Monument record 0632103003 - Taplow Hillfort: Saxon rubbish deposit

Extensive Saxon rubbish deposit found in uppermost fills of Iron Age hillfort ditches during excavation carried out by Oxford Archaeology in 1999 and during trial trenching in April 2005. Finds include pottery, quern fragments, animal bone, charred plant remains, daub, a spiral-headed pin, residual prehistoric flintwork and residual Romano-British pottery (B1-2).
Saxon deposits in the U-profiled ditch and the outer Iron Age ditch may have been redeposited some time after accumulation as a 9th to 11th century pottery sherd was found at the base of these deposits. There were also some Roman pottery sherds that may have been deliberately collected, including a late Roman sherd from the eastern mediterranean. Animal bone included cattle, horse, pig, sheep/goat, dog, domestic fowl and red and roe deer - the latter perhaps indicative of high status settlement, along with the late Roman sherd. There was also a spiral-headed copper pin. Other less remarkable finds include an annular loomweight and fragments of 3 iron knives, some fragments of a clay oven, and a fragment of slag from a smithing hearth bottom. Charred plant remains include wheat, rye, barley and oats, as well as chaff and weed seeds. A wheat grain from a deposit in the outer ditch gave a radiocarbon date of cal AD 670-870. Two fragments of human bone were also found in the U-profiled ditch and are included in the burial record. Possible charred Saxon grain was also found in one of the tree-throw holes (B3).