SNN106236 - Archaeological Excavation at Pineham North, Upton, Northampton: Settlement 2, Assessment Report

Northamptonshire Archaeology carried out an archaeological excavation, commissioned by ProLogis Developments Ltd via Under Construction Archaeology, on land at Pineham North, Upton, Northampton. The work was carried out in advance of a major residential and business/industrial development. The site, designated Settlement 2, had been identified from fieldwalking, geophysical investigation and trial trenching. The excavation forms one part of an ongoing programme of mitigation works, other parts of which will be the subject of separate assessment reports. The earliest evidence for human activity on the site dated to the Neolithic/early Bronze Age and comprised a number of flint tools and waste flakes, occurring as residual finds in later features. In the 2nd/1st century BC a small farming settlement was established, and continued in occupation until the late 4th century AD, although there may have been a brief hiatus in occupation in the 3rd century AD. The settlement underwent significant morphological changes during its history and at least four main phases have been identified. Associated with the settlement were three cremation burials, dating to the late 1st/early 2nd century, a circular stone and timber building and a T-shaped malting oven. Following its abandonment, no further activity was evident on the site until the medieval period, although there is circumstantial evidence for there having been one or more early Saxon graves on or near the abandoned settlement: part of a shield boss and an iron spearhead which date to the late 5th/6th century and were often placed as grave goods, were recovered from the plough soil. In the medieval period the site was incorporated into an open field system of ridge and furrow and was later, in the late medieval period, probably converted to pasture. The site was enclosed in the 18th/19th century and reverted to arable production in recent times. This report presents an assessment of the findings from the excavation of Settlement 2.