Site Event/Activity record EEM14955 - 2002-2005: AE - Sherracombe Ford (Exmoor Iron)

Excavation took place as part of the Exmoor Iron project in 2002 (4 weeks), 2003 (6 weeks) and 2005 (3 weeks). Stratigraphic analysis in conjunction with the ceramic dating evidence divides the occupation of the site into four main phases: Phase 1: late 1st – early 2nd century AD Phase 2: early second – mid 2nd century AD Phase 3: mid 2nd – mid 3rd century AD Phase 4: mid 3rd century onwards. AD A further 20 radiocarbon dates were obtained from contexts of technological debris sampled throughout the site. These suggest that slag heaps A and B are contemporary, arising from smelting occurring between the late Iron Age and the late 3rd and early 4th centuries AD. The discrepancy between the earliest radiocarbon dates and earliest ceramic evidence is yet to be resolved. It is possible that the earlier dates indicate the real situation, or may have arisen from differing laboratory procedures or may indicate a degree of lateral stratigraphy on the site, arising as they do from samples taken during the preliminary survey some 20 metres from the location of the later trenches. To complicate matters, archaeomagnetic dating of a well preserved furnace setting from trench 2 on platform A returned a date within the mid-late Iron Age, contradicting the radiocarbon and ceramic evidence placing this feature in Phase 3 (mid 2nd – mid 3rd century AD). Nonetheless, the main activity on site began in phase 2 and ended with phase 3.