Archaeological projects
A wealth of experience
Since my first archaeological excavation in 1993, I have gained extensive experience on Palaeolithic through to post medieval sites in both rural and urban situations. I have extensive excavation experience both in the United Kingdom and abroad, having worked in England, Scotland, Turkey, Syria and Jordan. My experience is illustrated by the selection of sites presented below.
Pullyhour henge, Caithness, Scotland
Co-director with Prof Richard Bradley
The Pullyhour henge measures only 18.5 m in diameter and is among the smallest examples of this monument form. The date of these small monuments is uncertain and they may be considerably later than the massive later Neolithic constructions located across southern Britain. Moreover, it is likely that they functioned in a different manner to these larger monuments, as their limited size precludes their use for mass gatherings.
The Pullyhour earthwork was surveyed and excavated in March and April 2008. The excavations identified two phases of construction and an episode of destruction. The first phase monuments was a simple circular earthwork with a 3 m wide ditch surrounded by a 3 m wide bank. The interior platform measured only 8 m in diameter and was accessed by a 1 m wide south-facing causeway aligned on a distant cairn. This monument was altered by re-shaping the interior to an oval form, raising the external banks and creating a small horseshoe shaped bank in the interior. The secondary monument witnessed the erection of two standing posts outside the entrance creating further alignments on a distant hill. A late Mesolithic flint scatter was located in a preserved soil in the monuments interior. Post-excavation analysis is in progress.
To read the interim report click here
The Pullyhour henge
Stonehenge Riverside Project, Wiltshire
Finds Officer. Directed by Prof Mike Parker Pearson, Dr Josh Pollard, Prof Julian Thomas, Dr Colin Richards, Dr Chris Tilley and Dr Kate Welham
From 2005 to present, I have worked as the Finds Officer for the Stonehenge Riverside Project. This project initiated new research into the Stonehenge landscape and aims to investigate the the relationship of Stonehenge to the River Avon and surrounding monuments. Excavations at Durrington Walls revealed the remains of nine later Neolithic houses with associated midden deposits. These yielded in excess of 100,000 flint tool and c 100 kg of Grooved Ware. Other excavations in the wider-landscape have produced five complete early Bronze Age cremation urns among other grave goods. For further information and to download the interim reports visit the project website.
A cremation urn at the Cuckoo Stone being prepared for lifting and conservation
Wittenham Clumps: Castle Hill hillfort and wider landscape project, Oxfordshire
Project Officer and Principal Author with Tim Allen and Leo Webley
This Heritage Lottery funded project has been investigating the late Bronze Age and Iron Age hillfort on Castle Hill and it's local environs since 2003. As the principal Project Officer, I ran community based fieldwalking and lead excavations on the Scheduled hillfort (2003) and in the surrounding landscape (2004).
Excavations on Castle Hill confirmed the presence of a late Bronze Age enclosure on the hilltop and revealed significant evidence for the form of the early Iron Age defences, still upstanding as dramatic earthwork. Perhaps, most significantly the project has revealed a substantial early and middle Iron Age settlement outside the hillfort’s entrance that extends for over 600 m.
Publications:
Allen, T G, and Lamdin-Whymark, H, 2005 Little Wittenham, excavations at and around Castle Hill (SU 5695 9262), South Midlands Archaeology 35
Taplow Court hillfort, Taplow, Buckinghamshire
Project Officer and Princial Author with Tim Allen and Chris Hayden
Excavations at Taplow Court in 1999 unexpectedly revealed the remains of a hitherto unknown hillfort with late Bronze Age and Iron Age phases of construction. The late Bronze Age enclosure was defined by a ‘V’-shaped ditch and in the interior postholes of a roundhouse with preserved occupation layers was excavated. The late Bronze Age defensive ditch naturally silted for a period prior to the cutting of a substantial ‘U’-shaped ditch, measuring some 12 m wide and 3.5 m deep, and construction of a timber-laced rampart over the late Bronze Age ditch. A recent evaluation has revealed a further external ditch, demonstrating the multi-vallate form of the Iron Age hillfort.
The flint assemblage revealed earlier aspects of the sites use with small numbers of Mesolithic and Neolithic flints preserved in tree-throw holes. Early Bronze Age flintwork, including a small number of refitting flints, was recovered from a group of intercutting pits associated with Collared Urn.
Publications:
Allen, T G and Lamdin-Whymark, H, in preparation, Taplow Court, Taplow, Buckinghamshire: A Late Bronze Age and Iron Age hillfort. Oxford Archaeology monograph
Allen, T G, Lamdin-Whymark, H and Maricevic, D, 2006 Taplow, Taplow Court (Phase 2), Clivedon Road, (SU907 824), South Midlands Archaeology 36, 19-21
Allen, T G, and Lamdin-Whymark H, August/September 2001, The Taplow Hillfort, Current Archaeologyy 175
Allen, T G and Lamdin-Whymark, H, 2000 The rediscovery of Taplow Hillfort. South Midlands Archaeology 30, 22-28
Eton Rowing Course, Dorney, Buckinghamshire
Project Officer, Flint Specialist and Principal Author with Tim Allen and Alistair Barclay
I have been involved with the Eton Rowing Course project since 1995. The 1995 season saw the excavation of many of the in situ lithic scatters preserved on the floodplain of a former channel of the River Thames. Subsequent technological analysis of the lithic scatters revealed that both early and later Neolithic scatters were present across the area. The more substantial scatters dated from the earlier Neolithic and refitting demonstrated the presence of leaf arrowhead production among other activities. The excavation of two early Neolithic midden deposits in 1996 and 1997 recovered some 30,000 flints. Analysis of the lithic assemblage was part funded by English Heritage and has demonstrate the processes by which the flint was reworked over a considerable period on the landsuface and in the middens prior to final deposition in tree-throw holes.
Publications:
Allen, T, Barclay, A and Lamdin-Whymark, H, 2004 Opening the wood, making the land: the study of a Neolithic landscape in the Dorney area of the Middle Thames Valley, in Towards a New Stone Age: aspects of the Neolithic in south-east England (eds J Cotton and D Field) CBA Res Rep 137, 82-98
Lamdin-Whymark, H, 2001 ‘Neolithic activity on the floodplain of the river Thames at Dorney’, Lithics 22, 22-37
Lamdin-Whymark, H, forthcoming, The flint in Allen, T G A, et al. The archaeology of a Middle Thames landscape: The Eton rowing course at Dorney and the Maidenhead, Eton and Windsor flood alleviation channel, Volume 1 The early prehistoric landscape, Oxford Archaeology Thames Valley Landscape Monograph
