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earith Roman port Understanding the palimpsest phase i (Late Iron Age and Early Roman): an open agricultural landscape with square and rectangular enclosures either side of the West Track. phase ii (AD 120-180): a planned system of small enclosures aligned on the new East Road, with pits, wells and watering holes and the postholes and beam-slots of timber buildings. phases iii.1 (AD 180-250) and iii.2 (AD 250-325): the West Track is now the focus of the densest settlement activity. Structure 68 has been tentatively identified as a dock or boathouse, constructed at the end of a barge channel linked to what is now the Cranbrook Drain, while Structure 35 could be a waterside warehouse or customs facility. phase iv (after AD 325): a contraction of the core area in favour of the northernmost and southernmost enclosures. some sort of regularised system underlying the layout and the plot size, though little evidence at this phase of the nearby river being used. It appears that the settlement or village was replanned yet again in Phase III.1 (AD 180-250), when the West Track came back into use as the focus of the densest settlement activity. During this phase, the western settlement enclosures extended down towards the river for the first time, when a number of possible barge channels were constructed. The second half of the 3rd and the early 4th centuries (Phase III.2: AD 250-325) saw a degree of stability within the settlement, with few overall changes to the layout, though some buildings at the centre of the site were abandoned or demolished, and internal ditches forming sub-enclosures were filled to create larger plots. A structure tentatively identified as a dock or a boathouse was constructed at the end of a barge channel linked to the river. The final phase of occupation (after AD 325) saw a contraction of the core area in favour of the northernmost and southernmost enclosures, while the central ground, perhaps prone to flooding, was abandoned. The pottery- and coin-finds attest to the site’s duration until at least the end of the 4th century and probably into the early decades of the 5th. 32 current archaeology | www.archaeology.co.uk October 2014 |

above Typical beam-slots: very few of the buildings could be described as major or ‘aspiring’: there are no masonry buildings, no painted plaster or heated floors, but the use of substantial timbers to create a raised floor (right) did at least ensure that the structures were dry, and an abundance of daub, roof-tiles, and nails indicates that the walls were lined and draughtproofed, and the roofs were watertight. Other structures have sill-beams to support the external walls, and post-holes indicating internal divisions. The timber buildings Several aspects of the site hint at initial imperial sponsorship. In all, the CAU team identified 69 Roman-period structures at the site, and their various plans and sub-structures together mark a significant contribution to studies of RomanoBritish vernacular buildings. Typically these had a timber foundation, providing a beam on to which the floors could be laid, raising them slightly above the ground. No actual timbers survived from any of the buildings, but the beam slots suggested the use of substantial tree trunks of a kind that were probably in short supply in the heavily exploited Fenland landscape, hinting at some sort of privileged access to good-quality building materials. Eight of the buildings had a square plan, but five were rectangular, including two massive buildings. Structure 22, measuring 28m by 12m, could have been a major hall-like residence, and Structures 24 and 26, a slightly smaller linked building in two parts, might have been a warehouse. Most of the rest were post-built structures, ranging in size from four-posters, measuring 3m across, to longhouses of 5m to 6mwide and 8m to 13m long. One incompletely excavated longhouse (Structure 51) could be up to 26m in length; it has an unusual atrium plan, with posts delineating an open central square at its eastern end. Millstones used in the packing suggest that at least one of the buildings was a mill, while the waterfront location of Structure 35 invites interpretation as a warehouse or as a customs or control facility. right Structure 51 is a very large building defined by 67 post-holes, with eastern (top) and western (bottom) wings, and a courtyard or atrium (centre). The ranging rod indicates the scale of the building, which measures at least 26m by 9.5m, the western range (at the bottom of the photograph) continuing beyond the edge of the excavation and so not fully explored. | Issue 295 Owen : G OTO Population and settlement function Summing up so far, the settlement expands to its fullest extent during Phase III.1, when the geometric formality of the site appears to bear the hallmark of ‘official’ planning. Camp Ground could then be described as a modest village, with a maximum of 11 residential buildings,  Owen : G mage www.archaeology.co.uk | current archaeology 33

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earith Roman port

Understanding the palimpsest phase i (Late Iron Age and Early Roman): an open agricultural landscape with square and rectangular enclosures either side of the West Track. phase ii (AD 120-180): a planned system of small enclosures aligned on the new East Road, with pits, wells and watering holes and the postholes and beam-slots of timber buildings. phases iii.1 (AD 180-250) and iii.2 (AD 250-325): the West Track is now the focus of the densest settlement activity. Structure 68 has been tentatively identified as a dock or boathouse, constructed at the end of a barge channel linked to what is now the Cranbrook Drain, while Structure 35 could be a waterside warehouse or customs facility. phase iv (after AD 325): a contraction of the core area in favour of the northernmost and southernmost enclosures.

some sort of regularised system underlying the layout and the plot size, though little evidence at this phase of the nearby river being used.

It appears that the settlement or village was replanned yet again in Phase III.1 (AD 180-250), when the West Track came back into use as the focus of the densest settlement activity. During this phase, the western settlement enclosures extended down towards the river for the first time, when a number of possible barge channels were constructed. The second half of the 3rd and the early 4th centuries (Phase III.2: AD 250-325) saw a degree of stability within the settlement, with few overall changes to the layout, though some buildings at the centre of the site were abandoned or demolished, and internal ditches forming sub-enclosures were filled to create larger plots. A structure tentatively identified as a dock or a boathouse was constructed at the end of a barge channel linked to the river.

The final phase of occupation (after AD 325) saw a contraction of the core area in favour of the northernmost and southernmost enclosures, while the central ground, perhaps prone to flooding, was abandoned. The pottery- and coin-finds attest to the site’s duration until at least the end of the 4th century and probably into the early decades of the 5th.

32

current archaeology | www.archaeology.co.uk

October 2014 |

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