Bronze Age worked flints and pottery sherds, Ambresbury Banks (EHER 25)

A Bronze Age barbed and tanged arrowhead was recovered from the ditch silts along with some undiagnostic flint flakes which may also be Bronze Age. A few small abraded sherds of handmade flint-tempered ware came from over geological deposits beneath the banks.

Small amounts of knapped flint were recovered from the western ditch silts (see site map in <1>, p 199). The barbed and tanged arrowhead found at the southwest entrance suggests an early 2nd millenium presence at the site, preceeding the earthworks' consturction, and the flakes could well belong to that period. Pottery: 2 fabrics identified as preceding/ contemporary with the construction of the enclosure. These were: Type 1. Red ware with flint grit temper, soft and hand made. Type 2. Red ware with finer sandy temper and fingernail decoration on the rim. Southwest entrance: 13 sherds of type 1 and 7 sherd of type 2 in total; 6 from the centre of the bank; 4 from beneath the banks, overlying the geological deposits. 4 from the tips of the bank itself at the southwest entrance. Western entrance: 4 type 1, 8 type 2 from the entrance itself; 2 type 2 from the lowest silt at the butt-end of the ditch at the causeway; 2 type 2 from the secondary silt at the butt-end of the ditch at the causeway. From the centre of the western bank, 1933: 10 sherds; 1881: a 'few' [number nad exact location unknown]. [Note: 'silt' is synonymous with 'fill' in this context.] <1> Additional reference: <2>