Data from a Test Pitting at Blank Area Testing, Brackley to Southam, Northamptonshire, 2020-2022 (HS2 Phase One)
High Speed Two Ltd., Archaeological Research Services Ltd, 2024. https://doi.org/10.5284/1119075. How to cite using this DOI
Data copyright © High Speed Two Ltd. unless otherwise stated
This work is licensed under a The Open Government Licence (OGL).
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Resource identifiers
- ADS Collection: 4751
- DOI:https://doi.org/10.5284/1119075
- How to cite using this DOI
Introduction
This collection comprises digital photographs, spreadsheets, reports and scanned site records from a test pit survey by Archaeological Research Services across 31 fields identified as 'Blank Areas', extending from Versions Farm, Brackley, Northamptonshire to Starbold Farm, Southam, Warwickshire. Work was undertaken between October 2020 and March 2021.
Project Summary
The test pit survey formed part of Phase One of the High Speed 2 (HS2) rail project. The project was granted Royal Assent in 2017 as the High-Speed Rail (London - West Midlands) Act. Phase One of the project runs 230 km from Euston Station in London to Curzon Street in Birmingham.
The blank areas were chosen on the basis that they held some potential for archaeological remains but little or no indication for the presence of archaeological remains was identified where surveyed by magnetometry. The integrated survey approach used in the BAT study therefore offers an alternative suite of techniques to conventional geophysics with the prospect of identifying archaeological remains that are difficult to prospect for with geophysics such as Stone Age and early medieval remains.
31 fields (total area of 183ha) in the study include a range of field types such as arable, pasture, and car storage activities. The aim of the BAT survey is to test existing No-Data (blank) Areas to establish the presence, or confirm the absence, of archaeological anomalies/remains and particularly those belonging to the Stone Age and early medieval periods. The BAT study tests the hypothesis that significant find scatters can still be identified within the ploughsoil through the use of an innovative approach to geochemical mapping in tandem with magnetic susceptibility, targeted metal detecting and gridded test pits.
The targeted test pit survey involved the excavation of 1544 manually excavated test pits.
Reuse Value Statement
Field packages AC300 Gp1 (Versions Farm) and AC300 Gp 2 (North of Illet’s Farm and North of Radstone) produced significant chipped lithic assemblages that warrant further investigation. These areas have been identified for mitigation as part of Construction Integrated Recording. The flint assemblages recovered relate to past human activity in the Upper Palaeolithic, Early Mesolithic, Mesolithic and Neolithic with a concentration of finds for the Upper Palaeolithic and to a lesser degree the Mesolithic periods. A range of types including cores, blades, scrapers, retouched blades and flakes, edge-trimmed blades, notched blades, burins, microburins, points, piercers, multi-tools and microliths were recorded with evidence for some spatial patterning.
The evidence for early prehistory activity in these field packages should be viewed as a significant finding as this is rare archaeology, and directly addresses specific objectives identified in GWSI-HERDS.
This archive forms part of the archaeological investigative work undertaken ahead of the construction of High Speed 2. All of the files contained within this archive are suitable for reuse as they are in standard, easy accessible formats, in line with the FAIR Principles. The archive may be looked at in conjunction with other HS2 archives to further add depth and context to the works. Further mitigation works have taken place on site and this archive should be viewed in conjunction with that.
