Fri 30 – Sat 31 July 11.00-15.00
Venue – check website for full details.
Excavation open day. Come along to find out more about reality of life in Exmoor’s Iron Age some 2500 years ago.
Exmoor National Park Authority – 01398 322289
[email protected]
www.exmoor-nationalpark.gov.uk
Event is part of the Festival of British Archaeology – 17th July to 1st August 2010
By Tony Gussin of the North Devon Gazette.
The silent earth of Exmoor has given up some of its secrets in the form of a prehistoric home dating back 3,500 years.
Members of the North Devon Archaeological Society were thrilled to uncover the remains of a Bronze Age round house as they carried out a two-week excavation at a site near Parracombe.
It was the third year a dig has taken place on the site, and last year the team uncovered an almost complete prehistoric pot, now on display at the Museum of Barnstaple and North Devon.
But although nothing as intact was found this time, the group was still delighted when members uncovered a series of stone clad ‘post holes’ clearly marking out where the walls of a round house once stood.
Similar to a replica which can be seen near Braunton Burrows, the structure would have had a conical thatched roof and measured around 30 feet across.Continues...
From BBC Devon:
A Bronze Age pot goes on display on Monday at Barnstaple’s museum.
Archaeologists discovered the vessel on a farm in Parracombe last year, where it was carefully dug up and preserved.
Now the pot can be seen by the public while historical experts investigate if there is further evidence of life around the area.
news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/2279227.stm
A huge Roman iron factory has been unearthed at a remote spot on the southern edge of Exmoor.
Scientists believe the site near Brayford would have supplied markets right across the Roman Empire.
Archaeologists have found furnaces and equipment buried which would have been used to smelt hundreds of tonnes of iron nearly 2,000 years ago.
Preparations are being made to carry out further excavations.
Was it being operated by the Roman imperial army or being run by a local entrepreneur?
Dr Gill Juleff
A team of 20 students and staff from the University of Exeter’s archaeology department, plus local volunteers, have been carrying out the dig.
The team has dug a trench over 10 feet (3 metres) deep across a platform and through a heap of discarded iron slag.
The trench has revealed the scale of iron production on the site.
Pottery fragments found within the trench have also indicated that much of the activity at the site took place during the second and third centuries AD.
Supplying markets
Excavation director Dr Gill Juleff said: “One of the questions the team will be addressing is if the Roman army were overseeing and directing iron production.
“Was it being operated by the Roman imperial army or being run by a local entrepreneur, supplying iron to markets throughout the Roman Empire?
“Certainly the amount of metal produced here was far greater than would have been needed locally.”
The four-year project is being funded by English Heritage and run by the Exmoor National Park Authority, the University of Exeter and the National Trust.
Offical website for the Exmoor national park detailing news, events and wildlife along with where to stay and eat
