At site 6, the archaeological remains present are buried relatively deeply below the ground. Most of the foundations or services for the development will not be dug deeply enough to impact on the archaeology, but there is still the possibility that some remains will be disturbed in areas where deeper excavations are taking place. For this reason, a watching brief is taking place on the relief road and the first two phases of the housing development.
This involves an archaeologist being present on the site observing the work whenever there is any digging. This could be topsoil stripping for the road, or service trenches for pipes or cables.
If any remains are exposed, the archaeologist will stop the works for a short time to record them. This will give us a better idea of what is under the site, which will be useful if the site is threatened in the future.
Archaeological remains found to date
The remains found in Site 6 date from mainly from the middle Bronze-Age, roughly 1500 to 1000 BC. The Bronze-Age remains are concentrated in the south-east and central areas of the development (see map). The remains consist largely of ditches, which probably served to mark out and drain fields for cultivation. Samples taken from the fill of the ditches contained remains of emmer wheat, an early cereal crop. In addition, a number of post-holes and rubbish pits were found, indicating that a settlement was close by.
The Bronze-Age remains can be dated by the pottery fragments found within them, which are of distinctive types. During the construction of one of the display-houses on site, a Bronze-Age cremation urn was also discovered. The cremation urn is from the “Deverel-Rimbury” tradition, a well known middle Bronze Age form of pottery. For more information pertaining to this tradition, as well as examples of ceramics dating to this period see the Museum of London’s ceramics and glass catalogue.
