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Excavations at Harden Quarry, an active hard-rock quarry that is operated by Tarmac at Biddlestone in the Cheviot Hills of Northumberland National Park, has revealed a near complete view of Bronze Age life in this area: where people lived, where they farmed, and where they buried their dead.
In 2022, the quarry – which produces a rare red felsite aggregate known as ‘Harden Red’ that is used for surface coverings at locations including Buckingham Palace, Horse Guards Parade, and Pall Mall – was granted permission to extend northwards. Shortly afterwards, Archaeological Research Services Ltd began a survey and evaluation of the site, which culminated last year in an extensive excavation. These investigations revealed a landscape rich in Bronze Age remains.
One of the first features that the team came across was a ‘platform settlement’ that had been terraced into the hillside. Stone quarried from the back of this feature had been spread in front to create a flat apron where it is thought that a timber roundhouse would have been built. In addition, a number of field boundaries made of stone rubble, as well as clearance cairns, were discovered on the hilltop, indicating possible areas used for livestock control and agriculture. One of these clearance cairns was dated to c.2400 BC, at the very start of the Bronze Age, suggesting that farming on the uplands began much earlier than was previously thought.
Meanwhile, at the highest point of Bleakmoor Hill, the team discovered a ring cairn (below) containing a group of cremation burials, many in pottery urns. One of the vessels stood out: a fully intact example of a ‘Tripartite Food Vessel’, which had been buried in a pit upside-down; it contained the remains of an adolescent aged between 11 and 17 years old. Underneath the ring cairn, the team identified at least two smaller, earlier, round cairns, each covering a stone-lined cist, which probably once held human burials. Seemingly confirming this, one of the pits/cists produced a flint knife, which was a typical grave good during the Bronze Age. Adjacent to the same probable burial pit, a sherd of All Over Cord Beaker was discovered, suggesting that these early phase burials may date to the Beaker period. Further radiocarbon dates are awaited, which will help to clarify the chronology of this site.
Clive Waddington, Managing Director of Archaeological Research Services Ltd, said: ‘The discovery of an earlier burial cairn beneath the Bronze Age ring cairn on the highest point of Bleakmoor Hill, is significant. It suggests Early Bronze Age communities expanded into and started farming these uplands earlier than we imagined, giving us a new timeline for human activities in the Cheviots. We still don’t know much about how people were living in the Bronze Age, particularly in Northumberland. What’s exciting about the discoveries here is that we have almost a full 360° view of those early people’s lives. We’ve got where they are living, where they were burying their dead close to the gods, and we have the landscape in which they were farming, which is rare in archaeology.’
Text: Kathryn Krakowka / Photo: Archaeological Research Services Ltd/NNPA
