b'Backgarden Archaeology at No. 11Part 3Mike & Kate PrattThe Iron Age Dawns!J ust when it seemed that the pottery we had found in our second test pit in 2003 couldnt be assigned to a definite era there was a breakthrough. In February of 2004 the Local History Group had a talk on the archaeology of the Yorkshire Wolds given by Dr Melanie Giles, an archaeologist from Leicester University. Afterwards she looked at pieces of the pottery in question. Singling out one distinctive rim sherd she identified it as being from the Late Iron Age. This was encouraging not just because it pushed the date back but because it came from someone who specialised in the Iron Age and who had seenDr Melanie Giles in the Village Hall in 2004examples of similar pottery. Trench 1, 2004 edge of the same featureproving that it was more than a pit!Without going into too much detail, we managed to get down to 1.5 metres before hitting a bottom beyond which no further finds seemed likely.Final ConfirmationDuring the trench excavation in 2004, but before the bottom was reached, Dr Melanie Giles visited our back garden site to see what progress had been made. On the basis of her earlier assessment, with more of the same type of pottery to go on she was prepared to confirm her previous Late Iron Age assessment subject to what else may emerge to support or contradict it.After Melanies visit, along with more of the same, two very different finer types of pottery did emerge which promised to help with the dating as they looked as though they might fall into recognisable categories. We needed someone who could identify and date these new finds and confirm the provisional dating of the coarse ware. The PAS experts consulted in York had suggested we get in touch with Terry Manby, an archaeologist with long experience of excavations in Yorkshire. This we did and he agreed to pay us a visit.As well as confirming the Late Iron Age date for the coarse ware, Terry identified the finer types as red and The trench at 1.5 metres deep, 2004 grey ware of the Roman period, circa 200 to 400 AD.SummaryAs soon as the weather improved sufficiently inOverall, the pottery found and its relative 2004, a trench was opened up measuring 4 metres bypositioning in the layers of the trench suggest a 1 metre about 2 metres further down the garden fromfeature, whether ditch or hollow, that was dug and Test Pit 2. This represented a lot of earth moving but itgradually filled in during the Late Iron Age and into was necessary in order to find the side of the featurethe Roman period. As a record of the spread of and have enough room to take the dig down belowRomanisation, finer wares appear while the apparent 1.2 metres without fear of the sides collapsing. use of the coarser wares continues alongside and At Layer 5 it became clear that we had struck thepossibly after.BULLETIN 10 159'