The Middle Bronze Age

On site excavations

During the Middle Bronze Age (1500-1100BC) there was a transformation in land use. A number of ditches marked field systems and the boundaries of farmland. Pits and waterholes were also used as markers. Archaeologists found no evidence of houses, these were probably located further away. A number of cattle burials indicate the importance of livestock at this time.

Bronze Quoit-headed pin

Finds from this period include a bronze quoit-headed pin found within a ditch and a complete pottery vessel at the bottom of a waterhole. The quoit-headed pin would have been used to fasten a cloak or a piece of clothing and may have been buried deliberately.

Globular urn

The pot was found in the base of the water hole. These globular urns are rarely found complete, and this one may have been carefully placed there as a votive offering. It has a number of lugs around it with holes in them, perhaps to allow it to be suspended over a fire. This pottery type is a fineware made at a time when bigger, coarser vessels, called bucket or barrel urns, were the more common style of pottery.