Monument record 2148/5/8 - Iron Age Pit Alignment

Pit alignment identified as a cropmark and verified by geophysical survey and trial trench excavation. Pottery from the pit fills dated to the middle Iron Age, although these boundaries are usually dated to the late Bronze Age/early Iron Age.

{2} Possibly two adjacent pit alignments, extending c.150m on a north-south alignment.

{3} In trench 38, a single large pit was recovered at the eastern end of the trench, corresponding to the north-south pit alignment. A small group of pottery sherds included the rim from a small bowl. To the south, in trenches 39 and 45, seven more pits were recovered. One of the pits produced 11 sherds of middle Iron Age pottery from the upper fill, but its fresh appearance suggests that it represented an episode of deposition related to the use of the adjacent enclosure. The pit alignment could suggest the presence of late Bronze Age or early Iron Age boundaries, though the pottery from the fills of the individual pits was middle Iron Age.

<1> Northamptonshire SMR Collection of Aerial Photographs, Used with NMR & CUCAP collections (Aerial Photograph(s)). SNN104822.

<2> Masters P., 2003, Earls Barton Quarry Western Extension, Northamptonshire Geophysical and Fieldwalking Surveys, p.3 (checked) (Report). SNN102439.

<3> Walsh T.; Maull A., 2003, An Archaeological Trial Excavation at Earls Barton Quarry (Western Extension), p.8+28 (checked) (Report). SNN103300.

Record last edited

Jun 22 2023 10:12AM