SNN110992 - A Bronze Age and Early Iron Age landscape at Harlestone Quarry, Northampton

At Harlestone Quarry five areas were excavated in advance of ironstone extraction between 2006 and 2014, a total area of 4.1ha. This took in part of a Bronze Age to early Iron Age landscape, uncluttered by later activity apart from medieval field boundaries and furrows of the former field system. A single pit and residual charcoal from a pit alignment have been radiocarbon dated to the early Bronze Age. A system of shallow linear boundary ditches and a curvilinear ditch, perhaps forming part of a large enclosure, are undated but are most likely to date to the late Bronze Age. A scatter of pits, largely within the enclosure, contained domestic material including pottery and hearth debris. Two pits contained pyramidal fired clay loomweights, and one of these pits has been radiocarbon dated to the late Bronze Age. A pit alignment lay to the south of the ditched boundaries. It is undated but probably had an origin in the early Iron Age. An area to the south of the pit alignment contained two possible four-post structures and scattered pits containing late Bronze Age to early Iron Age pottery. To the north, a loose cluster of pits included another possible four-post structure and an outlying pit has been radiocarbon dated to the end of the early Iron Age. To the east, beyond the excavated area, the pit alignment appears to terminate at a triple-ditched boundary system.