Chariots, Swords and Spears: Iron Age Burials at the Foot of the East Yorkshire Wolds

1

Introduction

Mark Stephens

A series of archaeological excavations was carried out by MAP Archaeological Practice Ltd at an Iron Age cemetery east of Burnby Lane, Pocklington, East Yorkshire (Figs 1.1 and 1.2; SE 801 486 centre), in advance of residential development by Barratt-David Wilson Homes (who funded the work). A Desk-based Assessment was carried out by MAP for the entire area (plus the area to the north-east), but each phase of the development had its own programme of geophysical survey, trial trenching and open-area excavation. The first phase concentrated on Nine Acres, the area of land immediately south of Pinewood Close, and the second phase concerned the two fields immediately to the south of Nine Acres. The archaeological work was carried out according to a series of Written Schemes of Investigation that were prepared by MAP Archaeological Practice Ltd at the request of Barratt-David Wilson Homes and agreed by the Humber Archaeology Partnership.

Figure 1.1 Site location

Figure 1.2 Site plan of Burnby Lane

The excavation of a square barrow and a circular barrow at The Mile, on the northern edge of Pocklington, on behalf of Persimmon Homes, is described in Chapter 6.

This report has been written in advance of the complete scientific analysis and dating of the human remains, which should add much detail to our understanding and interpretation of both the cemetery and the wider landscape. Certainly, the work on the isotopes and radiocarbon-dating, plus some DNA analysis, described in this report is a major achievement. Further radiocarbon-dating of the skeletons will add to our understanding of the development of the cemetery, and it is hoped that additional DNA and isotope analysis will provide more insight into the lives and origins of those buried within it. It is intended that detailed reporting on the other phases at the site will be published in a forthcoming volume which will include catalogues of the pottery, flint and other finds from those phases. For the moment, the chronology for the burials laid out below uses the physical evidence, information provided by the finds, and the available radiocarbon dates. One problem that cannot be overcome is the acidic nature of the soils at the site, which left most of the burials in a fragile condition and hampered the skeletal analysis.

Burnby Lane: site description

The site is situated in Pocklington civil parish, within the East Riding of Yorkshire (centred at SE 801 486). The total development area, which was approximately 6.2ha in size (Fig. 1.2), lies immediately east of Burnby Lane, c. 900m south-east of the centre of the market town of Pocklington. Immediately prior to the excavations, the northern part of the site consisted of a grassed field and a 1960s’ bungalow (Nine Acres) with its associated garden and paddock; the two fields to the south were under arable cultivation. The site had a mean elevation of c. 33m AOD and dipped slightly to the south-east.

Geology and soils

The soils at the site consist of permeable calcareous and non-calcareous loams of the Landbeach Association, which overlie chalky glaciofluvial gravels of variable thickness (King and Bradley 1987, 512b; Fig. 1.3). This soil is permeable and either well-drained or only occasionally waterlogged. The underlying bedrock is of the Mercia Mudstone Group (‘Keuper Marl’) of the Triassic period (British Geological Survey online).

Figure 1.3 The physical geography and soils of the Pocklington area

The Burnby Lane site is situated on the western edge of an area of soils of the Landbeach Association, which can be occasionally waterlogged. The Worcester Association soils 400m to the east are generally poorly drained and prone to waterlogging. Further again to the south-east, large areas consist of slowly permeable Brockhurst and Wickham Association soils, and very poorly drained Fladbury soils. The site is therefore situated on a relatively dry and tractable area adjacent to land that would have been unsuitable for arable agriculture in the prehistoric period; this has significant implications for the character of human exploitation of the land through time.

Archaeological and historical background

The Burnby Lane site lies within a rich archaeological landscape dating to the prehistoric and later periods (Fig. 1.4). The broader landscape of Eastern Yorkshire includes many previously excavated sites of the Arras culture (Fig. 1.5), while the archaeology of the site’s immediate area is illustrated by aerial photographs of cropmarks on the two plots of land immediately north of the site and both within and beyond its southern sector (see Stoertz 1997, map 3 for RCHME plot). The cropmarks in the area to the north (now under Pinewood Close) showed two double-ditched boundaries or trackways on parallel south-west to north-east alignments c. 200m apart (Fig. 1.4). The western ‘trackway’ passed through a group of four square barrows with a larger, circular feature on the eastern side. The eastern ‘trackway’ had a square enclosure on its western side and a group of eight probable square barrows on its eastern side. In the southern part of the site, and immediately to the south, the cropmarks consisted of an east–west-aligned double-ditched ‘trackway’ along with at least 12 square barrows and circular features on both sides, plus other linear features.

Iron Age activity has been revealed by several archaeological excavations on the southern side of Pocklington (Fig. 1.4). Four linear ditches dating to the late Iron Age/Romano-British period were recorded during a Watching Brief at The Balk (Parry 2001), which is situated c. 250m south-west of Burnby Lane. Iron Age ditches, postholes and finds were located c. 700m west of Nine Acres at Cemetery Lane, Pocklington by Humber Field Archaeology (Fraser 2007). On-Site Archaeology excavated 13 trial trenches and carried out a Watching Brief at Hodsow Lane, c. 800m west of Burnby Lane (OSA 2009), recording an Iron Age/Romano-British enclosure, field boundaries and ditches, plus two ‘flat’ inhumations, a ritual animal burial and a possible dwelling. Northern Archaeological Associates excavated a site for Yorkshire Water at Canal Lane, Pocklington, c. 1.2km south-west of Burnby Lane (Tabor 2009), the earliest activity there consisting of a scatter of Neolithic Grooved Ware pits, along with a substantial flint assemblage. Two Iron Age inhumations that are particularly relevant to the Burnby Lane site were radiocarbon-dated to 380–160 cal BC and 360–50 cal BC respectively. There was also a Romano-British enclosure dating to between the 2nd and 4th centuries AD.

Figure 1.4 Sites in Pocklington mentioned in the text and cropmarks from RCHME survey (Stoertz 1997)

On-Site Archaeology also carried out a programme of archaeological work on land to both west and east of The Balk, Pocklington, between May 2013 and October 2015 in advance of residential development. At Mayfields, west of The Balk, work identified a round barrow, five large square barrows, many postholes, Romano-British and medieval ditches, and medieval postholes. None of the barrows had surviving burials. On-Site’s archaeological work in Balk Field, which lies c. 400m south of the Burnby Lane site, revealed a shallow-ditched circular feature c. 10–12m in diameter (OSA 2015a). None of the features suggested by the cropmarks, which implied the presence of an Iron Age cemetery and pits, survived within the excavated areas at Balk Field. One suggestion is that these survived as shallow features at the time of the aerial survey (Stoertz 1997) but subsequent ploughing had removed them. Fortunately, the strip of land abutting The Balk showed considerable archaeological activity in the form of Romano-British enclosures and a trackway, albeit truncated by ploughing.

Moving to Pocklington’s later history, the town was recorded in the 1086 Domesday Survey as a Royal Manor with 15 burgesses, a church, a priest, and three watermills; it had been held by Earl Morcar in the time of Edward the Confessor. The place-name means ‘Pocela’s farm’ (Smith 1937).

The medieval town flourished due to its involvement in the wool trade and revenues from corn milling. The Burnby Lane site lies outside the core of the medieval settlement, c. 900m south-east of the parish church, and in the medieval period lay within Clay Field, one of the Open Fields of Pocklington (indications of which were shown by the furrows revealed by the excavation). After the Enclosure of Pocklington’s Open Fields in 1757, the area was subdivided into smaller units, as illustrated in the 1854 First Edition Ordnance Survey map. The 1854 map calls the field immediately north of the site White Bread Hills; it is tempting to conjecture that this refers to formerly upstanding features, perhaps even the barrows that were subsequently recorded as cropmarks.

Nine Acres, the dwelling that existed in the western part of the site until demolition at the end of August 2014, was constructed prior to 1972.

In response to the planning application at the site, Archaeological Services WYAS carried out a geophysical survey of the northern area in July 2014 (ASWYAS 2014), identifying eight major anomalies (A-I) (Fig. 1.6). Anomaly A was a WSW–ENE linear feature running parallel to the modern north and south site boundaries and represented a former field boundary present on the 1854 First Edition Ordnance Survey map; B was a possible boundary relating to the same field system. C was an intermittent linear anomaly that appeared to relate to the cropmarks in the area immediately north of the site, and D was the south-west continuation of C, which skirted round the southern edge of E, a circular ditched enclosure measuring c. 70m in diameter. F and G were possible square barrows, c. 8m and 15m across respectively. H was a rectangular anomaly of possible modern origin (in fact this almost certainly relates to the soak-away pit of the former bungalow). Finally, Anomaly I was a curvilinear feature of possible archaeological origin, partly masked by magnetic disturbance from the modern bungalow.

Figure 1.5 Other Yorkshire barrow sites mentioned in the text

Using this previous geophysical survey of the site as a guide, MAP Archaeological Practice excavated 15 trial trenches in August to September 2014 (MAP 2014). The presence of the trackway and circular enclosure were confirmed but the square anomalies (F and G) proved elusive. Additionally, a previously unrecognised square barrow was excavated that enclosed the grave of an adult. Other gullies and ditches were interpreted as parts of additional square barrows.

In May 2015, On-Site Archaeology carried out a geophysical survey on the southern development area (OSA 2015b) which provided some correlation between cropmarks identified from the air and responses from the geophysical survey, the latter consisting of several positive linear features, linear trends and isolated positive responses (Fig. 1.6).

Subsequent trial trenching within the two fields forming the southern development area consisted of 13 trial trenches covering an area of 1400m² (MAP 2015). Archaeological remains were recorded in four of the trenches; those in Trenches 10, 11 and 13 corresponded to cropmark anomalies, but an additional ring gully and associated rubbish pit within Trench 8 had not been highlighted by either cropmark or geophysical surveys. Plough furrows were revealed across the full extent of the examined area and Trenches 6, 7 and 12 had signs of deep plough scarring, indicating heavy truncation by modern ploughing.

The confirmation of a significant archaeological landscape at Burnby Lane – square barrows, boundaries and enclosures of Iron Age to Anglian date – led to the various stages of open-area excavation described in this report.

The archives will be deposited with East Riding Museum Service under Accession numbers; Burnby Lane ERYMS 2022.37 and The Mile ERYMS 2022.38.

Figure 1.6 Geophysical survey Phases 1 and 2 plan

2

The landscape and archaeological background to the excavations at Burnby Lane and The Mile, Pocklington

Peter Halkon

Geology, soils and topography

The town of Pocklington is conveniently situated between the lowlands of the Vale of York and the western escarpment of the Yorkshire Wolds. The topography of the area is largely determined by the underlying geology. The bedrock immediately to the east of Burnby Lane as it approaches the present town comprises red and grey marls of the Triassic and Rhaetic, in the Mercia Mudstone Group (British Geological Survey 2019a). This was clearly visible during the digging of the foundations for the Burnby Lane housing estate and accompanying drainage works. Above this, over most of the site and indeed much of the local landscape, are superficial deposits of gravel and sand in the Pocklington Gravel Formation (BGS 2019b). The soils are classified by the Soil Survey of England and Wales (now the National Soil Resources Institute) as being in the Landbeach Soil Series and are described as being permeable calcareous coarse loamy soils, affected by groundwater over chalky gravel (Cranfield University 2019). Understanding the qualities of the soil is very important, firstly in terms of past human landscape interaction and secondly in terms of the facility of these soil types to show cropmarks in dry years, such as in the summer of 2018, when many new sites were revealed in the region. This was particularly the case along The Mile, to the west of the main area of the excavation, where loamy soils over gravel predominate (Fig. 2.1).

Further to the east of the Burnby Lane site, the land slopes gently upwards from the 30m contour until it rises to a prominent ridge, formed from rocks of the Jurassic and Lower Lias, which runs northwards from the River Humber to the south of Kilnwick Percy. The soils here are a reddish fine loam over clayey soils, which are slowly permeable and are seasonally waterlogged in the Brockhurst 2 Soil Series (Cranfield University 2019), hence Clayfield Lane and Clayfield Farm. Beyond this to the north and east are the Yorkshire Wolds, with Solid Geology comprising Cretaceous chalk in the Ferriby, Welton and Burnham Formations (Whitham 1991). The shallow soils here are well-drained calcareous silts in the Andover 1 soil series on the hilltops, with similar but deeper, more humose soils in the valley bottoms in the Icknield Soil Series (Cranfield University 2019).

In characterising the soil types around Pocklington, it was found that those in the Landbeach and Andover series both scored highly in terms of workability and drainage qualities and the Landbeach soils in particular, in terms of fertility, suitable for the growing of all crops (Halkon 2008). The wetter clay soils in the Brockhurst 2 series and the calcareous flinty soils of Icknield Soil Series in the dry valleys would be suitable for contrasting pastoral regimes (King and Bradley 1987), chalk upland being particularly favoured for sheep, whereas the wetter soils encourage a lusher growth more favoured by cattle.

To the west of the present town the terrain (Fig. 2.2) is generally flat at around 30m OD, sloping gently eastwards to reach 44m OD at The Mile before rising steeply to 86m OD to the east of Pocklington Beck, on a prominent ridge known as Chapel Hill, the northern part of which is presently occupied by the Kilnwick Percy golf course. To the south, towards the Burnby Lane site, the land drops down to around 40m OD.

Drainage and water sources

An aquifer forms at the junction between the Lias and Jurassic rocks and the chalk, and at the mouths of valleys around Pocklington there are many springs which feed the White Keld, Ridings and Millington becks (Lewin 1969). Millington Beck to the north changes its name to Pocklington Beck as it crosses the parish boundary and continues to run roughly south-westwards through the town centre until it turns towards the south and finally joins Missick Beck near the village of Bielby. It is clear that as it runs southwards from Millington into Pocklington parish, the beck is very significant in the distribution of archaeological sites visible as cropmarks, which lie along the ‘grain’ of the landscape, in particular a droveway which runs broadly parallel to it along The Mile. The cropmarks will be discussed in more detail below. A similar distribution pattern of cropmarks can be seen between the nearby villages of Burnby and Hayton where excavation has confirmed that enclosures and linear features, also of Iron Age date, that were aligned along the beck named after the villages through which it runs, continued in use in the Roman period (Halkon, Millett and Woodhouse 2015).

Figure 2.1 Cropmarks and soils around Pocklington (P. Halkon after Cranfield University)

Figure 2.2 Cropmarks against the topography around Pocklington (P. Halkon based on DTM EDINA Digimap Ordnance Survey Service 2021)

Cocoa Beck, its name morphed from Caukey or Cawkeld Beck, meaning a chalk stream, is around 880m to the south-east of the Burnby Lane site and provides a reliable water supply. It is likely that prior to large-scale extraction for domestic and agricultural purposes the water table was considerably higher and springs more plentiful than at present (Younger and McHugh 1995; Halkon 2008). This would particularly be the case along the ridge to the east of the Burnby Lane site. In wet winters such as 2018, for example, springs were rejuvenated to the extent that a number of roads in the area were flooded.

In summary, the range of soils suitable for a variety of agricultural purposes, its position between the lowlands of the Vale of York and the Wolds, a plentiful water supply, all of which coalesce to provide ecological diversity, make the landscape around Pocklington an ideal location for a wide range of past human activities.

Previous archaeological discoveries around Pocklington

Despite the dearth of upstanding archaeological features due largely to intensive arable regimes, aerial photography, fieldwork and casual finds have resulted in the discovery of much archaeological evidence around Pocklington; the focus here, however, will be on those in the vicinity of The Mile and Burnby Lane excavations.

Palaeolithic/Mesolithic

Considerable evidence for earlier prehistoric activity has been found in and around Pocklington, the earliest being a lower Palaeolithic ovate quartzite handaxe found in a potato field near Pocklington (Manby 2021, 35). At Sherbuttgate, Pocklington the metacarpal bones of an auroch (Bos primigenius) were discovered in May 1974 and subsequently identified by Dr Juliet Jewell, Mammal Section British Museum (Natural History) (Sefton 2019). Although this remains undated, such animals may have provided quarry for hunter-gather groups, as a Mesolithic scraper was found in the vicinity of Pocklington (item presently in the archives of Pocklington School) and late Mesolithic microliths are also recorded in the Hull Museum collections from Ousethorpe (Manby 2021, 75), around 1.5km to the north of The Mile excavation. It seems highly likely that these are associated with activity around Millington Beck and can be broadly paralleled with that along the River Foulness to the south of Holme-on-Spalding Moor (Halkon et al. 2009). Mesolithic flints were also found in the Pocklington Wastewater Treatment Works excavation in Barmby Moor parish, 1.25km from the centre of Pocklington, which were almost certainly residual (Makey 2008).

Neolithic

The soils around Pocklington were particularly attractive to the first farmers of the Neolithic and evidence for activity within the landscape at this time has been found in a number of locations. The Pocklington School collection contains part of a Neolithic sickle and an arrowhead (Mackay 1979; Gilbank 2011). A further leaf-shaped flint arrowhead was found unstratified during a watching brief at Pocklington School, West Green, along with a late Neolithic or early Bronze Age core (Tabor 2005; Cardwell 2006). Although it is uncertain whether they represent clearance of woodland by early farmers or simply woodland management, there is a distinct cluster of Neolithic polished stone and flint axe heads recorded from the Pocklington area (Radley 1974, 16). A further example was found at South Moor (Radley 1974), a Group 1 axe head, probably of Cornish origin, although a source at Carrock Fell in the Lake District may be possible (Halkon 2009). There are polished axe heads made of green tuff, probably of Group VI from Cumbria, found at Pocklington in the Hull and East Riding Museum in Hull and in the Yorkshire Museum, York (Radley 1974, 16). Part of a Neolithic polished stone axe, flint arrowheads, scrapers and a blade are also recorded from Sherbuttgate (Moorhouse 1978). Polished stone axe heads have also been discovered around a kilometre to the north of The Mile excavations at Ousethorpe, including one of Group VII type from Graig Lywd, North Wales (Manby 2021, 75).

Middle Neolithic pottery of Peterborough and Mortlake styles dated to c. 3600–3200/3100 cal BC (Manby et al. 2003) was found during the MAP excavation at The Mile, where pits containing sherds of later Neolithic flat-bottomed decorated Grooved Ware of Durrington Walls type were also discovered. At Burnby Lane, Hayton, 4km to the south-east of Pocklington, sherds from jars and bowls of Grooved Ware in the Woodlands tradition were associated with hazelnut shells radiocarbon-dated to 2880–2490 cal BC (Beta-223632) and 2930–2690 cal BC (Beta-223633). The pits also contained struck flint along with cereal grains and cattle bones, suggesting a mixed faming economy had already developed here (Halkon et al. 2010). A similar group of five pits, also containing cattle bone and Grooved Ware pottery in the Durrington Walls style, was found at Barrow Flats, Barmby Moor, during the construction of the Pocklington Wastewater Treatment Works 1.25km from the centre of Pocklington (Tabor 2008).

Figure 2.3 Hengiform and square barrow at The Mile (orthomosaic June 2018, Tony Hunt YAA Mapping)

Grooved Ware pottery is broadly contemporary with the construction of henges and hengiforms, the classic ritual monuments of this period of the Neolithic and the drought of early summer 2018 revealed cropmarks of several hengiforms close to The Mile excavation. On raised ground to the east of Pocklington Beck, the cropmark of a circular feature 23m in diameter was clearly visible. Although the cropmark of the ditch was somewhat blurred at the edges, it was around 3m across. There were amorphous features within the circle, but these may well be geological in origin. Although vague, there may be an entrance to the north-west. Around 500m to the north of The Mile excavation, a further circular feature was visible in the crop (Fig. 2.3). At 22m in diameter, with a c. 3m wide ditch, it had opposed entrances aligned WNW–ESE and although considerably smaller, closely resembles the group of Class 2 henge monuments in the Vale of Mowbray, particularly those around Thornborough (Harding 2013). There are vestiges of a concentric inner circular feature c. 13m across with a narrow ditch inside the main enclosure. A square barrow is clearly visible 40m to the east of this feature.

It is clear then, that by the later Neolithic the valley of Pocklington Beck around The Mile had become a focus for ritual activity of some kind.

Bronze Age

As well as the hengiform monuments discussed above, the 2018 drone photography on The Mile revealed other circular features some 11m across which are most likely to be the ring ditches of round barrows dating from the Bronze Age, although they may be the ring gullies of roundhouses. It is noticeable that the main droveway which runs broadly parallel with Pocklington Beck was deliberately positioned to curve round the easternmost of a pair of ring-ditched features. The corner of its almost right-angled bend also lies between the two ring ditches, the implication being that the droveway both respected and was aligned on these features (Fig. 2.4). A similar relationship between droveways and round barrows can be observed at a number of locations in eastern Yorkshire, for example at Wetwang/Garton Slack, where a droveway goes round a pre-existing monument (Dent 2010).

Figure 2.4 The Mile droveway and ring ditches of possible round barrows (orthomosaic June 2018, Tony Hunt YAA Mapping)

In addition to the flints from Pocklington School referred to above, early Bronze Age finds have also been made at a number of locations around Pocklington. During developer-funded excavations on Yapham Road by MAP a burial containing a Beaker was found. A flat axe in copper alloy from the early Bronze Age is recorded in the Portable Antiquities Scheme (McIntosh 2010). An unusual later short-flanged adze was also found at Hayton, resembling Schmidt and Burgess (1981, 92–114) later short-flanged axes and dating from the middle Bronze Age, c. 1500–1150 cal BC (Manby et al. 2003). For the later Bronze Age, a hoard of Yorkshire-type looped copper alloy socketed axe heads was found in the grounds of Pocklington School (Moorhouse 1973). A looped copper alloy spearhead was also discovered at South Moor (Radley 1967).

Iron Age

Although it is possible that some of the later Bronze Age finds around South Moor may relate to a complex of cropmarks extending from Pocklington Grange Farm to the present town covering over 2km (Fig. 2.5) (Stoertz 1997), typological comparison suggests that these features are more likely to be Iron Age in date. At the heart of the South Moor complex is a double-ditched droveway or linear earthwork which runs roughly parallel to Pocklington Beck in a north-easterly direction. To the north of South Moor the droveway forks to the east, the northern branch eventually turning almost at right-angles eastwards into a complex palimpsest of features which run towards the Burnby Lane site. One of the most obvious features is a rectilinear enclosure 101 × 60m in size, within a further rectilinear enclosure, situated between Willow Rise and Cocoa Beck, attached to a droveway which runs SW–NE. It is subdivided into unequal sections, the larger, southernmost portion, containing the ring ditch of a roundhouse over 20m in diameter, its entrance facing south (Fig. 2.6). The single linear features in the area around this enclosure are likely to demarcate fields.

The Iron Age sees the introduction of square barrows, the classic monument of the Arras culture of eastern Yorkshire and a major topic covered by this volume. These consist of a square ditched enclosure surrounding a grave which is then mounded over with the spoil from the ditch to form a low platform. It is highly likely that this burial tradition derived from the near Continent, as it extends from Dorset to the Czech Republic, but is concentrated in eastern Yorkshire, the Champagne and Marne regions of France, and the Hunsrück-Eifel areas of Germany (Stead 1979). The square-barrow tradition appears sometime in the later 5th century BC. The vast majority of square barrows in eastern Yorkshire have been erased by ploughing and are only visible as cropmarks, but there are surviving above ground examples at Scorborough, Beverley Westwood, and Dane’s Graves, near Kilham.

Square barrows can be categorised into three main groups: Group 1, thought to be the earliest, consists of ditched enclosures often with rounded corners, usually 12–15m square with no surviving central burial. Group 2 are generally 8–11m square, with shallow, medium depth or occasionally deep graves; and Group 3, which are generally smaller, are usually the latest in the sequence (Dent 2010). There are also small circular barrows in some cemeteries, including Pocklington, and it is noticeable that many of these contain significant burials, for example at Garton Station and Kirkburn (Stead 1991a). The square barrow cemeteries range in size from a few dispersed barrows to large ones such as Burton Fleming/Makeshift (346 burials) and Carnaby (over 300 burials) (Stoertz 1997). At Wetwang/Garton Slack, 450 burials have been excavated (Dent 2019). At Arras, recent research has shown that this cemetery originally consisted of well over 200 burials, the majority of which are those with no visible central grave (Halkon et al. 2019). The excavations here between 1815 and 1817 (Stillingfleet 1847; Stead 1979; Halkon et al. 2019) resulted in the discovery of three chariot burials, the so-called King’s Barrow, consisting of a male accompanied by two horses and portions of either pork or wild boar, being of particular relevance as both Pocklington chariot burials contained complete horse skeletons, and in the case of The Mile chariot burial, the bones of pigs also.

At Nunburnholme Wold, high up on the western escarpment of the Yorkshire Wolds above Pocklington, there is a square barrow cemetery of around 50 barrows, discovered through aerial photography and geophysical survey. It is associated with a palimpsest of enclosures connected by droveways running up through valleys in three directions from the lowlands of the Vale of York. The droveways lead into an ovoid open area some 250 × 150m, at the hilltop’s highest point, with a pair of ditches forming a funnel at its eastern end (Halkon 2019a). The results of the excavations here in 2014, 2015 and 2018, combined with its prominent location, suggest that it may best be interpreted as a central meeting place for a whole region. Like the square barrow cemeteries at Pocklington, there was evidence of earlier ritual and burial activity in the form of the parallel ditches of what is likely to be a Neolithic mortuary enclosure, a hengiform feature or large round barrow, and a group of the penannular ring ditches of round barrows, revealed through geophysical survey. One of these was partially excavated in 2016 and a rim sherd of a Collared Urn was discovered (Halkon and Lyall 2016).

In 2014 (Halkon et al. 2014), a square barrow was excavated which contained the skeleton of a female aged at least 45 years, tightly crouched with her head to the north, and placed in a box-like wooden structure with the remains of a suckling pig at her feet. This burial was radiocarbon-dated to 197–47 cal BC (Beta-516926). Some 7m to the north of the 2014 burial, a further square barrow row was excavated in 2015; this contained the skeleton of a male aged 17–22 (Halkon, Lillie and Lyall 2015). Like the 2014 burial, the body had been placed inside some kind of wooden box or shuttering. Crouched with his head to the north and facing east, part of a young pig had been laid across his lap. The corpse had been buried on its back and his knees may have been raised. The skeleton was radiocarbon-dated to 195–42 cal BC (Beta-520210). Apart from a relationship with earlier Bronze Age ritual and burial monuments, both burials shared similarities with the Pocklington Burnby Lane cemetery, in regard to the box-like structures in some of the burials.

Figure 2.5 Cropmarks (after Stoertz 1997) against the topography of the Southmoor area (P. Halkon based on DTM EDINA Digimap Ordnance Survey Service 2021)

Figure 2.6 Aerial photograph of South Moor looking north towards Pocklington (P. Halkon, July 1992)

There does seem to be a strong relationship between barrow cemeteries and movement through the landscape, as the larger cemeteries at Arras, Warter and North Dalton, like Garton and Wetwang, are all associated with major valleys which are likely to have formed route-ways through the Wolds. The Arras cemetery lies at the head of Sancton Dale, which leads down to the lowlands and the head of a former tidal estuarine inlet of the River Humber that eventually became Walling Fen (Halkon 2008). Created by a marine transgression and sea-level rise sometime between 800–500 BC, this inlet is of great significance in understanding the Iron Age in the region, as it provided access to the iron-producing lowlands of the Foulness Valley and to the Humber estuary and beyond. In a similar way, Garton/Wetwang Slack leads down to the headwaters of the River Hull near Elmswell (Congreve 1938) where iron smelting also took place, probably in the Iron Age. In the case of The Mile, square barrows and the earlier ritual and burial monuments ran along the grain of the landscape parallel to Pocklington Beck.

Several of the enclosure complexes close to Pocklington have been excavated prior to housing development, particularly in the blocks of land to the west of The Balk, in Balk Field (Parry 2001) (Fig. 2.5). The linear ditches here were found to date from the later Iron Age and early Roman period, with finds including sherds of later Iron Age pottery and a small sherd of samian ware. Of particular interest, given the discovery of the Burnby Lane chariot burial, is a piece of iron slag and vitrified hearth or furnace lining from some form of iron working or possibly manufacture, identified as being of Iron Age date, which according to Cowgill (2001) resembled slag from the Iron Age iron industries of the Foulness Valley (Halkon and Millett 1999; Halkon 2012).

In 2014–15, excavation prior to housing development on land north of Mayfield by On-Site Archaeology, to the west of The Balk, provided further evidence of Iron Age and Roman activity in the form of pits and a complex of ditches (OSA 2018). The pottery assemblage included an almost complete decorated wheel-thrown butt beaker dating from the mid-1st century AD, substantially earlier than the majority of the other Roman pottery found there.

To the east of The Balk, immediately to the south of the more northerly of the two eastern branches of the main droveway feature, is a cluster of circular features likely to be Bronze Age round barrows, surrounded and cut by Iron Age square barrows revealed in the cropmark plots and confirmed by geophysical survey (Gaffney 1995). Further square barrows are attached to the droveway itself, close to the point where it bends to the east. The burial monuments are isolated from a complex of rectilinear and linear features which lie under the present playing field and possibly represent settlement-related activity associated with the Burnby Lane cemetery. It is almost certain that this complex continues under Primrose Wood, as a narrow single linear cropmark aligns with a similar feature now under housing (Stoertz 1997). Immediately to the east of the Burnby Lane site is a further cluster of ring ditches, probably of Bronze Age date, and some square barrows of Group 1 (Dent 2010; Halkon 2013) which are relatively large, have rounded corners and no obvious central grave pit. It is clear, therefore, that the cemetery at Burnby Lane, although it is separated from settlement activity, is by no means isolated, but is part of a complex later prehistoric landscape.

Reference has been made above to cropmarks appearing along The Mile, particularly in the dry early summer of 2018 (Fig. 2.7). The most prominent of the features is a droveway over a kilometre in length with a ditch on each side, which conventional aerial photography by the writer and orthophotographs taken by Tony Hunt of YAA Mapping shows has been slightly realigned or recut on a number of occasions. At around 600m south, the droveway turns sharply to the west for around 100m before resuming in a southerly direction (Fig. 2.8). As has been noted above, its diversion may be due to the possible hengiform structure, and the corner of the bend itself is positioned between two ring ditches, likely to be the remains of round barrows.

Figure 2.7 Cropmarks against the topography around The Mile (P. Halkon based on DTM EDINA Digimap Ordnance Survey Service 2021)

Figure 2.8 The main droveway and appended enclosure on The Mile (orthomosaic June 2018, Tony Hunt YAA Mapping)

Unlike the droveways at Arras and elsewhere, which have appended enclosures along their length that are known as ladder settlements (Halkon 2019a), The Mile droveway has only two rectilinear enclosures attached to it. The largest of these is 38m by 25m in size but contains no obvious features. There is a scatter of square barrows, mainly of Group 1, along The Mile on the same orientation as the main droveway and one group, around 100m to the west of the droveway, which appear to be surrounded by a trapezoidal enclosure.

Conclusion

While not previously regarded as a particularly significant area for prehistoric archaeology, this survey has demonstrated the considerable density of activity in Pocklington and its environs. Its well-drained productive soils, plentiful water supply and its position between the lowlands of the Vale of York and the Wolds uplands provided opportunities for differing modes of past human exploitation. Although the discovery of the chariot burials came as somewhat of a surprise, the Yorkshire Wolds cropmark survey mapped dense Iron Age activity, particularly to the south of the present town (Stoertz 1997). The Iron Age square barrow cemeteries were by no means the first burial or ritual monuments in the area, as the cemeteries at both Burnby Lane and The Mile were constructed in the vicinity of earlier prehistoric monuments, perhaps deliberately as some form of claiming ownership or legitimacy for new arrivals. Although the Stoertz survey (1997) provided hints as to the presence of some form of ritual landscape, the dry summer of 2018 revealed further features along The Mile, reinforcing the significance of Pocklington Beck to site distribution.

3

The early prehistoric landscape

Mark Stephens

Late Neolithic/early Bronze Age

A scatter of pits and gullies containing sherds of Peterborough and Grooved wares, Beaker and Food Vessel and associated flintwork was present across the site (Fig. 3.1).

A group of three pits (18378, 18392 and 18406) and a gully (18380) were recorded in the eastern area of the site; these pre-dated Period 4 (Romano-British), 18392 and 18406 being truncated by Ditch D. These features are grouped together because of their proximity and early stratigraphical position; however, only one dateable sherd was associated with them – a sherd of Peterborough (Mortlake) ware from the fill of 18392 (18391). In addition, the southern end of the 3m-long gully (18380) was cut away by the northern edge of Ditch D and was attributed to this phase.

A further group of three pits (16641, 16655 and 16682) was excavated in the north-eastern part of the site. These pits were sub-circular and had similar sequences of filling, with brown upper fills and darker primary fills. Associated finds consisted of a flint graver/burin and a utilised core rejuvenation flake, both in very fresh condition and late Neolithic/early Bronze Age in date.

Towards the west of the site, the well-defined sub-circular Pit 17187 contained a late Neolithic/early Bronze Age flint flake in ‘very fresh’ condition (Makey 2017). In the north-west of the site, Pit 15814