SNN112396 - Excavation of a Romano-British Settlement on land off Creed Road, Oundle, Northamptonshire (OUCR12), Assessment Report and Updated Project Design

Archaeological excavations were required in advance of residential development on land off Creed Road, Oundle, Northamptonshire, as the site lay in an archaeologically sensitive area. Geophysical survey and trial trenching had previously identified the remains of a Romano-British settlement. This investigation recorded features representing further surviving remains of the settlement which was uncovered during archaeological work immediately to the east of the site in 1999. he excavation confirmed the presence of a Late Iron Age and Romano-British settlement dating to between the 1st and 4th centuries. The earliest phase, dating to the 1 st century, comprised four ring gullies representing roundhouses, a postulated shrine, ditched features and five cremation burials. The settlement was reorganised in the 2nd and early 3rd centuries with rectangular post-built buildings possibly representing barns and the construction of a second shrine which appears to have replaced the earlier one. The settlement was enclosed with boundary ditches at this time. Modifications to the line of the settlement boundary was undertaken through the 3rd and 4th centuries but the focus of domestic and religious activity may have shifted elsewhere at this time. The finds assemblage from the site included Late Iron Age and RomanoBritish pottery, animal bone, metalwork and worked bone. A number of Roman coins and fragments of vessel glass were also found. Also found were small quantities of medieval and post-medieval ceramic items. These items probably represent manuring scatters. Further analysis of the buildings, particularly the postulated shrines, may Synthesis of the stratigraphic, structural, artefactual and environmental evidence will be required in order to attempt to identify the functions of specific buildings and more general activity within the settlement as a whole. Further analysis is required on the Late Iron Age and Roman pottery assemblages, the animal bone assemblage, a single fragment of possible Roman glass and a selection of the ‘other finds’. Finds retrieved in previous trial trenching of the area will need to be re-examined and incorporated into any final artefact report. The stratigraphic, structural, artefactual and environmental evidence requires full integration with the results of the previous archaeological excavations which took place to the east of the site. This report summarises the stratigraphic, artefactual and environmental evidence recovered during the excavation and assesses the potential of the information to address the original research aims of the project. It also seeks to identify areas where these results can contribute to wider research agendas. An updated project design is also presented.