Midland Iron Age settlement discovered during road works
Mystery surrounds what 2,500-year-old site would have been used for
AHIDDEN Iron Age settlement dating from around 2,250 years ago has been discovered while building a new roundabout near Upton-upon-Severn in Worcestershire.
Archaeologists made the exciting find when aerial photos of the building site at the A38 and A4104 crossroad junction showed there could be more than workers bargained for.
They believe the settlement may have been used by leaders of the local Iron Age tribe, the Dobunni, to ensure that they maintained control over the region.
Pottery found at the site confirmed it dated to the Middle Iron Age and was occupied some time between 300 and 100 BC.
The dig also uncovered an infant burial in one of the ditches.
This is not the first find on one of Worcestershire’s major infrastructure projects, after artefacts from the Battle of Worcester were discovered during works on the A4440 Southern
Link Road in Worcester in 2019. That find included musket balls, horse harness fittings and belt buckles at the site of the battle of 1651.
The latest discovery was made during the planning phase of the road improvements being made by Worcestershire County Council during a full excavation in August and September.
Archaeologists were curious as the
site had an unusually large ditched enclosure at its heart.
A spokesperson said: “It potentially had a defensive function. This possibility is strengthened by the location of the site approximately midway between the hillfort of Bredon Hill, to the east, and two hillforts, Midsummer Hill and British Camp on the Malverns to the west.
“One possibility we are exploring
is that this well-defended site may been part of the system the leaders of the local Iron Age tribe, the Dobunni, used to ensure that they maintained control over the region and expressed their power and status. We know that parts of the Severn Valley were producing large quantities of grain at this time just to the north of the roundabout site.
“The Upton roundabout enclosure may therefore have helped to protect and control distribution of the highly important and valuable cereal harvests stored at sites in this part of the Severn Valley.”
Robin Jackson, Worcestershire Archaeology team manager, said the exceptionally large ditch and gap with large posts on either side were indicative of a substantial gateway.
“We also discovered a waterhole, a small enclosure and field boundaries,” added Mr Jackson. “As we restricted our excavations to the area being disturbed by constructing the roundabout, we have only revealed about a third of the enclosure, but it has given us a vital glimpse into what life would have been like in the Iron Age.”
Experts believe further structures and possibly another entrance may lie within an unexcavated part, which is preserved beneath the farmland to the south.
Further works to analyse the findings will take place into next year, with many theories about how the site would have operated and for what cause still to be investigated.