Evaluation of an Earthwork at Norham Castle, Northumberland (original) (raw)

The Norham Castle linear earthwork evaluation was undertaken during February 2005 as an extension of the Till-Tweed Geoarchaeology Project. The evaluation involved the excavation of a trench across an upstanding earthen bank which had been tentatively suggested to be of late prehistoric origin, and which might form part of a large ‘hillfort’ (Pearson 2002), based on its morphology and relationship with the medieval castle defences. The trench revealed the stratigraphy of the bank’s construction to comprise a series of dumps of clay and stone capping, although no features were found set or cut into the crest of the bank. It was not possible to obtain dating samples from any underlying land surface as the bank was built onto natural boulder clay after prior removal of the topsoil. The only small finds came from the topsoil and were undiagnostic, with the exception of a small fragment of medieval green-glazed pottery. A thin branch of wood was recovered from the primary dump of the bank’s construction layer and this sample returned a radiocarbon date of c. cal AD 1690-1920 at 95.4% confidence. The radiocarbon date provides a terminus post quem for the construction of the bank, placing it within the post-medieval to modern period, indicating that it is part of the remodelling of this area on the edge of Norham, possibly as part of the works for a market garden.