Self-sufficient Iron Age settlement found in Saxony

An excavation at a gravel extraction site in Belgern-Schildau, Saxony, Germany, has uncovered a settlement from the late Roman/early Migration Period. Inside the dwellings, archaeologists found evidence they were used as homes, stables and for textile production from the 3rd to 5th centuries A.D.

The State Office for Archaeology of Saxony (LfA) surveyed the site before the expansion of the open-pit gravel mine. The area is known to have been settled for millennia, and any archaeological remains would inevitably be destroyed in the extraction of gravel.

Among the numerous finds, such as pits and postholes—structures in the ground created by human intervention—at least four multi-aisled longhouses built using post-and-beam construction and three pit houses can be identified. While the longhouses, up to 20 meters long and five meters wide, were used as dwellings and stables, the small pit houses, dug into the ground and with a floor area of ​​between seven and twelve square meters, served as farm buildings and storage facilities.

One pit house yielded clear evidence of textile production. Thirty flat, round clay loom weights indicate that fabrics were produced here using a loom. The loom weights tensioned the warp threads, which hung vertically on the loom, through which the weft threads were then threaded. During the Roman Imperial period, woven textiles made primarily from sheep’s wool were produced. A clay spindle whorl was also found, which could be used to spin raw wool into thread on a weighted spindle.

Among the finds, mostly fragments of everyday pottery, a large, dark, opaque glass bead decorated with light-colored wave bands stands out. These beads are usually found as ornamental items in women’s graves. The shape and decoration of beads of this type are very durable. They are most commonly found in the 4th and 5th centuries AD. Since this large bead was found in a settlement pit, its use as a spindle whorl, for example, cannot be ruled out.

Burned clay and grain indicate the dwelling walls were coated with coat and grain stored in the structures. A fire must have struck to burn the walls and grain. The settlement may have been abandoned in the wake of the fire. Archaeologists will now focus on analyzing the recovered remains, including radiocarbon dating the plant matter and charcoal.

* This article was originally published here