More information : Centred SD 842652 (see maplet) (1). 'Victoria Camp', a complex of hut circles, enclosures, lynchets and an opened burial mound have been surveyed and selected portions excavated. An oval hollow, 12 ft long had reddened sandstone, barytes and malachite mixed with its clay floor and was considered as a bowl furnace, probably used for copper smelting. Evidence of mining stretches towards Malham and may give an Iron Age - Romano-British date for the first mining area. The twelve adjacent circular hut bases follow the contour. The two larger huts were over 30 ft in diameter, but yielded no dateable finds, although, certainly Romano-British and matching other excavated examples. Barytes identical to those from the furnace were found in a hut wall. The associated burial mound, previously opened, had contained bronze studs fitted on iron nails, which are thought to be shield decorations (2)(3). (1-3)
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