This paper presents the history of exploration and archaeological excavation at Fishmonger’s Swallet, together with a survey and description of the cave and notes on its geological context and geomorphology.

A geological interpretation of Fishmonger’s Swallet is presented and places the cave within the context of previously published geological data from the area North of Bristol. Geological observations were made and hand specimen rock samples collected. The cave is located close to the outcrop boundary between the Penarth Group shales and the Clifton Down Limestone on the West flank of the Coalpit Heath Syncline and close to the Ridgeway Fault. The host limestone has a sparry and micritic composition and also contains two thin white claystone seams, likely formed from degraded tuffs. The limestone strata dip moderately to the East-South-East and are cut by numerous wrench faults. Near the bottom of the cave a North-East plunging anticlinal axis is seen and the oldest strata exposed in the cave are ascribed to the topmost beds of the Lower Cromhall Sandstone. Rocks within the cave are commonly altered and cut by calcite veins and minor fractures and these likely formed the focus for a mixed speleogenesis history with both upwelling phreatic waters and later vadose solution.

The archaeological investigations which were carried out during filming at Fishmonger’s Swallet by Time Team and National Geographic are described. The key finding of the former was a series of Iron Age postholes to the south of the cave; the latter carried out a Strontium isotope analysis of rodent bones and a newly recovered human tooth which showed that the owner of the tooth lived locally.

Details are given of the eleven radiocarbon dates which have been obtained on specimens from Fishmonger’s Swallet, Alveston. Although the first dates to be obtained are generally rather younger than the latest ones, all appear to come from material deposited in the late pre-Roman Iron Age.

Human skeletal remains have been recovered from an area of mud and rock sediment in Fishmonger’s Swallet, Alveston, Gloucestershire (ST 6331 8720) on several occasions. This report examines those excavated by the Hades Caving Club (HCC), up to and including the visit by the Time Team in August 2000. These disarticulated and fragmented bones have all been assessed macroscopically (2001), and the single bone clearly exhibiting indications of deliberate human modification was subject to more recent microscopic analysis (2005). The percentage of the deposit that has been examined for human remains is unknown. Dating from the late Iron Age, this assemblage comprises disarticulated and fragmentary remains from adults. No juveniles are represented. The minimum number of individuals represented by non-repeated diagnostic fragments of the left femur is five. There are indicators suggesting that there are possibly six females and five males represented by the assemblage. However, with commingled remains it is impossible to be sure as some of the diagnostic skeletal elements could be from the same individual. Evidence suggests that one probable female died below the age of twenty-five years and one adult in old age. Evidence of peri-mortem trauma is present in the cranial remains of a young adult female. She would appear to have been victim to at least one blunt force blow to the head with further blows from a bladed weapon. Recent damage to the skeletal remains prevents a more confident diagnosis. No evidence of dental disease was observed in the limited dentition represented, however, a partial mandible exhibited signs of a healed dental abscess. Other evidence of disease in this assemblage was limited with one cervical vertebral body showing signs of severe degenerative joint disease and a possible case of Paget’s disease. The condition of all the human bones is fragmentary and some are eroded. Many exhibit evidence of breakages occurring at some stage in antiquity, others of more recent damage, possibly incurred during recovery. Ten bones exhibit indications of animal scavenging and one of anthropogenic peri-mortem modification (a partial femoral shaft) which suggests the bone was deliberately defleshed and split. Some fragments were stained black externally. The cause of this has not been explored scientifically but it is possible that this could be manganese staining or bacterial change arising from recent contamination.

Fishmonger’s Swallet, Alveston, Gloucestershire, has produced an unusual quantity of human and animal bone dating to the Late Iron Age. Iron Age burial evidence in the south-west of Britain is scarce and human remains in caves are rarely considered due to lack of secure dating evidence, so the material from this site offers rare insights into a poorly understood mortuary practice. However, the nature of deposition within the cave is unclear as the remains are disarticulated and heavily fragmented. This paper presents an interim report on an ongoing histological study of bone diagenesis of human remains from Fishmonger’s Swallet. The amount of bacterial bioerosion and fungal tunnelling in bone microstructure was assessed in seven human remains excavated from the cave in 2000-01 to examine early post-mortem treatments. The results of this analysis, considered alongside taphonomic observations by Cox and Loe (2022, this volume), indicates that the individuals were subject to a variety of post-mortem treatments prior to interment within the cave.

The animals of Fishmonger’s Swallet are here recontextualised by integrating existing and new zooarchaeological analysis, as well as new radiocarbon dating of three dogs. This paper highlights this unusual assemblage, which consists mostly of canid (namely dog) remains which have been deposited with human remains and other animal species. The radiocarbon dating dates the dog remains, as well as a single bovine bone, to the late Iron Age. The main domesticate assemblage is a small waste deposit, with cattle, horse, sheep, and pig present. The dog assemblage has a minimum nine individuals which is uncommon within a prehistoric context, particularly in this environment and with the association of human remains. The remains recovered were disarticulated, and there is little evidence of butchery or trauma on the bones. The dogs recovered from the site are a range of sizes and shapes, from small and gracile to large and robust. This variation indicates that the dogs had various functions that may have included pest control, hunting, herding and guarding. Their deposition within the swallet is possibly ritual in nature and could be representative of an association of dogs with death and healing, social roles, or of the strong bond between people and dogs. However, without further analysis that will be conducted after the publication of this paper as part of an ongoing project, this remains one theory of many.