Posted on

Somerset

The Inclusion and Omission and Sites in the Somertset Levels
There are sometimes considerable difficulties in distinguishing saltings from pottery manufacturing sites in the Somerset Levels. A large number of sites under consideration in the region comprise upstanding or buried mounds (or thick deposits) containing layers of briquettage (i.e. red fired clay} and ash. It is known, from the evidence of waste pottery, that sandy grey wares and black-burnished wares (BB1) were being made in the area, apparently in association with such mounds. In the Dorset pottery-manufacturing sites, BB1 was not fired in kilns, but in surface or near-surface clamps or bonfires (e.g. Ame p. 54), whose traces comprise interleaved layers of red fired clay (briquettage) and ash (i.e. deposits similar to those observed in some of the mounds of the Somerset Levels). Such deposits are, however, also characteristic of salterns, and salt manufacture too is known to have taken place in the Somerset Levels in the Romano-British period. Recently, for the first time, a drawn section and scientific analysis were made for one such buried mound in the Somerset Levels (Leech et al. 1983). It contained briquettage, ash, fired clay bars, pedestals, wedges and slabs, but very little pottery, showing that here such furniture must be connected with salting and not pottery manufacture, as sometimes suggested (Bulleid 1914). Without excavation, therefore, it is impossible to distinguish superficially between those mounds relating to salting processes and those resulting from pottery manufacture. For several mounds, the surface collection of material suggests both activities, though not necessarily conducted simultaneously. All such mounds or buried mounds in the region, except those with a known lack of pottery finds, have therefore been included, although on excavation some may eventually prove to have been connected with salt manufacture alone.

Bibliography and Abbreviations

AB Mus, Bridgewater: Admira! Blake Museum, Blake Street, Bridgewater.

ANL: The Archaeological Newsletter.

AR: Archaeological Review: Annual Report of CBA (regional) Groups 12 and 13.

BB1: Black-burnished ware. Category 1, (see Glossary).

BDAS: Bridgewaterand District Archaeological Society.

Beche, Sir H.T. de la 1839. Report on the Geology of Cornwall, Devon and West Somerset. London.

Bulleid, A. 1914. Romano-British Potteries in Mid-Somerset.Proc. Soc. Antiq. London 2 ser, 26 (1913-14), 137-44.

Burnham on Sea ANH Soc: Burnham on Sea Archaeological and Natural History Society.

Corder, P. 1957. The Structure of Romano-British pottery kilns. Archaeol.J. 114 (1957), 10-27.

Dewar, H. S. L. 1949. Pottery Mounds of the Brue Valley.Somerset Dorset Notes and Queries 25 part 24 (1949), 201-2.

Dewar and Seaby 1949. Dewar, H. S. L. and Seaby, W. A. Roman Countersunk-handled Jar from Huntspill. Proc. Somerset Archaeol. Natur. Hist. Soc. 94 (1948-9), 161-4.

Dr. 00: Standard numbering of samian ware forms, after Dragendorf, H, 1865. Terra Sigillata. Ein Beitrag zur Geschichte griechischen und römischen Keramik.Bonner Jahrbuch 46 (1865), 18-55.

Exeter BB00: Type-numbers of 1st-century black-burnished ware vessels from Exeter, in Bidwell, P. Early Black-Burnished ware at Exeter. In Dore, J. and Greene, K. (eds.J. Roman Pottery Studies in Britain and Beyond. Papers presented to John Gillam, July 1977. BAR Suppl. Series 30 (1977), 189-98.

Gillam 00: Vessel-type numbers in Gillam, J.P. 1970.Types of Roman Coarse Pottery Vessels in Northern Britain. 3rd ed. Newcastle upon Tyne.

Godwin, H. 1943. Coastal Peat Beds of the British Isles and North Sea. J. Ecol. 31 part 2 (1943), 199-247.

Hodder, I. 1974. Some Marketing Models for Romano-British Coarse Pottery. Britannia 5 (1974), 340-59.

Leach, P. (1982). Ilchester. Vol. I. Excavations 1974-1975. Western Archaeol. Trust Excav. Monograph 3.

Leech, R. H. 1977. Romano-British Rural Settlement in South Somerset and North Dorset. Unpubl. Ph.D. Dissertation. University of Bristol.

Leech, R. H. 1981. The Somerset Levels in the Romano-British Period. In Rowley, R. T. (ed.). Thee Evolution of Marshland Landscapes, 20-51. Oxford University Dept. for External Studies.

Leech et al. 1983. Leech, R. H., Bell, M., and Evans, J. The Sectioning of a Romano-British Saltmaking Mound at East Huntspill. Somerset Levels Papers 9 (1983), 74-8.

Nash, S. G. (a). Notes concerning the Coastal area of the Middle Moor of Somerset. Evidence for the former existence of a Deep Water Channel at Highbridge, Somerset. Unpubl. TS in SC Mus, Taunton.

Nash, S. G. (b). List of locations of Romano-British (and Early Iron Age) Material mainly from the Middle Moor of Somerset. Unpubl. TS in SC Mus, Taunton.

NSARG: North Somerset Archaeological Research Group.

OS: Ordnance Survey.

PL, Herne Bay: The Public Library and Museum, High Street, Herne Bay, Kent.

Price and Watts 1980. Price, R. and Watts, L. Rescue excavations at Combe Hay, Somerset, 1968-73.Somerset Archaeol. Natur. Hist. Soc. 124 (1980), 1-49.

PSANHS: Proceedings of the Somerset Archaeological and Natural History Society.

Scarth, H. M. 1866. Roman Potters’ Kiln, discovered at Shepton Mallet, November 1864, on the site of a large brewery, belonging to Messrs. Morris Coxe and Clarke. Proc. Somerset Archaeol, Natur. Hist. Soc. 13 part 2 (1865-6), 1-5.

Scarth, H. M, 1877. On an Interment found on Cadbury Hill near Yatton, and on Roman Remains found in the Vale of Wrington. Proc. Somerset Archaeol. Natur. Hist. Soc. 23 part 2 (1877), 9.

SCCSSR, Taunton: Somerset County Council Sites and Structures Record, The Planning Office, County Hall, Taunton.

SC Mus, Taunton: Somerset County Museum, Taunton Castle, Taunton.

SDNQ: Somerset and Dorset Notes and Queries.

Shepton Mallet Mus: The Museum, The High Street, Shepton Mallet.

Stradling, W, 1850. The Turbaries between Glaston and the Sea, Proc. Somerset Archaeol. Natur. Hist. Soc. 1 (1849/50), 48-62.

Usher and Lilly 1964. Usher, Gray and Lilly, D. A Romano-British Pottery Kiln site at Venus Street, Congresbury. Proc. Somerset Archaeol. Natur. Hist. Soc. 108 (1963/4), 172-4.

VCH Somerset: The Victoria County History of Somerset.

W Mus, Weston-super-Mare: Woodspring Museum, Burlington Street, Weston-super-Mare.