pm.
