Meare Lake Village, 1935

Abstract

AN exceptionally interesting find in the excavations of the Somersetshire Archaeological and Natural History Society at Meare Lake Village of the present season, which ended on September 19, is that of a timber substructure of a remarkable and unusual character in one of the mounds. It consists of a squared arrangement of oak beams, 11J feet in length, crossed at the angles and secured by oak piles or corner posts placed vertically through the mortice holes. The arrangement was almost square, the area enclosed by the timbers being fifty-three square feet. The inner area was crossed by one large oak beam; and poles of alder and silver birch laid out in parallel order in both directions under the oak beams combined to form a raft-like structure. The earlier rectangular building on this structure would appear, judging from the position of piles around the area, to have been superseded by the more usual round dwelling, of which the superimposed hearths were found in the position and relation in which they were to be expected. A somewhat similar square timber structure was found in the west village some years ago, and traces of rectangular huts were found at five points, though not in situ, in the Glastonbury Lake Village. From the range of finds in the area of excavation of the present season, it is evident that this quarter of the village was a centre for weaving. Weaving combs, bobbings, needles of bone and no less than twenty-four spindle whorls were found. Among other objects were an iron dagger with bronze fittings, bronze finger rings, yellow paste beads, three spurs of fighting cocks, linked bronze wire and two ‘cheek-pieces' of horses' bridle bits. Among the finds from the excavations of this and previous seasons, to be exhibited in the new Wyndham Galleries of the Somerset County Museum at Taunt on, is a mounted set of the spikelets and grains of Triticum dicoccum found at Meare, with a set of its modern counterpart by its side. These have been prepared by Sir Rowland Biffen.