SNN109202 - Archaeological Excavation on Land off Banbury Lane, Pineham, Northampton: Assessment Report and Updated Project Design

Archaeological excavation was undertaken by Northamptonshire Archaeology on land off Banbury Lane, Northampton in June and July 2011. The works were carried out on behalf of David Wilson Homes (South Midlands) in order to satisfy a condition on planning consent for the construction of residential housing and associated infrastructure on 7ha of land located on the south-west edge of Northampton. The excavation comprised the opening of two areas, one at the north 0.47ha in area and one at the south 1.92ha in area. The works were overseen by CgMs Consulting. The excavations identified a triple-ditched monument with an overall diameter of 23m, dating to the Middle Neolithic. The inner ditch enclosed an area c 7.5m in diameter with a possible narrow entrance to the north. There were no internal features. A pit, densely packed with disarticulated human bone had blocked the entrance when the inner ditch was partially silted. Only selected bones, particularly the femur with lesser quantities of the other major limb bones, and some skull bones had been collected for deposition, ribs and vertebrae were largely absent. The large quantity of skeletal material represents at least 130 individuals and initial radiocarbon dates place the deposit between 3360-3100 cal BC. The middle and outer ditches had entrances to the north-west, but on the outer ditch this had later been closed. Oval depressions and steps in the base of the outer ditch suggest that it had originally been dug as a series of interlinking pits. To the north-east, a pit in the base of the outer ditch contained a deposit of red deer antlers, with a further antler in the ditch fills to the south-west. There were remains of a juvenile inhumation burial above the antler deposit. Sherds of collared urn in the upper fill of the outer ditch indicate Early Bronze Age activity in the vicinity of the monument. A satellite inhumation, a crouched burial, lay 30m to the south of the monument. In the southern area, a single pit contained Middle Neolithic Peterborough ware pottery, broadly contemporary with the bones deposit. There was also part of a system of Iron Age boundary ditches and associated pits. Later activity comprised an early/middle Anglo-Saxon pit, medieval ridge and furrow field cultivation and a postmedieval field boundary.