| Abstract: |
A total of five 50m by 2m and three 30m by 2m were to be excavated within the site. However, the existence of a public footpath and an overhead cable within the site required the minor relocation and breaking of some of the trenches.
Topsoil and non-significant overburden was be removed to the top of archaeological deposits or natural, whichever is encountered first. This was achieved through use of a mechanical excavator equipped with a toothless grading bucket. All mechanical excavation will be conducted whilst under constant archaeological supervision. Thereafter, excavation will be conducted
by hand. Spoil heaps were also visually scanned for artefacts. The archaeological evaluation has identified the presence of archaeological features in Trenches 1B, 2, 3, 7 and 8, along with a Modern posthole in Trench 1A.
The results of the evaluation correlated with some of the features identified by the geophysical survey. There was good correlation for possible Enclosure 1, in the form
of linear features [105] and [203], the latter of which contained dating evidence in the form of four sherds of later Prehistoric pottery and a crumb of possible later
Prehistoric pottery, suggesting a contemporary date for this activity. Only the north-south linear of possible Enclosure 2 from the geophysical survey was present within the evaluation, in the form of ditch [303], however, although it was clear that this feature was of some antiquity, it did not yield any dating evidence. With the exception of the two postholes present in Trenches 1A and 8, which appear to relate to the cluster of discrete features identified in the geophysical survey, no other
possible or probable features from this survey were present within the evaluated trenches.
Linear feature [205] at the southern end of Trench 2 contained a Medieval glazed handle, a crumb of later Prehistoric pottery and a crumb of possible later Prehistoric or Medieval pottery, which would suggest a Medieval date for this feature, with residual later Prehistoric evidence. Linear [804] can also be tentatively dated to the later Prehistoric or Medieval period as it contained two small fragments of later
Prehistoric pottery and a possible Medieval bodysherd. However, the presence of a piece of Modern barbed wire could suggest a later date, but as this material was
located near the surface of the feature, which had been directly sealed by the topsoil, it was most likely that this Modern material was intrusive. Linears [703] and [806]
remain undated. Although it was not possible to securely date all of the features identified by this
evaluation, the presence of later Prehistoric and Medieval artefactual evidence and features would suggest that the possibility of further archaeological remains are good. The majority of this activity would appear to be located within the southwestern part
of the study area. The evaluation provided a poor assemblage of later Prehistoric and Medieval pottery,
along with an undiagnostic fragment of animal bone and two pieces of Modern wire. |
