Digital Archive from Multiple Archaeological Excavations at Barby Reservoir, Barby, Northamptonshire 2009, 2014 and 2015
Cotswold Archaeology, 2023. https://doi.org/10.5284/1103169. How to cite using this DOI
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This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
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Resource identifiers
- ADS Collection: 5053
- DOI:https://doi.org/10.5284/1103169
- How to cite using this DOI
Introduction
This collection comprises images, a site plan and a project database from an archaeological excavations undertaken by Cotswold Archaeology in October to November 2009 and June 2015, with an additional watching brief undertaken during December 2014, at Barby Reservoir, Barby, Northamptonshire.The excavation area comprised the footprint of extensions (Cells 3 and 4) to an existing hilltop reservoir. The watching brief was undertaken during ground investigations undertaken in advance of the work within Cell 4.
The site was recorded in three phases: the southernmost part (Cell 3, site code BRE09) was stripped and recorded in 2009 whilst the northernmost part (Cell 4, site code BAR15)) was stripped and recorded in 2015. In addition, a watching brief (site code BARB14) was undertaken in 2014 during the excavation of a small number of geotechnical pits. An archaeological presence at Cell 3 was only established after stripping had commenced with toothed buckets, and which had impacted on the archaeological levels. Some features were probably lost to truncation at this stage, whilst the stratigraphic relationships between others were difficult to establish. Because of the restrictions of the watching brief, the subsequent recording within Cell 3 concentrated on recovering the site plan, with minimal excavation of the features. An archaeological presence within Cell 4 was established at the start of machining, which was undertaken with toothless grading buckets.
The earliest remains comprised Mesolithic/Early Neolithic and Late Neolithic/Early Bronze Age flints, all of which were residual but which point to activity on the hilltop during the early prehistoric period, albeit of unknown intensity. The earliest features dated to the Early Iron Age and suggest small-scale occupation on the hilltop. Large-scale occupation began with the construction of an alignment of possible roundhouses associated with small enclosures. These lacked dating evidence and may have been either earlier Iron Age or Middle Iron Age. Remains clearly dated to the Middle Iron Age revealed that the character of this occupation changed during that period when a series of adjoining ditched enclosures were set out. These included roundhouses, pits, subenclosures and yards. No enclosure was revealed in its entirety and the settlement extended beyond the excavated area. The site's economy seems to have been pastoral, with livestock probably having been grazed on open areas of the hilltop. This was supplemented by limited arable production and small-scale iron and copper alloy working. Of note was evidence for the production of copper-alloy horse harness fittings, perhaps a specialist part of the economy. There was little evidence for activity beyond the Middle Iron Age but Late Iron Age/Roman use of the hilltop seems likely in light of Roman finds recovered during fieldwalking undertaken by the Barby Hill Archaeological Project.
