SNN110986 - Archaeological excavation on land at Pineham Zone H, Northamptonshire September 2015 to May 2016: Assessment report and updated project design

MOLA (Museum of London Archaeology) was commissioned to undertake a programme of archaeological excavation and strip, map and sample as mitigation on land at Pineham Zone H, Northamptonshire. The development area lies within a rich archaeological landscape in the Nene Valley. Four separate lengths of pit alignment were recorded across the excavation areas. Three of the pit alignments were aligned from a sinuous Bronze Age ditch which had been redefined and maintained on several occasions suggesting it was of significance in the landscape. The pit alignments can be viewed alongside similar alignments identified previously in the vicinity to represent a network of linear boundaries across the landscape. In the area of the boundary ditch was a pair of tightly crouched undated inhumation burials (HB2 and HB3). To the north of the boundary ditch, the remains of two sub-rectangular post-built structures were identified. The Iron Age and Roman peripheral activity represented part of a small farmstead in the south of the development with probable livestock enclosures in the excavation area. The main occupation areas may be to the south of the excavation area. A ring ditch was set within rectangular enclosure ditch. The enclosure encompassed over 2500 sq. metre. Within the enclosure were two large wells. The late Iron Age settlement was directly replaced from the 1st century AD by a set of enclosures and fields defined by ditches on a different alignment, which extended the settlement area to the north. In the northern part of the enclosure was a fragmentary child burial. A possible Saxon barrow was found to the south of the site, defined by a continuous ditch. It had an external diameter of c15.20m. There were no surviving internal features or burials within the ring ditch, but situated adjacent to it were seven inhumations, all but one of which were in shallow graves and one grave contained a knife and spearhead. Between the 5th and 9th centuries a field system comprising a set of conjoined enclosures or plots was constructed on the north-facing ridge line, encompassing an area of at least 3.51ha. The individual rectangular plots themselves were defined by ditches.