SNN107968 - Neolithic Cremations And A Romano-British Enclosure at Milton Ham, Northampton, February and March 2008

In 2008 Northamptonshire Archaeology carried out a strip, map and record excavation of Neolithic funerary remains and a Romano-British settlement at Milton Ham, on the south-western outskirts of Northampton. The work was commissioned by Waterman CPM Ltd, acting on behalf of Parkridge (Milton Ham) Ltd. Bone fragments from one of three pits containing cremation deposits have been radiocarbon dated to the late 4th millenium BC, placing them in the middle Neolithic period; they are probably the earliest Neolithic cremations to have been dated in the county. The cremations were associated with several other small pits, which may have been the remains of further cremation deposits, and two larger pits that may have held wooden posts, suggesting that this was the site of a small cemetery. The Romano British enclosure was established in the second half of the 2nd century AD and formed part of a farming settlement, the focus of which probably lies to the north or north-east of the excavation area, outside of the development area. The enclosure was sub-divided into successive arrangements of sub-enclosures throughout the 3rd and 4th centuries, until the settlement was finally abandoned in the second half of the 4th century AD. There was no surviving evidence for any buildings within the enclosure and it appears to have been used solely for agricultural purposes, the sub-enclosures functioning as corrals, paddocks and yards. However, the concentration of pottery, glass, limestone rubble and building material in the north-east corner of the enclosure suggests that there was a stone or stone and timber building, possibly a small villa, nearby. Later activity on the site comprised medieval plough furrows and a headland, and post medieval and modern land drains.