SNN105844 - Archaeological Excavation at Harlestone Quarry Near Northampton, October 2006

In October 2006 Northamptonshire Archaeology carried out an archaeological excavation at Harlestone Quarry near Northampton on behalf of CgMs Consulting. An area of approximately 1.2 hectares was stripped. Radiocarbon dating indicates that residual charcoal of early Bronze Age date had been deposited in a pit of a later pit alignment. A single isolated small pit containing burnt debris has also been radiocarbon dated to the early Bronze Age. A late Bronze Age/early Iron Age date would be expected for the pit alignment, but no dating evidence was recovered. The alignment appeared to comprise regular rectangular pits cut into both ironstone and clay, but the pits cut into the clay had eroded sub-circular surface plans. A linear boundary ditch was also undated, but may be related to an area of open settlement that comprised a scatter of small pits and postholes, including remnants of possible roundhouses and four-post structures. The small pottery assemblage contained little diagnostic material, but an early-middle Iron Age date is likely, perhaps the 5th-4th centuries BC. Furrows of a medieval ridge and furrow field system were also recorded.