Monument record 9054/0/2 - Probable Late Neolithic/Bronze Age round barrow and Iron Age pits, Apex Park

Geophysical survey and trial trench excavation have identified a ring ditch, 14m in diameter, which probably demarcated a barrow mound, although no mound material was observed. Worked flint was found in the ditch fills. Further trial trench excavation found a probable satellite cremation. Subsequent excavation obtained a radiocarbon date of 1873–1663 cal BC indicating it was constructed in the late Neolithic/early Bronze Age. The presence of the cremation burial demostrates that the monument retained a continuing significance into the middle Bronze Age.

{1} Geophysical survey identified a circular anomaly in the southern part of the site. Subsequent trial trench excavation identified two ditches in the centre of one trench that corresponded with this features. A single sherd of late Iron Age pottery was found in the upper fill, as well as fired clay and worked flint flakes. The ring ditch may have demarcated a barrow mound, the remains of a funerary monument of Neolithic to Bronze Age date. However, no indication of any overlying barrow was identified and no internal features were present.

{3} Further trial trench excavation was undertaken in 2019. The ring ditch was investigated in one trench, but no dating evidence was recovered. A ditch in an adjacent trench contained a small amount of early Bronze Age pottery. Several pits were identified in trenches surrounding the ring ditch. One of these contained charcoal and a small aount of cremated human bone. No dating evidence was recovered, but it is likely that this was a satellite cremation contemporary with, or later than the probable barrow.

{4,5,7} Excavation of the 16m-diameter ring ditch. Possibly late Neolithic/early Bronze Age. Abraded early Bronze Age, late Bronze Age and Iron Age pottery from its upper fills suggesting that the ring ditch continued to form part of the landscape into the Iron Age. It is likely the ring ditch surrounded a barrow, although no primary burial was encountered. The cremation burial excavated during the preceding evaluation was radiocarbon dated to the middle Bronze Age. A small number of pits and postholes, some of which formed at least one structure, were excavated in the area around the ring ditch. The majority of Iron Age pottery recovered from these features could not be closely dated, though three more diagnostic sherds may date to the middle Iron Age. A sample of charcoal from one of the postholes produced an early Iron Age radiocarbon date.

{8} Excavations by Oxford Archaeology at Apex Park, Daventry reveaked ab earky Bronze Age ring ditch. This appears to have formed part of a larger monument complex, as it lay only 150m from a further early Bronze Age ring ditch uncovered in a previous excavation.

<1> Hardcastle, B, 2019, Apex Park Phase 4, Daventry, Northamptonshire: Archaeological Evaluation (Report). SNN111404.

<2> Crank, N. (Editor), 2019, South Midlands Archaeology (49), p. 69 (Journal). SNN111755.

<3> Gorniak, M, Murray, P and Dodd, M, 2020, Apex Park, Daventry, Northamptonshire: Archaeological Evaluation Report (Report). SNN112219.

<4> Crank, N. (Editor), 2020, South Midlands Archaeology (50), p. 90-1 (Journal). SNN112426.

<5> Howsam, C, 2020, Apex Park, Daventry, Northamptonshire: Archaeological Excavation Report (Report). SNN112639.

<6> Cotswold Archaeology, 2022, Images and GIS Data from Archaeological Evaluation of Apex Park Phase 4, Daventry, Northamptonshire August 2018, https://doi.org/10.5284/1090507 (Digital archive). SNN113138.

<7> Oxford Archaeology (South), 2023, Digital Archive from an Archaeological Excavation at Daventry Apex Park, Northamptonshire, 2019, https://doi.org/10.5284/1106617 (Digital archive). SNN115695.

<8> Charlotte L. Howsam, Daniel Stansbie and Steve Lawrence, 2023, An early Bronze Age ring ditch, middle Bronze Age cremation burial and Iron Age activity at Apex Park, Daventry (Article). SNN116516.

Record last edited

Feb 25 2025 8:14PM