The Archaeology Section has spent the last few weeks either cataloguing for archiving the old collections of clay pipes, many of which were found during excavations at Gorey Castle (perhaps we will come back to that by way of update|), or cleaning finds from the 2025 excavation at Iron Age farmstead site at St Lawrence.
Many of the latter finds are fragile pieces of clay pots which have managed to survive below the ploughed soil layer. On this site, as the plough soil level extends to almost the bedrock level (there is not much soil cover!), most of the finds are from the fill of ditches which the Iron Age people dug into the upper layers of the bedrock which had naturally decayed into a matrix like compacted gravel.
In many instances, we can probably assume that “rubbish” in the form of broken pottery as well as bones and shells from food was dumped into the ditches. In the absence of dating organic material (by carbon 14 dating which we are hoping to do later on other finds), the style of the pottery can often give an indication of the period.
As you are cleaning the pieces, it is exciting to find that two or more pieces join together which gives us a chance to better identify what sort of pottery we have found. In the photographs, we have found some pieces which fit together with a style of decoration which is known in Amorica, with most examples being found in Normandy and Brittany.
The date range of this type of pottery is between 250 BCE and 0, which puts it firmly in the late Iron Age period and is consistent with other finds from the site. It may also suggest that the pottery was made in Amorica and bought to the Island by trade or otherwise. We should be able to test the composition of the pottery to determine better where it was made in due course.
Author & photos: Marc Yates – Archaeology Chair
