Site Data from an Archaeological Excavation at Aller Court Farm, Somerset, November to December 2016
Oxford Archaeology (South), 2022. https://doi.org/10.5284/1093807. How to cite using this DOI
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Resource identifiers
- ADS Collection: 4632
- DOI:https://doi.org/10.5284/1093807
- How to cite using this DOI
Introduction
This collection comprises images, site records, CAD and spreadsheets from an Archaeological Excavation at Aller Court Farm, Somerset. This work was undertaken by Oxford Archaeology (South) between November and December 2016.
Two areas were excavated over the two rectilinear features revealed by the geophysical survey. Trench 1 focused on the enclosure in the north-western part of the site and covered an area of 3,360m2. Trench 2 focused on the smaller enclosure to the south-east and covered 1,045m2. The topsoil and subsoil layers were stripped by mechanical digger to the first significant archaeological horizon and the resulting spoil was scanned for artefactual remains, though no metal-detector was used. Excavation of archaeological features followed standard Oxford Archaeology fieldwork methodology guidelines. The archaeological features were sampled by hand excavation.
A minimum of 10% of all linear features including ditch terminals and intersections was excavated, while 50% of all discrete features, such as pits and postholes, were excavated. Two rectilinear enclosures identified by a geophysical survey were excavated. A large trapezoidal enclosure with evidence for internal features was located c. 200m north-west of a smaller, square enclosure containing three cremation burials. Radiocarbon analysis of human bone samples from the three cremations provided consistent results and confirmed their combined date range as c. 1960-1760 cal BC, placing the burials within the Early Bronze Age. Pottery in the ditches of both enclosures dated from the end of the Early Bronze Age and the Middle Bronze Age. A late Roman trackway defined by two parallel ditches cut through the centre of the trapezoidal enclosure.
