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The Site Supervisor’s Tale - Martin Gillard (newsletter No 8 2004)
It would be an exaggeration to say I was nervous at the prospect of supervising the NDAS excavations at Holworthy Farm, but I would be lying if I did not admit to a touch of apprehension. As it turned out, there was no need to be concerned – a keener or more cooperative group of diggers would be hard to find, and to top it all, this was an interesting site in a wonderful Exmoor setting!
As you doubtless know, the site at Holworthy Farm is of the sort labelled by archaeologists a ‘hill-slope enclosure’. Prehistorians like to categorise sites, probably because they are short of hard information– or is that my medievalist’s prejudice coming out? These sites are found in their hundreds across Cornwall, north Devon and west Somerset and have in the past been thought to be Iron Age ( c.500BC – 43 AD) in date. The fact that past excavations at Holworthy had turned up earlier, Bronze Age material is of importance for the region’s archaeology as a whole: the dating of this entire category of monuments will have to be rethought. Therefore, NDAS’ work at this one site is of significance across Exmoor and beyond.
When it came to the actual digging, the whole team -
from veterans to ‘first timers’– were enthusiastic and
keen and quick to develop their excavation skills. No offence was taken
when I suggested refinements to trowelling techniques; the grumbling was
strictly good natured when I requested straighter sections or that people
might wish to go back to where they had started and trowel-back again!
Or is that just an assumption?
Perhaps the NDAS diggers are better actors than I give them credit for?
As for the archaeology, old hands like me are never happy until we have ‘found natural’ – the undisturbed bedrock and subsoil – so we have something to leave blank on our plans and to distinguish from the features. On Exmoor, the natural tends to be weathered shillet or sandstone, soft material that leaves one longing for the certainties of the hard, clean chalk of Wessex. I have been known to hug and even kiss a digger for finding natural, only to discover that it was a band of redeposited material! (When I tell you that the digger was Big Sam - one of the student volunteers - you will appreciate how important this is to me, or how I need to get out more!) Nevertheless, we were able at Holworthy to define the bank of the enclosure as a spread of heaped stone, and identify some features within it – notably a substantial roundhouse. The fact that the bank lacked a ditch serves to distinguish it from some other hill-slope enclosures where a ditch is visible in the earthwork; evidently this category of monument is not as simple as might have been supposed. The roundhouse was a real thrill for me, as those present on the last day will have observed. Personally I am more excited by structures and buildings than finds and artefacts.
Just imagine that windy hillside 3000 years ago, with an oval, stone-walled enclosure and thatched roundhouses huddled within it. Of course, the finds are important as well – the pottery and flints seem to confirm the Bronze Age date and the tantalising hints of metal-working, if confirmed, would make this lovely site very rare indeed.
In conclusion, can I extend my thanks to all the NDAS
excavators for their hard work and enthusiasm; and for the warm welcome
that was extended to me and the student diggers: Flick, Nick, James and
Sam, who all had a great time. There have been disputes in British archaeology
over the role of ‘professionals’ and ‘amateurs’
– the Holworthy excavations confirmed what I have suspected all
along: to be professional or amateur has nothing to do with being paid
and everything to do with how we go about our business. By that criterion
the NDAS team are as professional a group as I have ever worked with.
Many thanks!
Hope we can do it all again some time!
