Archaeological evidence of prehistoric activity has been found across the parish of Grantham. The evidence dates back to as early as the middle
Palaeolithic (150,000 to 40,000 years ago) and continues through to the Iron
Age period (800BC and 42AD). It is rare to find evidence for activity from the
Palaeolithic and so the archaeology from Grantham is very special.
Furthermore, it is proof of the occasional presence of Neanderthal man in the area.
Neanderthal man and the ancestors of present humans, Homo sapiens , existed together c.40,000 years ago in Britain during the last Ice Age.
Neanderthals became extinct around the same time, but the Ice Age continued until about 10,000 years ago, heralding the end of the Palaeolithic and the beginning of the Mesolithic period. Similarly to the Palaeolithic period, there is evidence for Mesolithic (10000BC to 4001BC) activity in Grantham.
This was the time when human beings were a hunting and gathering society who moved around the landscape and as they never settled in one place for long, there is very little evidence of permanent houses from this period across the country. What archaeologists do find are flint tool scatters. These show that the people made their tools, leaving the off cuts on the ground, and then moved on. Flint tools and scatters have been found in Grantham showing that this area was occupied during the Mesolithic period.
The Neolithic (4000BC to 2001BC) was the time when humans started to settle in permanent locations in Britain.
There was ‘widespread technological and social innovation and change’ (Oswald et. al 2001, 1). They began farming and producing their own food and there is evidence of both arable and pastoral agriculture. This did not replace hunting and foraging, but supplemented the society’s food supply resulting in surpluses and an increase in population. The transition from a hunter-gather society was a gradual one though and may have taken 2,000 years. Long barrows and causewayed enclosures began to be constructed in this period. These monuments would have taken a large amount of communal labour, probably under the instruction of a leader, possibly as ‘expressions of social unity’ (Oswald et. al
2001, 2). They were used as burial monuments, often for more than one family. Although there is no evidence of these types of tombs in Grantham, excavation of these monuments elsewhere in the country has revealed evidence that these areas are used as social gathering points, possibly linked to mortuary practices. They may also have been seen as a marker of dominance over the landscape (Oswald et. al 2001, 2).
The archaeological evidence for mortuary practices is more apparent than evidence of settlement in the Neolithic period. There are actually relatively few
Neolithic houses which have been found across the British Isles. It is generally assumed that artefact scatters and pits containing domestic artefacts are evidence of settlement, although whether these occupation areas were temporary or permanent is often unknown. Neolithic settlements appear to be for small communities which were fairly isolated and scattered apart from each other (Oswald et.al.
2001, 2). A new stone tool technology
1

was also developed in the Neolithic and typical tools such as stone axe heads and flint knives have been found in Grantham.
The use of bronze to make knives, daggers and axes signalled the start of the
Bronze Age (2200BC to 800BC). Stone was still used to make tools, such as a macehead found at the Five Bells Inn in Grantham, but the more adaptable material of metal became dominant. During this period, long barrows were no longer used for burying the dead and, instead, smaller round barrows, or mounds, were built. Comparison of excavation reports of round barrows across the country suggests that the way in which the dead were buried depends on personal preference rather than a cultural formula. Round barrows have been found to cover a single burial of an important man or woman, groups of individuals, cremations, inhumations, or occasionally, nothing at all. Inhumations have been found in numerous burial positions including on their front, on their back and crouched, and in wooden coffins, cists or pits. Furthermore the grave goods buried with the bodies are also highly variable, and include bronze daggers, swords, wrist guards, ear-rings, polished stone axes, flint knifes, arrowheads and pottery ‘beakers’.
Beaker vessels found in round barrows were usually thin-walled, reddish, flat based pots, decorated with impressions. They may have been drinking vessels although some Beakers have been identified typologically as ‘food vessels’, also found in barrows. It is these artefacts that have resulted in the name the Beaker Culture.
A possible round barrow in the south of the Grantham was identified from cropmark evidence on an aerial photograph. Elsewhere in the county, Bronze
Age barrows have been found at Tallington in Welland valley, Thoresway on the Wolds and at Deeping St Nicholas. These sites are known as barrow cemeteries as they form part of a series of associated barrows which have been found together. One of the barrows at Tallington measured over fifty metres in diameter and is one of the largest excavated in Lincolnshire. It contained a central pit with one inhumation and two later burials indicating that the barrow had undergone various phases of use. There was also evidence of wooden stakes at the edge of the barrow, probably used as memorial markers. Evidence of wooden stakes was also found from one of the barrows in Deeping St Nicholas, excavated in 1991 (French and Beggs
1992 and Woodward 2000, 25-7). The stakes formed nine concentric circles surrounding a child burial. Twenty to seventy five years later, the barrow mound was constructed but had no associated burial. This may have been a memorial for the child (Woodward 2000, 26) suggesting that round barrows were linked to ancestral rituals. Another mound was constructed later which contained the burial of a man. The barrow was then remodelled and two cists with at least one cremation and six to ten pits, also containing cremations, were buried during the mid Bronze Age (Woodward 2000, 25-7).
Along with inhumation, the burial rite of cremation is used in the Bronze Age.
Urns containing cremated remains have been found in round barrows, but also in cremation cemeteries where numerous urns have been buried together without a round barrow. Fragments of urns and cremations, dating
2

from the late Bronze Age or Iron Age, were found on Belton Lane, in
Grantham during a housing development in the 1930s. These artefacts may have come from an urn cemetery.
Bronze Age settlement evidence from the South East, Midlands and Wales mainly consists of sub rectangular enclosures defined by banks, ditches and palisades, which formed nucleated settlements (Cunliffe 1974, 11 and 19).
There is no settlement evidence from Grantham, but across Lincolnshire archaeologists have found many enclosures, ditches and occupational evidence from this period. A settlement was excavated in Billinghay revealing postholes, post built structures, evidence for salt-making and artefacts suggesting extended occupation of the site.
It is possible Beaker people were immigrants or invaders into Britain from
Iberia. This has been hypothesised as the society during the Bronze Age is quite different to that in the Neolithic. In the Bronze Age it became apparent that society was based around chiefdoms that organised a larger agricultural economy and trade through transportation of goods by river and sea. As mentioned above, burial practices changed and it has even been suggested that the Beaker people had different shaped skulls to the indigenous population, although this has not been scientifically proven as yet.
Archaeologists are still exploring whether invasion has caused the variation between the Neolithic and Bronze Age, or whether it was simply rapid change of the indigenous population that brought forth the Bronze Age.
The technology and culture of the Bronze Age to the Iron Age (800BC to
42AD) did not change as significantly as the Neolithic to Bronze Age, although there are numerous differences. The tribe who ruled during the Iron Age/early
Roman period in Lincolnshire were the Corieltauvi (alternatively known as the
Coritavi or Coriatani). According to Cae sar’s writings, the maritime areas of
Britain were raided and settled by invaders from Gaul in 150 AD to 55BC.
These invaders retained their tribal names and there is evidence of such from coinage found in the regions and evidence of major defensive measures
(Cunliffe 1974, 307). This may have been one of the reasons why the
Corieltauvi appeared to be fairly receptive to Roman rule. Ultimately, much of the territory became garrisoned by a network of forts and communication routes, including Ermine Street and the Fosse Way (Todd 1973, 130-137) resulting in the Roman archaeology that has been found in the region. The
Roman communication routes were probably already in existence by the Iron
Age as there is artefactural and documentary evidence that the Corieltauvi had organised trade links and exchange rates. Trade links reached as far as the Mediterranean and there were two routes, one from northern Europe and from the Mediterranean/Atlantic (Todd 1973, 129).
There are clearly very important sites in Lincolnshire from the Iron Age period, including a mint at Old Sleaford where over three thousands clay moulds from which coins were cast were found, settlements found at Dragonby (May
1996), Colsterworth, Ancaster (on which was built an early Roman military site) and Lincoln itself, the Roman colonia of Lindum, which has archaeological evidence of a major Iron Age settlement below the city.
3

Burial practices remained very similar to the Bronze Age in the early to mid
Iron Age although inhumation burials became rarer as cremation, either within urns or independently, was the dominant burial rite. Urn cemeteries and cremations found within barrows have been found across the country from this period (Cunliffe 1974, 287). By the fifth century there is a change again as cremation appears to have been replaced by the burial rite of inhumation.
There are clearly not as many burials as there were people and therefore bodies must have commonly been disposed of in ways that left no archaeological trace. There is no evidence of burials in Grantham from this period, possibly due to this reason.
Elsewhere in Lincolnshire, Iron Age monuments and artefacts have been discovered, including the Fiskerton causeway which is a timber post trackway or raised walkway (Field and Parker Pearson 2003, 133). Other evidence includes log boats from Bardney, late Iron Age artefacts from Brayford Pool,
Lincoln, settlements at Greetwell, Nettleham and Riseholme Lane, Lincoln and ‘marsh’ forts at Tattershall Thorpe (Field and Parker Pearson 2003, 158-
160).
By the fifth century, the archaeological evidence indicates that there was an increase in aggression during this period as weapons became more common, grain was being buried and homesteads were being converted into forts
(Cunliffe 1974, 303). Archaeologists have found that Iron Age settlements tend to be earthwork enclos ed settlements, ‘banjo’ settlements (a round enclosure with a long entrance track), ditched enclosures and houses. The most prevalent Iron Age feature though is the hill-fort. These are defended enclosures which vary in size and functions. Some were clearly fortified homesteads whilst others had no buildings inside and may have been simply used as animal enclosures (Cunliffe 1974, 238). Hill-forts were preceded by palisaded enclosures and early hill-forts were called contour hill-forts as they fortified a downward slope (Cunliffe 1974, 227). Later hill-forts had multi ditches and ramparts which developed into dry stone walling which formed the ramparts. The forts often had one or two entrances which were frequently remodelled as they were obvious weak spots in the defence. Many hill-forts had corridor entrances leading through the earthworks and by the fourth or early third century, timber guard rooms were being constructed to add additional defence (Cunliffe 1974, 227). Internally, evidence of timber buildings, streets, storage pits, granaries and specialist areas to produce consumer goods have been excavated. A possible Iron Age settlement was found at the junction of Gorse Lane and the B1174 in Grantham. The archaeological evidence included ditched enclosures, hearths, pits and pottery. Elsewhere in the parish pottery and an Iron Age coin have been found. This proves that in the Iron Age people were still settled and trading in
Grantham.
4

Bibliography
Cunliffe, B. 1974. Iron Age Communities in Britain. London: Routledge and
Kegan Paul Ltd.
Field, N. and Parker Pearson, M. 2003. Fiskerton: An Iron Age Timber
Causeway with Iron Age and Roman Votive Offerings. Oxford: Oxbow.
French, C.A.I. and Beggs, C. 1992. Fenland Research. ???
May, J. 1996 Dragonby: Report on the Excavations at an Iron Ager and
Romano-British Settlement in North Lincolnshire. Volume One.
Oxford:
Oxbow.
Oswald, A., Dyer, C. and Barber, M. 2001. The Creation of Monuments:
Neolithic Causewayed Enclosures in the British Isles. Swindon: English
Heritage.
Todd, M. 1973. The Coriatani. London: Gerald Duckworth and Co. Ltd.
Woodward, A. 2000. British Barrows: A Matter of Life and Death.
Gloucestershire: Tempus.
5