Title: |
Salvage recording of a test pit excavated on the site of a cropmarked ring ditch at the National Memorial Arboretum, Alrewas, Staffordshire. Interim Statement |
Number of Pages: |
9 |
Biblio Note |
Please note that this is a bibliographic record only, as originally entered into the BIAB database.
The ADS have no files for download, and unfortunately cannot advise further on where to access hard copy or digital versions.
|
Publication Type: |
Report
|
Abstract: |
Salvage recording was undertaken following the accidental excavation of an engineers' test-pit into part of a SAM. The monument had been identified following aerial photography in 1965, which had revealed cropmark evidence for a large multiple ring ditch. Later aerial photography had suggested a larger and more complex site consisting of four concentric circles of ditches or pits, with a ditch positioned centrally within the monument. A number of linear features had also been located in the vicinity. The test-pit had been excavated in the south-western corner of the SAM during preliminary work associated with the establishment of an arboretum, and had revealed a portion of a prehistoric pottery vessel. During the salvage recording a single feature, possible a linear ditch, was recorded. This contained two fragments of possible Roman pottery, two flint flakes and a tile fragment. The sieving of the soil displaced from the trench produced seven sherds of prehistoric pottery, two pieces od tile, five flint flakes, a piece of clay pipe and a piece of post-medieval bottle glass. The prehistoric pottery found during the original excavation of the pit and during sieving was thought to have originated from a small pit or feature which had been completely destroyed by the test-pit. The vessel, approximately half of which was present, dated from c. 2000-1800 BC, confirming usage of the monument within the Early Bronze Age period. It was noted that the placing of a half-pot in a discrete feature adjacent to a monument was reminiscent of the deposit of two half-beakers over a rich metal hoard outside a barrow at a site in Leicestershire, and it was concluded that the beaker was likely to have represented a special deposit buried close to a ritual site. [AIP] |
Author: |
J Hovey
Gwilym Hughes
Ann Woodward
|
Publisher: |
Birmingham Archaeology
|
Year of Publication: |
1998
|
Locations: |
Location - Auto Detected: |
Leicestershire |
|
Subjects / Periods: |
ROMAN
(Historic England Periods)
|
|
PREHISTORIC
(Historic England Periods)
|
|
1965 (Auto Detected Temporal) |
Early Bronze Age (Auto Detected Temporal) |
|
Note: |
Date Of Issue From:
1998
Date Of Coverage From:
01
Date Of Coverage To:
01
Editorial Expansion:
Site name: NATIONAL MEMORIAL ARBORETUM, ALREWAS Study area: Investigation type: Post-determination/Research District: Lichfield Monument: LINEAR FEATURE. Undated, [finds]. Undated, [finds]. Post-medieval (1540-1901), [finds]. Bronze Age, RING DITCH. Prehistoric Ngr: SK18541460 Parish: Alrewas and Fradley, Alrewas Postcode: DE137AR
|
Source: |
BIAB
(Archaeological Investigations Project (AIP))
|
Created Date: |
19 Jan 2009 |