ULAS
University of Leicester Archaeological Services

Later Neolithic glimpses at Rothley, Leicestershire:
Goings on with Grooved Ware

Recent excavations at Rothley, Leicestershire, have revealed a Late Neolithic pit complex associated with a rich assemblage of Grooved Ware. The site is near the bottom of a north-facing slope to the west of the river Soar. The most prolific feature in terms of finds was a large, flat-based pit with an irregular trefoil-shaped plan. It is suggested that this was a sunken-featured building with the ‘stalk’ as the threshold. The infill produced several thousand decorated sherds, lithics and a remarkable engraved stone plaque displaying a rare example of figurative art.

The plaque and associated finds

The plaque is c. 200 x135 mm in size and is made of a finely grained sandstone, probably derived from a skerry bed in the local Mercia Mudstone deposits. It is incomplete having been broken in antiquity, but enough survives to suggest that the original design would have been symmetrical and may be described as a stylised face set within a rectangular frame. The face motif was executed with near-parallel lines while the frame was of a slightly broader and deeper line. The eyes were formed by two double concentric rings with curving eyebrows that link to the frame. The nose was formed by a slightly squashed lozenge with a linking chevron that formed the cheek. There are slight traces of a mouth, probably formed by another lozenge.

The lithic assemblage from the feature was mostly debitage but included some 25 flint scrapers, many in fine condition and abandoned long before being exhausted. Two Group XX (Charnwood) axes had been ‘undressed’ whereby the original polished surface has been systematically removed by flaking. The resulting cores were capable of producing further flakes but they were also abandoned before being exhausted. A preliminary scan of the ceramics gives the impression that it is all Grooved Ware of Woodlands style, with many highly decorated pieces.

Other deposits

A small pit c. 5m east of the latter feature produced another placed deposit comprising calcined flint and animal bone, Grooved Ware from a single vessel, a large stone rubber and a ceramic ball (of golf ball size). The large rubber was fabricated from a slab of skerry sandstone and showed signs of wear at one extreme. The lithics included a flint axe that had been completely calcined by intense heat to the point of exploding. Another small pit nearby contained a (now) sterile fill that had been sealed with a large sandstone slab.

Discussion

The Rothley site adds to an increasing number of Grooved Ware sites found in recent years in the East Midlands. The interpretation of the large feature as a sunken-featured building finds some local parallels in the structures recorded at Aleck Low, Derbyshire, while two recent examples of large sub-rectangular Grooved Ware pits at Eye Kettleby and Braunstone, Leicestershire, can be highlighted as possibly similar structures. While much of the material culture and site structure can be compared to sites from regions with higher Grooved Ware profiles, such as Wessex and Yorkshire, there are other elements that appear unique such as the rubber, ceramic ball and the plaque with the stylised face.

While there are examples of other engraved plaques with Grooved Ware associations, for example at Amesbury in Wiltshire, there are none with figurative art. Perhaps the closest parallel in terms of mobiliary art is the Folkton drums with their eye and eyebrow motifs. The opposed bar chevrons and lozenge used on the ‘face panels’ of the drums also find a broad parallel in the Rothley plaque. Indeed, these geometric elements do appear to be a leitmotif of the Grooved Ware style.

The acts of deposition at Rothley were certainly structured, and included elements of intentional destruction with the breakage of the plaque, the burning of flint artefacts and animal bone, the flaking of the axes and, probably, the breakage of the pottery. Larsson has described the intentional destruction of flint axes and other artefacts by fire as a Middle Neolithic phenomenon in Sweden. He suggests that the colour change to white may have been appropriate to certain rites of passage. At Rothley, the final act of deposition may be seen as such a rite, perhaps as an act of closure to the site habitation.

More recent work at the nearby Temple Grange site has uncovered further Neolithic activity.

Lynden Cooper and Leon Hunt