| Iron Age � Romano-British
A larger number of sites have yielded materials dated to the Iron Age or the Romano-British period. Pottery has been found at Bridged Pot Shelter, Outlook Cave, and Savory�s Hole. In all these cases only a few small sherds were recovered. However, in the case of Outlook Cave, Balch (1910) thought that one human skeleton was obviously of much more recent date than the other and associated it with the pottery, probably of Roman date. It is unfortunate that the most complete study of Romano-British cave sites (Branigan, K. & Dearne, M.J.,1992), only lists �Little Cave�, citing three of Balch�s reports, two of which in fact refer to Savory�s Hole and the other to Little Shelter (where Balch does not mention any pottery). So the four small body sherds they mention are of dubious provenance. However, Hendy (2005) states that a dig at Little Shelter in 1955 revealed Roman pottery. In the case of Cook�s Hill Hole, a piece of Romano-British olla was found together with a fairly complete skeleton that must also have been mostly undisturbed as it was described as being in a crouched position. It belonged to a male, about 5 feet 3 inches tall. This skeleton was associated with the later material, rather than the Bronze Age urns at the same site; the conclusion was that an individual of Iron Age or Romano-British times was buried in the rift which already contained the urns (Mason, D. 1952). At Bracelet Cave, the top part of the deposit contained human remains and sherds of Romano-British ollae of the 1st and 2nd Century AD. The bones were found thickly in the first 12 inches, while below 18 inches only isolated bones were found. They belonged to at least nine individuals: - 2 adult females � one over 50 at death - other about 25 - 2 adult males � one in early 20s - other of indeterminate age - 2 adolescents and 1 child - at least 2 more individuals of indeterminate age and sex. The cave was therefore believed to have been used in Romano-British times for burial purposes (Mason, E. 1972). It thus resembles Badger Hole, at Wookey, which was similarly used for burials; in this case a Roman villa was located a short distance away. The information given in a preliminary report on the human jaw fragments at Bracelet Cave, by Tratman (1958), contains some differences. It states the bones lay about 2 feet down in the deposit. Seven individuals could be distinguished with the age of death given for five of them: over 40, 35, 20, 18 and 16 years. |
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| Archaeological Periods Represented at Ebbor Upper Palaeolithic Mesolithic Neolithic-Beaker Culture Bronze Age Iron Age - Romano-British Conclusions |
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