A Comparative Archaeological and Geophysical Survey of the Ploughed and Unploughed Interior of an Iron Age Hillfort (original) (raw)
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Excavations of a second iron age enclosure onWinnall Down, Winchester, Hampshire, 2006
2014
Aerial survey during the 1970s identified two plough-levelled enclosures, 300m apart, on Winnall Down, Winchester. One of these, Winnall Down I, was excavated by Fasham (1985) in advance of the M3 motorway extension, and revealed evidence for intensive Bronze Age and Iron Age occupation. The adjacent enclosure, Winnall Down II, was not examined by Fasham however, and its date and relationship to Winnall Down I was not known. This paper details the results of a small-scale research excavation on Winnall Down II. It established that some occupation within both enclosures was contemporaneous and this arrangement implies complex agreements over land apportionment and agricultural activities.
Recent Archaeological Investigations at Peacehaven, East Sussex
Sussex Archaeological Collections , 2019
Large-scale excavations on the edge of Peacehaven, East Sussex, have considerably advanced understanding of this block of downland landscape from the early prehistoric period onwards. Three recent excavations, the findings of which are presented here, are located close by and compliment the published research (Hart 2015), allowing further consideration of the local downland landscape though time. The earliest material consisted of a residual struck flint of palaeolithic date and a background scatter of residual flintwork from the overburden, suggesting hunter/gatherer activity in the mesolithic and early neolithic periods. The first human activity to leave a lasting mark on the landscape was the digging and deliberate backfilling of a series of pits containing small assemblages of neolithic pottery and flintwork. Limited stratigraphic relationships and differing morphology suggest two phases of activity during this broad period. In the Late Bronze Age, ditches forming part of a field system and/or droveway were laid out across the landscape. These were superseded by a series of Middle Iron Age droveways and a small number of pits. A realignment of the droveway gullies, which contained both Middle Iron Age material and small amounts of Romano-British pottery, suggests that this longstanding route across the downland was still in use in the 1st century AD. A small group of pits is thought to be contemporary with the last use of the routeways at that time. After this, the land seems to have reverted to open downland, with little deposition of archaeological material.
Damerham Archaeology Project (DAP) has been investigating a complex of prehistoric and Romano-British sites near Damerham, Hampshire since 2008, using a range of non-intrusive techniques as well as targeted excavation. In August 2013, a particular focus of the project was on the investigation of the ploughzone. This comprised intensive surface collection, test-pitting, and excavation of selected sub-surface features. This report, produced for English Heritage, comprises preliminary analysis and conclusions of the 2013 fieldwork. Brifely stated, the main conclusions are that: (a) At Damerham, surface collection offered a poor indication of the location and character of the monuments discovered through remote sensing; (b) the surface assemblage appears to offer little indication of the likely condition of the archaeological sites at Damerham; (c) the ploughzone assemblage at Damerham is unlikely to be representative of the sub-surface assemblage contained in undisturbed archaeological features; (d) intensive surface collection offers the best means of capturing the spatial distribution of artefactual material present on the surface; (e) sampling strategies offer an increasingly poor representation of the surface distribution of material as the distance between transects and collection points increases; (e) if sampling rather than intensive collection is to be used, then careful consideration needs to be given to the aims and objectives of surface collection.
Archaeological Excavation at Colley Hill Farm, Colmworth, Bedfordshire
Souterrain Report SOU12-217, 2012
In May 2012, an archaeological excavation was undertaken by Souterrain Archaeological Services Ltd in advance of proposed development at Colley Hill Farm, Colmworth, Bedfordshire (NGR TL 106 582). The work was preceded an evaluation by trial trenching in November 2011 which revealed a substantial ditch and pottery attesting to settlement during the middle Iron Age (c.400‐c.100BC) and the late Iron Age (c.100BC to 43AD). In view of the lacunae in present knowledge about the character and extent of Iron Age settlement beyond the valley and gravel areas of Bedfordshire, the discovery is considered to be both locally and regionally significant. The open area excavation was ultimately limited to the proposed footprints of a hay barn and a stables block, with about 265sq.m of the Iron Age site being investigated. The Late Iron Age ditch proved to share characteristics of the ‘Wooton‐Hill–style’ of enclosure and it is understood to have defined a sub‐rectangular site of about 0.2 hectares. A second phase of Late Iron Age activity was also present. The ceramics evidence suggests that the settlement was abandoned before the Roman conquest. The excavation also revealed that during the medieval period the application site was within the open field system of Colmworth. The report combines the results of the excavation and the evaluation. It gives an illustrative, descriptive, quantitative and interpretative account of the results of the investigations, which is followed by assessment of further analytical potential.