Arcot, Phase 1, Cramlington, Northumberland. Post-excavation Analysis. (OASIS ID: archaeol3-368584).
Archaeological Services Durham University, 2020. https://doi.org/10.5284/1059011. How to cite using this DOI
Data copyright © Archaeological Services Durham University unless otherwise stated
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
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- ADS Collection: 3678
- DOI:https://doi.org/10.5284/1059011
- How to cite using this DOI
Introduction
This archive presents the results of analysis of an archaeological excavation conducted for a development at land off Fisher Lane (A1068), Cramlington, Northumberland. A suite of radiocarbon dates and subsequent palaeo-environmental analysis was conducted to supplement earlier data.
The works were commissioned by Persimmon Homes and Bellway, and conducted by Archaeological Services Durham University.
A flint flake and a Bronze Age radiocarbon date from residual material indicates that there may have been pre-Iron Age activity on the site.
More definitive evidence for settlement on the site comprised two adjacent and contemporary pits, one probably an open hearth and the other a covered earth oven. Both were radiocarbon dated to the earlier Iron Age, and had been used for cooking hazelnuts and meat.
A rectilinear settlement enclosed by a palisade was built on the site. Within the enclosure was a central roundhouse and two smaller roundhouses. The houses comprise surviving elements of internal wall construction slots and eaves-drip gullies. There are no indications that the enclosure or houses were rebuilt. Radiocarbon dating indicated that the settlement was occupied in the later 4th and the 3rd centuries BC, when it was abandoned. It was not subsequently reoccupied. The enclosure and houses had entrances facing to the south-west.
A contemporary ditch c.100m to the north-east of the roundhouse may be an associated field boundary and indicate management of the wider landscape. There was some limited evidence for the use of cultivated cereals, including wheat, within the settlement, which may reflect this, as well as for exploitation of a local lowland oak woodland. Small-scale ironworking also took place on the site.
The area was used for agriculture from the medieval period onwards, with post medieval evidence for a track associated with a 19th century planation identified, as well as a possible mine shaft.
