Hostname: page-component-8448b6f56d-c4f8m Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-24T09:50:32.678Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Iron Age inhumation burials at Yarnton, Oxfordshire

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2015

Gill Hey ,
Alex Bayliss  and
Angela Boyle
Gill Hey
Affiliation:
Oxford Archaeological Unit, Janus House, Osney Mead, Oxford OX2 0ES, England
Alex Bayliss
Affiliation:
English Heritage, 23 Savile Row, London W1X 1AB, England
Angela Boyle
Affiliation:
Oxford Archaeological Unit, Janus House, Osney Mead, Oxford OX2 0ES, England
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Radiocarbon dating of unaccompanied skeletons discovered during the excavation of an Iron Age, Roman and Saxon settlement at Yarnton, Oxfordshire, unexpectedly revealed the presence of a middle Iron Age cemetery (3rd or 4th century cal BC). British Iron Age burials before the 1st century BC are usually found as individuals, often in pits on settlement sites, or are repersented by disarticulated human bone. This paper explores whether cemeteries were a more common part of Iron Age burial practice than hitherto believed, or whether the Yarnton burials were a highly unusual and localized phenomenon? It highlights the merits of obtaining radiocarbon determinations on otherwise undated burials.

Keywords

Iron AgeBritainYarntoncemeteryburialThames Valley
Type
Papers
Information
Antiquity , Volume 73 , Issue 281 , September 1999 , pp. 551 - 562
Copyright
Copyright © Antiquity Publications Ltd. 1999

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Allen, M.J., & Bayliss, A.. 1995. Appendix 2: Radiocarbon dating, in Cleal, R.M.J., Walker, K.E. & Montague, R. (ed.), Stone-henge in its landscape: 20th-century excavations: 511–35. London: English Heritage. Archaeological Report 10.Google Scholar
Bell, C. & Hey, G.. 1996. Yarnton Cresswell Field, South Midlands Archaeology 26: 63.Google Scholar
Blair, J. 1994. Anglo-Saxon Oxfordshire. Stroud: Alan Sutton.Google Scholar
Boyle, A. In preparation. The human skeletal assemblage, in Hey (in preparation).Google Scholar
Bronk Ramsey, C. 1995. Radiocarbon calibration and analysis of stratigraphy, Radiocarbon 36: 425–30.Google Scholar
Brück, J. 1995. A place for the dead: the role of human remains in Late Bronze Age Britain, Proceedings of the Prehistoric Society 61: 245–77.Google Scholar
Buck, C.E., Cavanagh, W.G. & Litton, C.D.. 1996. Bayesian approach to interpreting archaeological data. Chichester: John Wiley & Sons.Google Scholar
Buck, C.E., Litton, C.D. & Smith, A.F.M.. 1992. Calibration of radiocarbon results pertaining to related archaeological events, Journal of Archaeological Sciences 19: 497–512.Google Scholar
Carr, G. & Knüsel, C.. 1997. The ritual framework of excarnation by exposure as the mortuary practice of the early and middle Iron Ages of central southern Britain, in Gwilt, & Haselgrove, (ed.): 167–73.Google Scholar
Case, H.J. 1982. Cassington, 1950–2: late Neolithic pits and the Big Enclosure, in Case, H.J. & Whittle, A.W.R. (ed.), Settlement patterns in the Oxford region: excavations at the Abingdon causewayed enclosure and other sites: 118–51. London: Council for British Archaeology. Research report 44/Oxford: Dept of Antiquities, Ashmolean Museum.Google Scholar
Collis, J. 1994. An Iron Age and Roman cemetery at Owlesbury, Hampshire, in Fitzpatrick, & Morris, (ed.): 106–8.Google Scholar
Cunliffe, B.W. 1991. Iron Age Communities in Britain: an account of England, Scotland and Wales from the 7th century BC until the Roman Conquest. London: Routledge. 3rd edition.Google Scholar
Cunliffe, B.W. 1996. The Danebury Environs Project: Suddern Farm and Fiveways excavation 1996. Internal report Danebury Trust, Oxford Institute of Archaeology.Google Scholar
Cunliffe, B. & Miles, D. (ed.). 1984. Aspects of the Iron Age in Central Southern Britain. Oxford: Oxford University Committee for Archaeology.Google Scholar
Dent, J.S. 1982. Cemeteries and settlement patterns of the Iron Age on the Yorkshire Wolds, Proceedings of the Prehistoric Society 48: 120–28.Google Scholar
Dent, J.S. 1985. Three cart burials from Wetwang, Yorkshire, Antiquity 59: 85–92.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fasham, P.J. 1985. The prehistoric settlement at Winnall Down, Winchester Excavations of MARC3 Site Rl 7 in 1976 and 1977. Winchester: Hampshire Field Club and Archaeological Society. Monograph 2 M3/Archaeological Rescue Committee Report 8.Google Scholar
Fitzpatrick, A.P. 1997. Everyday life in Iron Age Wessex, in Gwilt, & Haselgrove, (ed.): 73–86.Google Scholar
Fitzpatrick, A.P. & Morris, E.L.. 1994. The Iron Age in Wessex: Recent work. Salisbury: Association Française d’Etude de l’Age du Fer/Salisbury: Trust for Wessex Archaeology.Google Scholar
Gelfand, A.E., Hills, S.E., Racine-Poon, A. & Smith, A.F.M.. 1990. Illustration of Bayesian inference in normal data models using Gibbs Sampling, Journal of the American Statistical Association 85: 972–85.Google Scholar
Gelfand, A.E. & Smith, A.F.M.. 1990. Sampling approaches to calculating marginal densities, Journal of the American Statistical Association 85: 398–409.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gulliksen, S. & Scott, M.. 1995. Report on the TIRI workshop, Saturday 13 August 1994, Radiocarbon 37: 820–21.Google Scholar
Gwilt, A. & Haselgrove, C. (ed.). 1997. Reconstructing Iron Age societies. New approaches to the British Iron Age. Oxford: Oxbow. Monograph 71.Google Scholar
Harding, D.W. 1972. The Iron Age in the Upper Thames basin. Oxford: Clarendon Press.Google Scholar
Harman, M., Molleson, T. & Price, G.L.. 1981. Burials, bodies and beheadings in Romano-British and Anglo-Saxon cemeteries, Bulletin of the British Museum Natural History (Geology) 35.2: 145–88.Google Scholar
Hey, G. 1991. Yarnton Worton Rectory Farm, South Midlands Archaeology 21: 86–92 Google Scholar
Hey, G. Forthcoming. Yarnton Saxon and medieval settlement and landscape. Oxford: Thames Valley Landscapes. Monograph.Google Scholar
Hey, G. In preparation. Yarnton Iron Age and Roman settlement and landscape. Oxford: Thames Valley Landscapes. Monograph.Google Scholar
Hill, J.D. 1995. Ritual and rubbish in the Iron Age of Wessex. A study on the formation of a specific archaeological record. Oxford: British Archaeological Reports. British series 242.Google Scholar
Hingley, R. & Miles, D.. 1984. Aspects of Iron Age settlement in the Upper Thames valley, in Cunliffe, & Miles, (ed.): 52–71.Google Scholar
Lambrick, G.H. 1984. Pitfalls and possibilities in Iron Age pottery studies: experiences in the Upper Thames valley, in Cunliffe, & Miles, (ed.): 162–77.Google Scholar
Lambrick, G., Allen, T.G. & Healy, F.. Forthcoming. Gravelly Guy, Stanton Harcourt: the development of a prehistoric and Romano-British landscape. Oxford: Thames Valley Landscapes. Monograph.Google Scholar
McCormac, F.G., Kalin, R.M. & Long, A.. 1992. Radiocarbon dating beyond 50,000 years by liquid scintillation counting, in Noakes, J.E., Shonhofer, F. & Polach, H.A. (ed.), Liquid scintillation spectrometry: 125–33.Google Scholar
Mook, W.G. 1986. Business meeting: Recommendations/Resolutions adopted by the Twelfth International Radiocarbon Conference, Radiocarbon 28: 799.Google Scholar
Noakes, J.E., Kim, S.M. & Stipp, J.J.. 1965. Chemical and counting advances in liquid scintillation age dating, in Olson, E.A. & Chatters, R.M. (ed.), Proceedings of the 6th international conference on radiocarbon and tritium dating: 68–92. Washington (DC): Atomic Energy Commission.Google Scholar
Parfitt, K. 1995. Iron Age Burials from Mill Hill, Deal. London: British Museum Press.Google Scholar
Roberts, C. & Manchester, K.. 1995. The archaeology of disease. Stroud & Ithaca (NY): Alan Sutton Publishing/Cornell University Press. 2nd edition.Google Scholar
Rozanski, K., Stichler, W., Gonfiantini, R., Scott, E.M., Beukens, R.P., Kromer, B. & van der Plicht, J.. 1992. The IAEA 14C intercomparison exercise 1990, Radiocarbon 34: 506–19.Google Scholar
Stead, I.M. 1991. Iron Age cemeteries in East Yorkshire. London: English Heritage. Archaeological report 22.Google Scholar
Stuiver, M. & Kra, R.S.. 1986. Editorial comment, Radiocarbon 28(2B): ii.Google Scholar
Stuiver, M. & Pearson, G.W.. 1986. High-precision calibration of the radiocarbon time scale, AD 1950–500 BC, Radiocarbon 28: 805–38.Google Scholar
Stuiver, M. & Polach, H.A.. 1977. Reporting of 14C data, Radiocarbon 19: 355–63.Google Scholar
Stuiver, M. & Reimer, P.J.. 1986. A computer program for radiocarbon age calculation, Radiocarbon 28: 1022–30.Google Scholar
Stuiver, M. & Reimer, P.J.. 1993. Extended 14C data base and revised CALIB 3.0 14C age calibration program, Radiocarbon 35: 215–30.Google Scholar
Trust for Wessex Archaeology, 1996. Clarendon to Cockey Down Water Main, Salisbury, Wiltshire. Internal report prepared for Wessex Water.Google Scholar
Ubelaker, D.H. 1974. Reconstruction of demographic profiles from ossuary skeletal samples: a case study from the tidewater Potomac. Washington (DC): Smithsonian Institution. Smithsonian Contributions to Anthropology 18.Google Scholar
Wait, G.A. 1985. Ritual and religion in Iron Age Britain. Oxford: British Archaeological Reports. British series 149.Google Scholar
Ward, G.K. & Wilson, S.R.. 1978. Procedures for comparing and combining radiocarbon age determinations: a critique, Archaeometry 20: 19–31.Google Scholar
Whimster, R. 1981. Burial practices in Iron Age Britain. Oxford: British Archaeological Reports. British series 90.Google Scholar