Iron Age and Roman Settlement at Brough South, East Riding of Yorkshire

Abstract

Excavations to the southeast of Brough on a site close to the Humber estuary identified three phases of an Iron Age roundhouse, where a community raised sheep and pigs, grew cereals, spun wool and made their own pots. This was followed by early Roman-British boundary and trackway ditches, albeit with likely Iron Age origins. Activity apparently ceased in the second century AD and this might reflect wetter conditions over time with settlement moving further north while previously occupied land was given over to agriculture. Rare earlier prehistoric and Anglo-Saxon finds attest to the longevity of this landscape’s use probably due to the richness of the hinterland between salt marsh and estuary to the south, and drier conditions to the north.

Keywords:

• Iron Age
• Roman
• settlement
• Brough
• roundhouses
• trackway
• boundaries

Acknowledgements

The project, undertaken by staff of Archaeological Services WYAS, was commissioned by Louise Robinson of BWB Consulting on behalf of Horncastle Group Plc and monitored by Lucie McCarthy of the Humber Archaeology Partnership. Excavations were supervised by Kevin Moon and Rosie Scales and managed by David Williams. Figure 1 and all site and phase plans were produced by Kevin Moon, while Charlotte Bentley drew the pottery and Barbara Dziurawiec illustrated the small finds.

Due to limited publication space, it has been necessary to reduce the description of the archaeology to selected features and to integrate specialist data and interpretations within the archaeological narrative. Copies of all specialist reports, including methodologies, catalogues and illustrations are held with the site archive, which has been deposited with the East Riding of Yorkshire Museum Service at Treasure House (Accession number: 2020.1). The original client report, which includes the full specialist reports, has also been deposited with the Archaeology Data Service as part of their OASIS programme. This can be accessed at https://oasis.ac.uk/form/formctl.cfm?oid=archaeol11-383742. Specialist contributions to this paper are as follows: Alldritt, botanical remains; Clarke, flint; Drinkall, small finds; McDonnell, slag; Mills, CBM and fired clay; Sewpaul, animal bone; Rowlandson, Bentley, Fiske, Monteil and Young, pottery.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Kevin Moon

Kevin Moon is a Project Manager at Archaeological Services WYAS. He has worked in commercial archaeology since 2007 and has produced numerous client reports for excavations, evaluations and watching briefs, as well as writing desk-based assessments and contributing to larger publications.

Jane Richardson

Jane Richardson is Manager of Archaeological Service WYAS. She specialises in postexcavation project management and has produced numerous deskbased assessments and excavation reports. She has published papers in the Yorkshire Archaeological Journal (multi-phased site in Easington), the Proceedings of the Prehistoric Society (Bronze Age burial at Stanbury) and Britannia (Roman enclosure and well at Rothwell). Jane is also an environmental specialist with a PhD in faunal analysis.

Stuart Wrathmell

Stuart Wrathmell was, until retirement, manager of the Archaeology, Archive and Ecology Services for West Yorkshire. His research has been primarily focused on medieval rural settlement, including the publication of eight monographs on excavations at Wharram Percy deserted medieval village. He has also co-authored and edited volumes on Iron Age and Roman settlements at Whitton (Glamorgan) and Dalton Parlours (West Yorkshire).