The Poulton Plaque

A sub-rectangular fragment of limestone was recovered from a section cut through Ring-ditch II. The section was cut through the butt-end of the south-east entranceway, on its western edge. It was within the primary fill (L053), deliberately deposited on the base of the ditch. Several fragments of human cremated bone were closely associated with the stone. Slightly trapezoidal in form, it is 25mm wide, 47mm long and has an average thickness of 18mm. It weighs.26.9g though part of it has been broken. The top surface is scored by a series of cross-hatched lines. On one side these have been extended down its width and continued, in fragmentary form, along the base.

The lines are generally straight (or at least were intended to be). One set is fairly evenly spaced and represent shallower grooves. These are bisected by deeper scorings that are less regular in form, perhaps reflecting the relatively hard nature of the stone. The shallower grooves would appear to have been scored first. Several of the lines, both shallow and deep, suggest that some were incised more than once, particularly those on the front. The tool used was probably a flint flake (untouched?).

Discussion

Engraved plaques have been recovered from elsewhere, but are extremely rare. Furthermore, these are almost always sculpted from chalk. They range in date from the Late Neolithic to the Bronze Age. Two important examples were found along the 'King Barrow Ridge', 1km east of Stonehenge (Vacher 1969). Sculpted out of chalk they are slightly larger than the Poulton Plaque, but are similarly incised with straight and bisecting lines (Harding 1988). They were recovered from a chalk cut pit interpreted as a defunct granary.

The smaller of the two has marked similarities to that found at Poulton. However, such designs are both rare and difficult to parallel. They are found on rock art, as at Skara Brae (Orkney), but in plaque form are singularly rare. Cross-hatching is resonant of designs found on 'Grooved Ware' pottery, which is unique to Britain and Ireland. However, this pottery is almost absent from the archaeological record in Cheshire. One rare example was recovered from Eddisbury Hill (1851), a Late Bronze Age-Early Iron Age hill-fort 25km from Poulton. The grooved ware pot was associated with several large fragments of' human cremated bone. It has been dated to 2700-2200 BC. The Eddisbury urn had horizontal lines of impressed whipped cord and zigzag lines.

Bradley (1976) links such patterns on chalk plaques with those found on both pottery design and passage grave art. The two King Barrow Ridge plaques were found in association with grooved ware pottery of the Clacton style. However, the function and significance of the above plaques is unknown. The recent discovery at Poulton is equally puzzling. The location of their deposition also differs. The former were found in a pit, interpreted as a former granary. The Poulton example was placed on the base of a ring-ditch with a small quantity of human cremated bone. This ring-ditch lies immediately to the south of an earlier, Late Neolithic, 'timber circle' that was superseded by a mid Bronze Age ring-ditch monument. This also contained human cremated bone, predominantly deposited on its south-eastern arc. Is the Poulton plaque connected to some form of abstract ceremonial or funerary activity? Does it merely mirror the design of Grooved Ware pottery which, in itself, may resonate with underlying symbolic meaning? Another conundrum: Professor Mike Parker Pearson (Sheffield University) equates Grooved Ware with the realm of the living - Poulton's 'grooved-ware style' plaque was associated with human cremated bone. Owing to the rarity of any Late Neolithic-Bronze Age activity in SW Cheshire (and Cheshire generally) there is no regional parallel to the Poulton plaque. Currently, the closest parallel is to be found on Salisbury Plain, 1km from Stonehenge.  

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