The Iron Age Settlement, situated on the east side of the A177 at Thorpe Thewles was first noticed by Leslie Still who photographed the area from an aeroplane back in 1976 having seen some pronounced markings in a field of ripening barley. Enclosures of this type are relatively common in the North East of England but the site at Thorpe Thewles is larger than most covering an area of about 7000 square metres. The site dates to about 50BC.

Between 1980 and 1982 Cleveland County Archaeology Section excavated over 50% of the site.

The ditch forming the enclosure was over 3 metres wide and 2 metres deep and the spoil from this had been used to form a bank, probably on the inside. The bank would have been capped with either a stout wooden fence or a thick hedge to protect the community’s livestock. The prevailing wind would probably have been from the north-west as it is today so the entrance was placed at the southern edge.

The central building is large and complex and there is evidence that the house had three phases of building. A drainage ditch, over 2.6 metres wide surrounds the house. Initially this house would have been grouped with one or two ancillary buildings but most of the interior of the enclosure would probably have been used to coral livestock.

Later expansion of the site, with additional buildings being built meant that the bank was pushed back into the ditch and the area became much more open. The ditch was completely filled in and the settlement no longer resembled a defended farmstead but was more like a village in size. The positioning of post-holes and the shape of the ditch shows that these buildings were circular in shape called round houses.

The most common animals kept on the site were cattle for beef, milk, leather, bone, horn and manure. They would also have been used to pull a simple plough or ard.

The spinning of wool is evident as a small number of spindleworls were found. Soay sheep, a strain of sheep still found on the remote Scottish island of St Kilda, is thought to be the closest relative to the sheep that were found in the Iron Ages. Their wool, which is plucked rather than shorn occurs in two colours, fawn and brown. This enabled simple tartan patterns to be woven on simple upright looms. An attractively decorated bone implement, thought to be a weaving shuttle, was found on the site close to two odd post holes that may well have held the upright supports for a loom.

Iron Age horses resembled modern Exmoor ponies in appearance. They could have been used to pull ploughs, chariots and carts. Three horse skulls were discovered at Thorpe Thewles along with many other animal bones.

Fragments of pottery vessels have been found. Other vessels made of wood and leather would also have been used but these being perishable no longer exist. The pottery is very crude, made of local clay and fashioned by hand into simple shapes before being fired in a bonfire or simple pit-kiln. Some finer quality vessels with turned out rims to support a wooden lid were used for cooking.

The settlement would have been largely self-sufficient but some items would have been acquired through barter or exchange. Corn grinding equipment would have been imported as there was no suitable local stone to make them. Wheat and barley would have been ground using a quern stone. Two types of quern stone were found on the site.

The earlier form is the saddle quern, this is a simple flat stone with a saddle shaped depression on the top-side in which the grain is ground using a smaller top stone. The beehive quern that replaced this is in two halves of equal diameter.

The top stone is bun shaped with a central conical hopper to hold the grain that falls down a hole to the grinding surface. It is held in place by a metal pivot that fits into a central hole in the bottom stone. The upper stone has a further socket to place wooden pegs for the handles used to rotate the upper stone. The beehive quern was introduced into Northern England in the 1st century BC and marks a technological advance in the processing of cereals.

Very few items of Iron Age jewellery have been found but a few pieces were found at Thorpe Thewles including a silver ring, two examples of brooches used to fasten clothing and a beautiful piece of gold jewellery thought to be part of an ear-ring. The photograph shows a modern reproduction of the earing on the right.

Get more information

More information about this period in our history can be found in the publications below and reports produced by Tees Archaeology or visit the Tees Archaeology web site (www.teesarchaeology.com).

Acknowledgements

Peter Rowe, Tees Archaeology

Joyce Scott