Dixon's Bank : In-depth information

Archaeologists had always presumed that this area was fairly sterile in terms of past history as it consists of low-lying land with heavy clay soils. In fact it was thought that this part of the Tees Valley would have been densely wooded throughout prehistory and not particularly desirable for settlers.

This picture began to change when, in 1988, Roger Inman, a local amateur archaeologist, reported finds of Romano-British pottery in fields at Dixons Bank, Marton and Bonnygrove Farm, Coulby Newham. As these areas were earmarked for development, archaeological evaluations were organised to find out more about these curious scatters of pottery.

The evaluations at each site demonstrated that there were substantial remains of Romano-British and earlier Iron Age settlements. This meant that the sites needed to be fully excavated before development could commence.

The excavations at Bonnygrove had finds from the excavation that showed cereal farming was the main activity carried out. Parts of three quern stones were found which show that flour was hand milled at the settlement. The ditches themselves contained environmental evidence in the form of carbonised seeds and cereal grains from spelt wheat and barley. Pottery found within the ditches could be accurately dated giving an occupation date of between 100AD and 300AD.

The Dixons Bank site was very much better preserved and amongst the most interesting finds were two human graves. One of these graves was found beneath a roundhouse. It is possible that the people who built the house knew about the grave and built the house over it on purpose for its ritual significance.

The finds from this site included Iron Age, Romano-British and Roman imported pottery. There was also a Roman style brooch found early in the excavation. The evidence from this site suggests that a farmstead was sited here from at least 200BC. This flourished in the 1st and 2nd centuries AD but after this there was a shift of emphasis from settlement to stock husbandry.

Overlying the roundhouses and small enclosures was a series of large linked enclosures which seemed to be connected by a droveway for guiding herds of cattle or sheep.

Dixon's Bank

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