Prehistoric wetland-dryland interactions on a buried island, Walpole, Somerset, UK

Charles Hollinrake, Nancy Hollinrake, Arthur Hollinrake and Matt Law. C&N Hollinrake Ltd., 12 Bove Town, Glastonbury, Somerset BA6 8JE. http://www.hollinrake.org.uk. matt.law@hollinrake.org.uk

Introduction
Walpole landfill site is owned and operated by Viridor Ltd, and lies between Bridgwater and Highbridge in Somerset, on a stretch of land known as Pawlett Level, part of the low-lying Somerset Levels to the south of the Severn Estuary. The landscape is monotonously flat, rarely rising above 7 metres a.O.D (Since 2000, C & N Hollinrake Ltd have been carrying out investigations at the site, working in advance of landfill cell construction. Landfill cells are massive at Walpole each cell is 600m long, 30m wide and 5m deep. This has allowed an unparalleled chance to look at the sequence of clays and peats that have been laid down by the estuary over the last eight millennia and the archaeological remains they preserve.

Before the neolithic

After the Late Glacial Maximum (end of MIS 2), the river Severn flowed along its current path through a deep rocky gorge, out to a sea which was much farther west than the present day Bristol Channel (Allen and Rae 1987). As temperatures warmed, however, land to the north of the river which had been covered by ice during MIS 2 began to rise relative to sea level, while the land to the south began to sink. Gradually, the sea began to move further up the path of the river, creating the Severn Estuary and burying the gorge in estuarine mud. At this time Walpole would have been an inland site, with a hill at the east where there is an outcrop of Lias bedrock extending more than 400 m WNW-ESE and approximately 200m N-S. Most of the archaeological evidence for this period off the outcrop is too deeply buried for the excavations to find, but some patches of the original soil survive on the former hilltop, where they contain shells of snails such as Discus rotundatus, Pomatias elegans and Clausilia bidentata that would have lived in a woodland environment. A peat deposit discovered during the excavations in 2000 approximately 600m north of the outcrop has been radiocarbon dated to the middle of the 5th millennium BC and formed under marshland conditions, with pollen dominated by grasses and goosefoot.

The neolithic: wooden structures and the advancing sea

Late in the 5th millennium BC, nearly a metre of clay was deposited across the low-lying part of the site by a rapid rise in sea level. By the 4th Millennium BC, the low-lying land at Walpole had become marshland, crossed by a series of river channels draining the Polden hills. Evidence from seeds suggests that this was a complex environment, with areas of dry ground and channels carrying freshwater from the local watershed, but also subject to periodic tidal inundations. Between two of the river channels, a roughly N-S aligned wooden structure (Structure 3) was built using split oak planks and ash, oak, hawthorn, hazel, maple and lime roundwood. Dendrochronological analysis by Nigel Nayling of University of Wales, Trinity St David, revealed that the oak did not contain any sapwood so could not be dated precisely, but was felled sometime after 3861 BC. A larger wooden structure was found in the eastern of the two channels (Structure 2), consisting of driven stakes or posts, including a large plank over 2m long which appeared to have been washed away from its original position. Wood from this structure was radiocarbon dated to the early 4th millennium BC. The channel silts underneath the plank suggest that the wider environment was subject to some marine influence, with seeds of annual sea-blite being present. In the mid 4th millennium, a trackway (found at different times as Structures 4, 6, and 7) comprising double rows of posts was built, with Structure 4 crossing a palaeochannel. Bones of perch (Perca fluviatilis), a freshwater fish that is not tolerant of salinity, were found in the palaeochannel. The largest section, Structure 7, was over 40m in length. Over the ensuing millennium, numerous other wooden structures were built at Walpole: during watching briefs between 2005 and 2009, a total of 16 wooden structures were recorded. The largest of these was Structure 16, found towards the eastern edge of the eastern palaeochannel, which contained a large number of pointed stakes some up to 2m long laid horizontally across the channel. Structures 5, 13 and 14 were also part of this structure, although 13 and 14 had been washed along a palaeochannel. In the western channel, bones of an aurochs were found washed up on Structure 1. These have been radiocarbon dated to late within the 4th millennium BC. Other animal bone finds from the channel include mute swan, wild boar, eel and stickleback; along with a small number of fresh and brackish water snails. Further to the east, the Lias outcrop gradually became an island as the low lying land became progressively wetter saltmarsh. A series of burnt areas across part of the island suggest that trees were deliberately cleared. Analysis of molluscs, bryozoans, foraminifera and insects suggest that a reedy brackish water lagoon formed on the south and west of the island early in the bronze age, providing a rich environment for large herbivores whose hoof prints have been found preserved by tidal silts. Finds of flint arrowheads and smaller flakes suggest that hunting took place during the neolithic and bronze age.

Above left: plan showing location of the wooden structures and Lias outcrop or island; Top centre: Structure 16; Top right: Structure 1; Above centre: Structure 2 Above right: sequence of ditch cuts and fill at the north of the Lias outcrop Right: hoofprints in south end of the buried surface of the Lias outcrop Below right: excavation of the south end of the Lias outcrop Below left: part of the double post alignment Structure 7

Later Prehistory: from outcrop to island

As sea level continued to rise, the island surface became gradually smaller. Finds of bronze age and iron age pottery suggest that the site continued to be visited, most likely as a base from which to hunt animals on the neighbouring tidal flats. A deep storage pit for grain was dug through the bedrock. At the south west of the island, a wooden stake was found thought to be a mooring post. Most mysteriously, a sub-circular ditch with an exterior diameter of 8m was dug. The ditch has no entrance, and no sign of a structure was found in the enclosed area, so as yet its function is not understood. The ditch was gradually infilled by an alluvial clay which contained sherds of Beaker pottery and charcoal. Suggestions are welcomed! Sedimentation was especially rapid during the iron age, with up to 1.5 metres of estuarine alluvium being deposited across the site, although there appear to have been two distinct periods of stasis during which there was possible incipient reed growth with burning. A network of ditches was dug across the Lias outcrop to mitigate sea level rise, the fills of which contain snails suggesting they carried brackish water. These ditches were recut and maintained through the Romano-British period.

Above: The sub-circular ditch on the Lias outcrop, looking west

Acknowledgements The work at Walpole has benefitted from the input of a number of specialists over the years. These include Richard Brunning (worked wood), Dana Challinor (wood), Rowena Gale (charcoal and wood), Sheila Hamilton-Dyer (fish), Hayley Ellis (beetles), Jen Heathcote (geoarchaeology), Lorrain Higbee (animal bones), Julie Jones (plant macrofossils), Toby Jones (3D laser scanning), David Jordan (geoarchaeology), Annette Kreiser (foraminifera), Matt Law (molluscs, bryozoans and foraminifera), Elaine Morris (prehistoric ceramics), Nigel Nayling (dendrochronology), Dave Norcott (geoarchaeology), Lauren Shotter (beetles), Ellen Simmons (plant macrofossils), David Smith (beetles), and Heather Tinsley (pollen). Radiocarbon assays were carried out at University of Waikato. Invaluable guidance and advice has been provided by Martin Bell, Richard Brunning and Vanessa Straker. The archaeological project has been managed by Charles and Nancy Hollinrake, the fieldwork directed by Charles Hollinrake, Arthur Hollinrake, John Davey , Matt Law, Dawn Powell Roberts and Dave Roberts, and the entire project generously supported by Viridor Ltd. Reference Allen, J.R.L., and Rae, J.E., 1987, Late Flandrian Shoreline Oscillations in the Severn Estuary: A Geomorphological and Stratigraphical Reconnaissance, Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London B, 315, pp. 185-230.