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An archaeological watching brief was undertaken by Field Archaeology Specialists (FAS) Ltd, on behalf of Mike Griffiths Associates for Tarmac Northern Ltd at Nosterfield Quarry, North Yorkshire. The watching brief encountered multi-period archaeology dating from the late Neolithic to the 19th century. A small vertebrate assemblage of 362 fragments was recovered by hand-collection and flotation from Interventions 4 and 5. In addition, varying amounts of calcined bone from four features in Intervention 1 were also examined.
Assessment of the material from Interventions 4 and 5 indicated that only a very small proportion of these remains (28 fragments) could be identified to taxon, most of which comprised of more durable elements such as loose teeth. The range of identified taxa was limited, comprising of horse, pig, cattle, Pleistocene deer and human. Pig and medium mammal was identified among the calcined bone from Intervention 1, along with a sheep burial.
This document reports on the zooarchaeological assessment of approximately 40 litres of animal bone recovered by hand-collection and flotation from an archaeological watching brief undertaken by Field Archaeology Specialists Ltd (FAS) between 1998 and 2003 at Nosterfield Quarry, North Yorkshire. From Intervention 5 a total of 26 contexts from 22 features contained vertebrate remains, these features comprising of pit alignments, ditches, a drying oven, a posthole, a swallow hole, a drain and a cremation burial. There was a single pit, F13 with two backfills from Intervention 4, while from Intervention 1 there were four features containing calcined bone, an animal burial and a small number of mixed finds, including bone, from C1063.
The aim of the zooarchaeological study was to assess the potential of faunal material for providing information about ritual, social, economic, husbandry and butchery practices at the site.
Zooarchaeological remains were recorded using Microsoft Access 2002, with subjective and semi-quantitative notes made on the state of preservation ('excellent’, 'good’, 'fair’ or 'poor’), angularity ('spiky’, 'quite spiky’, 'rounded’ or 'battered’) and colour, as well as the degree of fragmentation and the proportions of butchery, burning, gnawing and fresh breakages as expressed in percentage ranges. Data was imported into Microsoft Excel 2002 for the purposes of preparing figures and tables.
Identifications were made using the FAS and University of York Palaeoecology reference collections and recording followed the Environmental Archaeology Unit (EAU) protocol for recording animal bones (Dobney, Jaques and Johnstone 1999) which, to increase speed of analysis and to maximise the potential of the most informative elements, advocates the recording of a specific suite of 'A bones’ using the bone zones of Dobney and Reilly (1988). In addition, to aid determination of the final epiphyseal fusion stage, vertebrae were also recorded to species if more than 50% of the vertebral body (Zone 1) was present. The remaining elements were not identified to taxon, regardless of completeness. Instead, along with less complete elements, these were identified to anatomic element where possible, and recorded generally as medium mammal 2 (dog, cat or rabbit sized), medium mammal 1 (caprovid, pig and small deer sized), large mammal (cow, horse and large deer sized) or unidentified.
Mammal bones were recorded as 'juvenile’ if the epiphysis was unfused and if the epiphysis or metaphysis was spongy with billowing growth surfaces. If the bone was particularly small, then it was described as 'neonatal’, although bones described thus could derive from animals several months old.
F116 C1141 yielded roughly 30 fragments of slightly rounded calcined bone measuring between 2mm and 5mm. None were identifiable although one piece appeared non-human.
F134 C1166 produced about 150 fragments of calcined bone between 2mm and 15mm across, with the majority around 6mm. The bone was a little more angular than that from F116. Very few elements could be distinguished, and it was not possible to determine whether the remainder were human or not. There was one fragment of medium mammal rib (square in cross-section and caprovid-like), a fragment of medium mammal proximal metapodial (possibly a caprovid metacarpal) and the distal end of a pig accessory phalanx. In addition, there were a number of non-specific long bone and skull fragments.
F142 C1195 contained about ten small and abraded non-specific calcined bone fragments.
Bone from F125 C1149 was present in much greater abundance than the other samples, but was equally as fragmented, ranging in size from 2mm to 15mm. Bones were predominantly calcined. Much of the material appeared to be fragments of skull, and included bits of horncore. As such, caprovid is likely to be represented, as the bone is perhaps a little to thin to be either that of cattle or pig.
This contained the partial remains of an adult sheep (identified on the basis of the proximal femur), including elements of both hind limbs along with the thoracic (with ribs) and lumbar regions of the vertebral column. The vertebral epiphyses had fused, but there was a distinct epiphyseal line, suggesting an age of around four to five years old (Silver, 1969).
C1063
There were three fragments of bone, well-preserved and fawn in colour. These comprised a short length of medium mammal scapula that had been split transversely at either end, a rather battered medium mammal rib and a large bird phalanx.
F13 was initially interpreted as a pit, but subsequently identified as a natural peat-filled swallow hole. Two backfills contained bone: C1020 a piece of large mammal tibia and C1022, a very large deer mandible. This mandible is extremely dense and appears to be partly fossilised. It is possible that the mandible of that of elk, or megaloceros, both taxa that had not been extant in Britain since the Pleistocene (Terry O’Connor pers. comm.). The overall preservation of the bones was fair but rounded and they had been stained dark brown by their peaty environment.
There were eight contexts from eight aligned pits - F103 C1149, F123 C1184, F125 Cbf, F145 C1226, F155 C1250, F156 C1256, F190 C1376 and F262 C1635. Bone was generally described as in a fair or poor state of preservation, and fragments tended to be 'battered’ in appearance. Bones were pale in colour, either fawn or beige, with those from F103, C1149 being white and calcined. Fragmentation was high, with the majority or all of the bones from most contexts measuring less than 5cm across and none over 20cm. There was no evidence for butchery or for carnivore gnawing and the only burning was observed in the F103 where all fragments were calcined. A very small number of bones were identified to taxa, including an isolated cow tooth and a fragmentary male horse mandible from F156, C1256 and two calcined pig phalanges from F103. The remaining 204 fragments were dominated by medium mammal (184 fragments) the majority of which came from F203. Fragments of medium and large mammal were generally of more durable long bone shaft.
Ten contexts from four ditch features - F15, F44, F82 and F132 contained bone. Most bone was in a fair state of preservation with 'rounded’ edges, although two of the five contexts from F15 contained bone in good condition, while that from F44, C1074 was poor and 'battered’ and F132, C1189 was poor and 'rounded’. Bones from two contexts from F15 were in a good and 'spiky’ condition. Colouration was again pale, either beige or fawn and fragmentation, similar to bone from pit alignments, was high. No butchery or gnawing was observed, and the only burning was a calcined human ulna fragment from F82, C1242. The only identified domesticate was horse, with one or two isolated molars (totalling 15 fragments) present in all but two contexts - F82, C1242 and F132, C1199. More or less complete mandibles with measurable molars were recovered from F15, C1030 and C1041, while F132, C1233 contained left and right mandibles with measurable tooth rows along with a tibia and a possible radius.
Several pits were interpreted as the extension of a prehistoric ditched boundary. Three of these, F8, F9 and F10 contained a total of 14 fragments of animal bone, all identified as large mammal and generally comprising long bone shaft with single fragments of humerus and radius remaining distinctive. The bones tended to be in a fair state of preservation, rounded, and were fawn in colour. Fragmentation was moderate to high and there was no evidence of burning, gnawing or butchery.
A poorly preserved cow tooth was recovered from C1015.
C1116 contained eight rounded bones in a fair state of preservation. These included six pig teeth: five incisors and a female canine, a bird shaft fragment and a piece of medium mammal skull.
A single fragment of calcined medium mammal bone was recovered through flotation from C1135.
F101 was identified as the chamber of a drying oven of Roman date. Two contexts, C1146 and C1380 yielded a poorly preserved medium mammal rib and two large mammal shaft fragments, described as either battered or rounded and either beige or white in colour. There was no evidence of burning on the bones that might indicate that they had been in situ, as a fuel source for example, when the oven was in use.
Overall, there is little that can be said about the animal bones from Nosterfield beyond tantalising inferences: there are too few fragments and too little in the way of dating evidence. While each of the main domesticates are represented, there are insufficient bones from which to establish any idea of animal husbandry or local economic practices. In addition, it is clear that from the survival of the more robust elements such as teeth and long bone shaft fragments, their poor state of preservation and their roundedness, that intense taphonomic processes have acted upon the bones, and the assemblage that was recovered is likely to be very different from that which was originally deposited. The bones would certainly suggest that rubbish dumping, and by inference human occupation, took place in the area of the excavated features.
One aspect of interest may be the relatively high numbers of horse bones. The concentration of head elements may not be significant since other parts of the body were found, in general they are less likely to survive. However, the discovery of F316, a quadruple horse burial during more recent work at Nosterfield, for which analogous features have been found at other Iron Age sites such as Blueburton (Mike Griffiths pers. comm.), would suggest that horses played an important role in ritual activity. Horses also made an appearance in a large pit of probable ritual importance dated to the 3rd century AD at Site 25 on the Silk-Willoughby to Staythorpe gas pipeline in Nottinghamshire. Here, the basal deposit contained the skulls of a horse and a cow and a pair of dog mandibles, while the upper fills contained a large number of horse bones deriving from at least two individuals (FAS_SSP2003). When the material from Nosterfield is combined with the evidence of two square ditched features, thought to be barrows of Iron Age date, it seems likely that a certain degree of ritual activity was carried out at the site during that period. Indeed, it can be argued that horse remains were quite closely associated with these square barrows: F316 was cut about six metres from F304 and in direct alignment with it, while the only artefact accompanying male burial F335 (placed into the west ditch of barrow F320), was a horse molar found between his legs. It is possible then that horses may have been deposited into features for ritual reasons, or perhaps even that their skulls were displayed. The presence of a cremated human ulna fragment in F82, C1242 is not particularly out of place given the widespread occurrence of human body parts in Iron Age features from a wide range of sites.
Ritual activity is also likely to be associated with the pit alignments. F103 contained material that might suggest that it derived from ritual activity. In this case, there were 170 small fragments of calcined bone, two of which could be recognised as pig phalanges one of which was unfused. The rest of the fragments could be identified only as medium mammal, but included fragments of skull and long bone. It is possible that this deposit represents some sort of burnt offering. The same may be true of the calcined bone deposits in Intervention 1, none of which contained identifiable human remains.
At present, the assemblage from Nosterfield is a little too small and poorly preserved to warrant much in the way of detailed further analysis. However, should more refined dating be achieved for some of the features containing horse remains, then it may be worth making an archive of horse tooth measurements.
It is recommended that the horse bones from Nosterfield should be fully measured and recorded only once a tighter chronology has been established and within the context of a specific research question. A full identification of the large deer mandible is also desirable. The rest of the material should be retained so that it can be combined with further material from the watching brief whereupon it may be necessary to reassess its potential.
Boessneck, J. 1969. 'Osteological differences between sheep (Ovis aries Linne) and goat (Capra hircus Linne),’ in D. Brothwell and E. Higgs (eds.), Science in Archaeology 331-358 (London)
Dobney, K. and Reilly, K. 1988. 'A method for recording archaeological animal bones: the use of diagnostic zones,’ Circaea 5, 79-96.
Dobney, K., Jaques, S. D. and Johnstone, C. 1999. 'A protocol for recording vertebrate remains.’ Reports from the Environmental Archaeology Unit 99/15
Payne, S., 1985. 'Morphological distinctions between the mandibular teeth of young sheep, Ovis and goats, Capra,’ Journal of Archaeological Science 12: 139-147
Payne, S. 1987. 'Reference codes for the wear state of mandibular cheek teeth of sheep and goats.’ Journal of Archaeological Science 14: 609-614
Prummel, W. and Frisch, H. 1986. 'A guide for the distinction of species, sex and body size in bones of sheep and goat,’ Journal of Archaeological Science 13: 567-577 (London)
Silver, I.A. 1969. 'The ageing of domestic animals,’ in D. Brothwell and E. Higgs (eds.), Science in Archaeology 283-302 (London)
FAS_SSP03 'Zooarchaeological report - Silk Willoughby to Staythorpe Pipeline’
Table 1 Summary of context and preservation information from Nosterfield
Key: Int=Intervention, Type=feature type, Pres=preservation (f=fair, p=poor, g=good), Ang=angularity (s=spiky, q=quite spiky, r=rounded, b=battered), Col=colour (be=beige, g=ginger, f=fawn, db=dark brown, w=white). The following expressed in percentages where: n=none, 0=o-10%, 1=10-20%, 2=20-50% and 5=50%+; 0-5cm = fragments between 0 and 5cm across, 5-20cm = fragments between 5 and 20cm across, 20cm+ = fragments over 20cm across, Butch=butchery, Gnaw= gnawing, Burn=Burning
| Int | Feature | Context | Type | Pres | Ang | Col | 0-5cm | 5-20cm | 20cm+ | Butch | Gnaw | Burn | Fresh Breaks | Total Fragments |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 5 | 4 | 1015 | post hole | p | s | be | 5 | n | n | n | n | n | 5 | 1 |
| 5 | 8 | 1009 | boundary pit | g | q | g | n | 5 | n | n | n | n | n | 1 |
| 5 | 9 | 1010 | boundary pit | f | r | f | 2 | 5 | n | n | n | n | 5 | 8 |
| 5 | 10 | 1011 | boundary pit | f | r | f | 5 | 2 | n | n | n | n | 5 | 5 |
| 4 | 13 | 1020 | pit | f | r | db | n | 5 | n | n | n | n | 5 | 1 |
| 4 | 13 | 1022 | pit | g | r | db | n | n | 5 | n | n | n | n | 1 |
| 5 | 15 | 1022 | ditch | f | r | be | n | 5 | n | n | n | n | n | 1 |
| 5 | 15 | 1023 | ditch | f | r | f | 2 | 5 | n | n | n | n | 5 | 3 |
| 5 | 15 | 1025 | ditch | f | r | be | n | 5 | n | n | n | n | n | 1 |
| 5 | 15 | 1028 | ditch | g | s | f | 5 | n | n | n | n | n | 5 | 1 |
| 5 | 15 | 1030 | ditch | g | q | f | 5 | 2 | n | n | n | n | 2 | 22 |
| 5 | 15 | 1041 | ditch | f | r | be | 5 | 2 | n | n | n | n | 5 | 14 |
| 5 | 44 | 1074 | ditch | p | r | be | 5 | n | n | n | n | n | 5 | 1 |
| 5 | 72 | 1116 | drain | f | r | be | 5 | n | n | n | n | n | 2 | 8 |
| 5 | 82 | 1242 | ditch | f | r | w | 5 | n | n | n | n | 5 | n | 1 |
| 5 | 91 | 1135 | cremation pit | f | r | w | 5 | n | n | n | n | 5 | n | 1 |
| 5 | 101 | 1146 | oven chamber | p | b | be | 5 | n | n | n | n | n | 5 | 1 |
| 5 | 101 | 1380 | oven chamber | p | r | w | 5 | n | n | n | n | n | 5 | 2 |
| 5 | 103 | 1149 | aligned pit | f | r | w | 5 | n | n | n | n | 5 | n | 170 |
| 5 | 123 | 1184 | aligned pit | p | b | be | 5 | n | n | n | n | n | 5 | 8 |
| 5 | 125 | bf | aligned pit | f | b | f | 5 | 2 | n | n | n | n | n | 8 |
| 5 | 132 | 1199 | ditch | p | b | be | 5 | n | n | n | n | n | f | 9 |
| 5 | 132 | 1233 | ditch | f | b | f | 5 | 2 | 0 | n | n | n | 5 | 64 |
| 5 | 145 | 1226 | aligned pit | f | b | f | n | 5 | n | n | n | n | 5 | 6 |
| 5 | 155 | 1250 | aligned pit | f | b | f | n | 5 | n | n | n | n | 1 | 1 |
| 5 | 156 | 1256 | aligned pit | p | b | f | 5 | n | n | n | n | n | 5 | 4 |
| 5 | 190 | 1376 | aligned pit | p | b | be | 5 | n | n | n | n | n | 5 | 10 |
| 5 | 262 | 1635 | aligned pit | f | b | be | 5 | n | n | n | n | n | 5 | 9 |
Table 2 Summary of fragment count by taxon according to feature type from Nosterfield
| Taxon | Aligned pit | Boundary pit | Cremation pit | Pit | Ditch | Drain | Oven chamber | Post hole | Grand Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| horse Equus f. domestic | 1 | 15 | 16 | ||||||
| deer Cervus sp. | 1 | 1 | |||||||
| pig Sus f. domestic | 2 | 6 | 8 | ||||||
| cow Bos f. domestic | 1 | 1 | 2 | ||||||
| human Homo sapiens | 1 | 1 | |||||||
| large mammal | 20 | 14 | 1 | 54 | 2 | 91 | |||
| medium mammal1 | 186 | 1 | 13 | 1 | 1 | 202 | |||
| bird | 1 | 1 | |||||||
| unidentified | 6 | 34 | 40 | ||||||
| Grand Total | 216 | 14 | 1 | 2 | 117 | 8 | 3 | 1 | 362 |
Table 3 Summary of analysable bones from Nosterfield
| Taxon | Measureable | Mandibles | Teeth | New Born | Juvenile | Unfused | Fragments | Weight |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| horse Equus f. domestic | 7 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 16 | 985 |
| deer Cervus sp. | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 406 |
| pig Sus f. domestic | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 8 | 21 |
| cow Bos f. domestic | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 18 |
| human Homo sapiens | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 4 |
| large mammal | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 91 | 639 |
| medium mammal1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 202 | 73 |
| bird | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0.5 |
| unidentified | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 40 | 18 |
| Total | 7 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 362 | 2164.5 |