SNN116594 - Data from a Test Pitting at Blank Area Testing, Brackley to Southam, Northamptonshire, 2020-2022 (HS2 Phase One)

This collection comprises digital photographs, spreadsheets, reports and scanned site records from a test pit survey by Archaeological Research Services across 31 fields identified as 'Blank Areas', extending from Versions Farm, Brackley, Northamptonshire to Starbold Farm, Southam, Warwickshire. Work was undertaken between October 2020 and March 2021. Project Summary The test pit survey formed part of Phase One of the High Speed 2 (HS2) rail project. The project was granted Royal Assent in 2017 as the High-Speed Rail (London - West Midlands) Act. Phase One of the project runs 230 km from Euston Station in London to Curzon Street in Birmingham. The blank areas were chosen on the basis that they held some potential for archaeological remains but little or no indication for the presence of archaeological remains was identified where surveyed by magnetometry. The integrated survey approach used in the BAT study therefore offers an alternative suite of techniques to conventional geophysics with the prospect of identifying archaeological remains that are difficult to prospect for with geophysics such as Stone Age and early medieval remains. 31 fields (total area of 183ha) in the study include a range of field types such as arable, pasture, and car storage activities. The aim of the BAT survey is to test existing No-Data (blank) Areas to establish the presence, or confirm the absence, of archaeological anomalies/remains and particularly those belonging to the Stone Age and early medieval periods. The BAT study tests the hypothesis that significant find scatters can still be identified within the ploughsoil through the use of an innovative approach to geochemical mapping in tandem with magnetic susceptibility, targeted metal detecting and gridded test pits. The targeted test pit survey involved the excavation of 1544 manually excavated test pits.