SNN116197 - Digital Data from an Archaeological Excavation at Dadford Road, Silverstone, Northamptonshire 2020

This collection comprises images, reports and GIS data from an open area excavation by Albion Archaeology at land off Dadford Road, Silverstone, Northamptonshire. The excavation was undertaken in December 2020, following a trial trench evaluation (MOLA 2020) of the east half of the permitted development area (PDA) which revealed a ditch containing a substantial amount of Roman pottery. The only archaeological features revealed in the open area excavation were two Roman ditches G1 and G2. Ditch G2 corresponds with the ditch excavated within Trench 17 of the evaluation. It forms the corner of a boundary which is presumably defining at least a partially enclosed area to the north, with the section excavated within the trench being a part of its WNW–ESE aligned arm. It produced thirty-three sherds of Roman pottery, almost all of which were recovered from near the surface of a c.4m-long darker, charcoal-rich deposit visible within the top of the ditch. This darker deposit also coincides with the section excavated within the trench from which the substantial amount of pottery was recovered. Ditch G1 was located 16m to the south of, and parallel with, the WNW–ESE aligned arm of ditch G2. It was of a similar size and profile to G2 and was also filled with a brown sandy silt. It produced no finds, though its appearance and alignment suggest it is contemporary with ditch G2. The Roman ditches are most likely to represent field/enclosure boundaries on the very periphery of settlement activity, with the concentration of pottery representing a distinct, singular event of rubbish disposal perhaps from short-lived, localised activity. The only other probable Roman feature recorded within the wider vicinity of the PDA is a ditch previously identified c.500m to the south-east along with numerous other undated ditches (MOLA 2020).