Site Event/Activity record ECH5952 - Excavation of Iron Age/Roman Settlement at Poulton, Trenches 16 and 50, 2003-2013

Between 2003-2013 excavations were undertaken of a late prehistoric lowland settlement situated on agricultural land in Poulton, Cheshire. The site is located circa 450m west of the River Dee, occupying a shelf on boulder clay subsoil overlooking a floodplain. It was discovered accidently during the search for the lost medieval abbey at Poulton attested in historical documents (ECH5951, Trench 1, 1995; ECH5953, Geophysical Survey 2001), and was subsequently subject to initial excavation between 2003-2006 (Trenches 16 and 50). Between 2010-2013, further excavation was undertaken; the focus of these excavations was the re-examination of trench 50, where archaeological features and deposits were considered to be most intact. The combined excavations of trenches 16 and 50 between 2003 and 2013, an area of circa 40m by 35m, have revealed activity dating from the early prehistoric, with finds of mesolithic flints and a late Neolithic chalk plaque recovered from residual contexts. Dating to the Iron Age (8th-1st centuries BC), roundhouse ditches, post-holes and associated occupation remains were recorded. Multiple sequences of roundhouse demolition and rebuilding were attested by intercutting ditches, with only one example showing direct replacement. In total, the remains of between nine and eleven roundhouses were discovered. The enclosures' ditches were deep and contained a large volume of domestic waste, charcoal and heat-affected stone. The material assemblage was unusually large and diverse for a site in Cheshire, preserved by the relatively neutral soils. Analysis has revealed that a mixed farming economy was practiced with domestic cattle, sheep/goat and pig dominating. Horse, dog, deer, cat and hare were present to a lesser extent, whilst the earliest roundhouse in the sequence produced a single vertebra from a flat fish, indicating marine foods may have been eaten. Crops comprised spelt wheat and barley, possibly supplemented by small amounts of emmer and wild gathered foods of oat and hazelnut. The population utilised the surrounding woodland for raw materials on an ad hoc basis. Red and roe deer antler were collected as raw materials to make a range of items such as handles and toggles. Industrial activity comprised small-scale iron and copper alloy working. Significant quantities of a coarse, oxidised ceramic known as VCP were recovered, utilised as a container for salt and traded from inland production centres. Ritual activity was attested through two dog burials and the deposition of an iron adze. Human remains comprised a small assemblage of fragmentary bone recovered from domestic refuse and three vertebrae from a neonate, the latter possibly comprising further evidence for ritual activity. Geophysical survey and residual ceramics from other trenches have indicated that the site is significantly larger than the excavations, although its full extent has yet to be established. The overall character is indicative of a high status trading settlement ideally located to take advantage of riverine routes and contrasting geologies. The presence of such a site has major implications, providing a template to identify similar examples across the region, which will illuminate Iron Age studies in north-west Britain. Evidence for Roman activity was also recorded across the site (two ditches and two kilns/corn driers, see 1799/4), truncating Iron Age features, indicating a continuity of occupation into the first millennium AD. (1-3) An article in the Journal of Chester Archaeological Society (2016) examines and discusses the important residual assemblage of flint, chert and stone tools recovered from the combined Poulton excavations (Trench 1, Chapel excavation, ECH5951; Trenches 16 and 50, excavation of Iron Age/Roman settlement, ECH 5952). The finds include a Neolithic polished stone axe and decorated stone plaque. The presence of late Mesolithic, early Neolithic and Bronze Age tools indicates reuse of the site. (4) See also Source 5 for further discussion of the excavations at Poulton. (5)