We’re currently carrying out archaeological excavations in South Marston, Wiltshire, on behalf of Orion Heritage and Taylor Wimpey. This new blog series will follow the dig’s progress, sharing exciting updates from the field and digging deeper into South Marston’s ancient past.
We’ve just started excavating, but we already know this is a complex site with lots of different layers of archaeology. That’s because before we start an excavation archaeologists gather lots of information about what is lying beneath the surface. As well as using historic maps, documents, and information from previous excavations in the local area. We can also use geophysical survey and trial trenching to plan our dig:
Geophysical survey uses special equipment to detect archaeological remains that may exist under the ground. This gives us an idea of the types of archaeology we will find and helps us decide where to excavate. This plan showing some of the archaeology we will be excavating at South Marston was made using data from the geophysical survey.
Trial trenching is when we excavate small areas across the site – we use this to find out more about features spotted during geophysical surveys, including how well-preserved they are. Archaeological features can be anything built or dug by people, such as ditches, pits, or houses. This photograph from another MOLA excavation site shows an example of trial trench excavation.
Because geophysical surveys and trial trenching have already been carried out, we can start the main phase of our excavations straight away. So, let’s discover what we know about the site’s archaeology so far, and what we’re hoping to uncover during our dig.
South Marston is a village just north-east of Swindon, which dates back to the medieval period (1066-1485). Its oldest standing building is the church of St Mary Magdalene, parts of which date back to the 1100s. However, the history of this area is much older, as archaeology has begun to reveal.
The first evidence of people living and working in South Marston comes from more than 6000 years ago during the Mesolithic period (10,000 – 4000 BC).
Trial trenching here in 2015 revealed a small number of Mesolithic flint tools, and nearby archaeologists have also previously found a site where flint tools were being made. The process of making flint tools is called ‘flint knapping’. Before metal tools were invented, flint was one of the best materials around – it was used to make knives, hammers, scrapers, and more. These tools could be sharp enough to slice up food for cooking, or to remove and clean animal skins for making clothes.
Geophysical survey of the site showed some mysterious large circular features, known as ring ditches. Trial trenching revealed a piece of early Bronze Age pottery in one of them, which suggests that they were built between 2500-1500 BC, that’s more than 3500 years ago.
Some ring ditches were built around Bronze Age burial sites called barrows, which had a large mound of earth in the middle. The archaeologists didn’t find any burials inside these ring ditches, which could mean that they have been lost because of later farming. Or perhaps these ditches were built around Bronze Age houses - they would have collected water dripping down off their pointed roofs.
When the Romans invaded Britain in AD 43, South Marston was home to an Iron Age (750 BC - AD 43) farming community. From the results of the geophysical survey, we can see the farm had a long trackway with enclosures to either side. Archaeologists call this a ladder settlement because that’s exactly what it looks like. Take a look at the plan below, which was created from the Geophysical survey data – can you spot the ladder shape?
During trial trenching, archaeologists uncovered a large ditch with lots of mid-late Iron Age pottery in it, which suggests that people were living nearby. Life doesn’t seem to have changed a lot during the Roman period (AD 43 - 410) with the biggest changes archaeologists have discovered so far being the development of a new trackway and agricultural fields. However, this simple settlement was surprisingly well connected.
Just over 1km to the south was the Roman town of Durocornovium. Equipment belonging to the Roman army has been found there, suggesting the town began life as a fort. It sat on a major road, now known as Ermin Street, which ran between the important Roman towns at Silchester and Cirencester.
We’ve started our dig by excavating an area of the site full of Iron Age and Romano-British activity. And by activity, we mean lots and lots of ditches and enclosures. They cut into each other and run in all different directions, which suggests they were dug over a long period, according to what was needed at the time rather than being carefully planned. As we begin to record them, we’ll start piecing together what they tell us about the site’s story.
Keep an eye out for next month’s blog where we’ll catch up with the team onsite and see what new evidence those many ditches have to offer.
Excavations at South Marston, Wiltshire, are being carried out on behalf of Orion Heritage and Taylor Wimpey.
