INTERPRETING SAXONS LODE FARM, RYALL

Progress Report

Now that all the finds have been looked at and the excavation fully written up (it is close to publication in the Worcestershire County journal) there have been a few surprises on the way with regards to Saxons Lode Farm. First and foremost, we now understand the excavation area to have a much more complex chronology than previously realised.

A number of separate periods of use and occupation have now been defined, stretching from the Neolithic to Early Bronze Age period through the Saxon period, with at least 300 years of continual occupation during the Later Iron Age and Early Roman periods.

The earliest evidence comprises several features that have been interpreted as containing burials. A penannular ditch feature, two pits and a tentative barrow structure were all dated to the Neolithic to Early Bronze Age period, with the last flattened by later activity. It is difficult to fully confirm this as bone does not survive in this region due to the acidic soils. Nevertheless, this represents an important phase of activity.

There is also a significant amount of evidence from the Later Iron Age, this is mostly made up of pits, possibly as many as 150 and a gully feature, normally indicative of a roundhouse structure (similar to those we found at DIRFT). A number of the pits contained large amounts of charred plant remains that not only allowed us to date these deposits and informing us of what crops were being harvested more than 2000 years ago. The evidence also tells us that there was no break in occupation between the Iron Age and Roman periods and therefore despite major upheaval brought about by an invading force during this time, every-day life changed very little for most people.