Alexandra Baldwin, British Museum
Iron Age cauldrons are rare, so when an excavation in Basel, Switzerland uncovered two Iron Age cauldrons in 2010, collaborations between the British Museum and the Swiss team were inevitable. In the spring, archaeologist Sophie Hugelin and conservator Janet Hawley visited us in London to see our work on the Chiseldon cauldrons. In early December Jamie Hood and I made a return visit to Basel.
The excavation site in Basel, Switzerland
The Swiss cauldrons are of a similar date and construction to the Chiseldon cauldrons and in a ‘pit’ deposit with a number of other ceramic and metal vessels, possibly as a result of ritual activity. But here the similarity of the find ends. Basel Gasfabrik is a large urban excavation on the banks of the river Rhine at the site of an old gasworks currently undergoing redevelopment. Jamie and I visited the site and were amazed at the vast scale of the excavation compared to the rural setting and small rescue excavation of the Chiseldon cauldrons.
With complex archaeological deposits the ideal method of excavation is to carry out a large three or four metre block lift of the entire deposit enabling further excavation work to be carried out in a more controlled manner away from the site. The scale and equipment required made a large lift impossible at Chiseldon, but at Basel Gasfabrik such equipment was readily available on the building site.
British Museum and Swiss conservators examine the cauldrons found in Basel
Although we had seen photographs of the find, seeing the block and cauldrons in person was fascinating and made the similarities in cauldron type with ours more readily obvious and recognisable. It was really valuable to exchange ideas about the archaeology and the conservation of the cauldrons with Janet and Sophie and see the different methods and approaches used.
It is amazing to think that over 2,000 years ago Iron Age man had cultural links hundreds of miles away on the continent, and through the discovery of these two finds we are now establishing links of our own with colleagues in Switzerland.
The Chiseldon cauldrons research project is supported by the Leverhulme Trust
