Down By The River – Iron Age Post Alignments

s200_michael.bamforth
I worked as the wood specialist alongside archaeologists from the University of Birmingham on three of the sites which made up this large project investigating the Suffolk River Valleys: Beccles, Barsham Marshes and Geldeston. We excavated three Late Iron Age / Early Roman post alignments between 2007-2011. The publication came out in 2016.

Of the three sites, Beccles produced the most extensive wooden remains with large, driven oak piles forming a triple post alignment. Within the substantial oak piles we found evidence for a log-built ground level trackway crossing the wet ground of the river valley. We think that the large notches cut into the piles were probably to aid their insertion into the soft, peaty ground.

close up of joint 2