The Archaeology of Britain: An introduction from ... - waughfamily.ca
The Archaeology of Britain: An introduction from ... - waughfamily.ca
The Archaeology of Britain: An introduction from ... - waughfamily.ca
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Early historic <strong>Britain</strong><br />
• 187 •<br />
In <strong>An</strong>glo-Saxon England, the situation is different. Many settlements are known, although<br />
<strong>of</strong>ten only <strong>from</strong> air photographs, as s<strong>ca</strong>tters <strong>of</strong> pottery <strong>from</strong> field survey, or <strong>from</strong> limited<br />
rescue ex<strong>ca</strong>vations. Several sites have been extensively ex<strong>ca</strong>vated, including West Stow in Suffolk,<br />
Mucking in Essex and West Heslerton in Yorkshire (Welch 1992, chs 2 and 3). <strong>The</strong> visibility <strong>of</strong><br />
<strong>An</strong>glo-Saxon settlements is partly <strong>ca</strong>used by a commonly found type known as the Grubenhaus,<br />
or sunken featured building. <strong>The</strong> pit that characterizes this type <strong>of</strong> building usually produces a<br />
rich deposit <strong>of</strong> occupation debris: pottery, artefacts and animal bones. Earlier interpretations<br />
<strong>of</strong> these pits suggested that the <strong>An</strong>glo-Saxons lived in squalor in holes in the ground full <strong>of</strong><br />
rubbish, but more recently, partly as a result <strong>of</strong> experimental reconstructions at West Stow,<br />
they have been explained as underfloor spaces, essentially cellars, for storage and insulation,<br />
underneath perfectly habitable thatched wooden houses. Much <strong>of</strong> the material found in the<br />
pits therefore does not relate directly to the use <strong>of</strong> the building but represents later rubbish put<br />
there after it had gone out <strong>of</strong> use and been demolished. Grubenhaeuser were subsidiary buildings<br />
with a variety <strong>of</strong> domestic and industrial uses, while the most important buildings were larger<br />
rectangular ‘halls’ that did not have cellars.<br />
At Mucking and West Stow, it has been argued that the settlements consisted <strong>of</strong> groups <strong>of</strong><br />
farms that shifted their lo<strong>ca</strong>tions over time, be<strong>ca</strong>use there is some chronologi<strong>ca</strong>l variation in the<br />
distribution <strong>of</strong> the finds. Even Mucking, therefore, which looks quite large on the site plan, was<br />
no more than a village, be<strong>ca</strong>use the whole ex<strong>ca</strong>vated area was not in use at any single point in<br />
time. At West Heslerton, however, it appears that the settlement was functionally and not<br />
chronologi<strong>ca</strong>lly zoned, with spatial separation <strong>of</strong> different activities and people. In some areas,<br />
industrial activities were <strong>ca</strong>rried out in or near Grubenhaeuser, whereas in others there were only<br />
‘halls’, and elsewhere animal pens. On this model, the whole site was in use during at least parts<br />
<strong>of</strong> its existence, with a planned layout that the ex<strong>ca</strong>vator describes as closer to a town than a<br />
village. <strong>The</strong> <strong>An</strong>glo-Saxon occupation <strong>of</strong> West Heslerton is being investigated as part <strong>of</strong> research<br />
into the long-term use <strong>of</strong> the region. It succeeded settlements on the other side <strong>of</strong> the valley that<br />
were occupied through the Roman period and into the fifth century. <strong>The</strong> new lo<strong>ca</strong>tion is explained<br />
partly in terms <strong>of</strong> alterations in land ownership and politi<strong>ca</strong>l control, which could have been<br />
connected with take-over by incoming <strong>An</strong>glo-Saxons, but need not have represented wholesale<br />
replacement <strong>of</strong> the population. <strong>The</strong> underlying Roman structures may also have given the site<br />
some lo<strong>ca</strong>l signifi<strong>ca</strong>nce, and influenced its siting.<br />
Grubenhaeuser appear on the Continent before they arrive in <strong>Britain</strong>. Like cremation burials,<br />
they are usually taken as an indi<strong>ca</strong>tion <strong>of</strong> Germanic immigrants, but it is not clear why this type<br />
<strong>of</strong> building was developed on the Continent, where it is found as early as the second century in<br />
<strong>The</strong> Netherlands. It may have had as much to do with changing climate and agricultural regimes<br />
as with population movements. <strong>The</strong> main house type in use in northern Europe was the longhouse,<br />
a narrow, aisled timber building that had accommodation for humans at one end and animal stalls<br />
at the other. <strong>The</strong> absence <strong>of</strong> this kind <strong>of</strong> building <strong>from</strong> early <strong>An</strong>glo-Saxon settlements in England<br />
is one <strong>of</strong> the strongest arguments against a simple replacement <strong>of</strong> Briton by immigrant Saxon.<br />
<strong>The</strong> rectangular buildings that do occur on <strong>An</strong>glo-Saxon sites have a distinctive plan: they are<br />
near to double-squares, with opposed doors in the middle <strong>of</strong> the long sides and a narrow partition<br />
at one end. Both Romano-British and continental ancestry has been plausibly claimed for this<br />
building type.<br />
<strong>The</strong>re is some regional variation amongst settlement sites, not unlike that apparent in the<br />
burial record, in that Grubenhaeuser are more numerous in eastern England, whereas south <strong>of</strong><br />
the Thames, at sites such as Chalton in Hampshire, ‘halls’ predominate. This may be partly due<br />
to a difference in date, in that earlier settlements seem to be found in the east, but this is<br />
difficult to demonstrate since sites that do not include Grubenhaeuser produce fewer finds and