Spearheads are sometimes seen as representing the ‘highest custom of the Bronze Age’. This assertion is exemplified by the invention of a Bronze Age spear at a Thames Water sewage works in Cirencester, England. It was found throughout building work at a brand new wetland habitat within the area, and has been dated to between 3,500 and three,000 years previous. Including to the thriller and intrigue are the simultaneous discovery of dwellings which might be dated to the Late Bronze Age, proper up till the Roman interval, studies the BBC.

A Dwelling and Prehistoric Instruments

The Bronze Age in Britain lasted for roughly 1,700 years between 2,500 or 2,400 BC, as much as 800 or 700 BC, subdivided into early (2500-1200 BC) and late (1200-700 BC) durations. Britain was beneath Roman occupation between 43 and 410 AD – it’s roughly on this timeline that the dwellings are located. The dig was beneath the aegis of native archaeologists at Cotswold Archaeology (CA), who’re spearheading (there it’s) a biodiversity venture at this very spot.

The fieldwork revealed finds from many durations – six Late Bronze Age to Early Iron Age timber roundhouses, two Roman trackways, and each pottery and animal bones. As well as, that prehistoric flint instruments too have been discovered on the website. The archaeology workforce at Cotswold has despatched it to their workplace in Cirencester for identification, examination, and cataloguing, with additional plans of displaying it at Corinium Museum. The finds have additionally been shared on their official Twitter profile.

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Archaeologist Joe Value holding the Bronze Age spearhead they found just lately. (Cotswold Archaeology)

Found just some ft beneath the bottom earlier this 12 months when work on the wildlife habitat was on in full swing, the Bronze Age spearhead has now been efficiently recognized and dated. Happily, the archaeology workforce at Cotswold was ready within the wings, as Thames Water undertook this venture with the expectation {that a} valuable discover like this might occur. They describe it as an “archaeologically wealthy panorama”.

In a press release by Thames Water, describing the ‘close to pristine’ situation of the discover, archaeologist Victoria Reeve mentioned:

“We’re thrilled to have uncovered such fascinating finds throughout our work on the website, together with the spearhead which we imagine to be 1000’s of years previous and remains to be in nice situation. We knew we had been more likely to come throughout one thing fascinating whereas finishing up the work, which is why we had Cotswold Archaeology on website able to file any archaeology that was current, however we had been blown away by what we really found.”

Becky Elliott, Thames Water’s biodiversity supervisor, who led the venture, added, “We’re nonetheless engaged on the wetlands and hope to finish it within the coming months. At Thames Water we’re devoted to supporting nature restoration throughout all our websites and offering higher situation habitats with higher connectivity during which every kind of wildlife can flourish.”

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One of many six Late Bronze Age to Early Iron Age timber roundhouses that was found, with seen postholes. (Cotswold Archaeology)

An Archaeologically Wealthy Website and a Household Heirloom

The Mission Supervisor at Cotswold Archaeology, Alex Thomson, offered lucid particulars concerning the how they went concerning the discover. He says that the primary scrape of the machine led to the looks of the “stunning spearhead”, which got here out of the highest of a Bronze Age pit. The positioning proved to have an archaeological potential that nobody on the workforce suspected earlier. He added regarding the spearhead, “They’re a really uncommon discover and exceptionally particular artifacts. Consider me once I say, the preservation of this one is phenomenal.”

Why was the spearhead discovered right here? The present guess is it was seemingly a household heirloom positioned in a pit, for a cause but ascertained. The workforce at CA additional believes that a few of the finds could possibly be from ritual burials, however solely additional analysis can corroborate that. What Thomson can inform us is that this discover is a component of a bigger settlement that was situated within the Nineteen Nineties, a hint to which might help present a really fascinating historic narrative of the area.

The brand new wetlands are slated to cowl roughly 4 hectares (9.8 acres) of floodplain on the south finish of the positioning, paving means for a brand new habitat to be created that can home amphibians, bugs, migratory and wading birds. Thames Water ambitiously plans to extend biodiversity cowl by 5% by 2025 at 250 of its websites. Their work primarily offers with grassland administration, enhancing current habitats which roughly cowl over 4,000 hectares (9,888 acres).

Mr. Thomson concludes by saying, “We knew the positioning had archaeological potential, however we didn’t fairly anticipate the extent of what we uncovered. It’s all the time thrilling as you by no means know what you’re going to seek out – it could possibly be completely nothing or, as on this occasion, you would discover greater than you bargained for.”

Prime picture: Bronze Age spear present in Cirencester, England. Supply: Thames Water

By Sahir Pandey