Monument record MLI60557 - Iron Age settlement, Navenby

Summary

Iron Age settlement, Navenby

Type and Period (6)

  • (Iron Age - 800 BC to 42 AD)
  • (Iron Age - 800 BC to 42 AD)
  • (Iron Age - 800 BC to 42 AD)
  • (Iron Age - 800 BC to 42 AD)
  • (Late Bronze Age to Early Iron Age - 1000 BC to 401 BC)
  • (Middle Iron Age to Late Iron Age - 400 BC to 42 AD)

Protected Status/Designation

  • None recorded

Full Description

60557 In 1991 fieldwalking in the angle of High Dike and Chapel Lane on the east side of Navenby identified Iron Age pottery fragments, including some late rouletted forms. It is suggested that the core of the settlement was located further westwards, closer to the Edge, where the present settlement is located. {20} Subsequently, in the same area, trial trenches dug prior to development identified Iron Age features beneath the Roman settlement (PRN 60537). On the south-west of the site, a large native-type square enclosure was sectioned, as was one of the eave's drip gullies surrounding one of at least three circular buildings within its interior. The upper fill of the enclosure ditch contained a single sherd of Samian, though primary deposits contained sherds of exclusively middle-late Iron Age type. There is a tentative suggestion that Ermine Street may lie on the line of a more ancient trackway. {1} There was a further watching brief to the south-west of the Chapel Lane excavation. It resulted in the exposure and excavation of a closely-spaced group of middle or later Iron Age pits, the contents of which suggest some kind of processing. Quite what material or foodstuffs were being processed is unclear. Samples from the pits' fills themselves contained quantities of crop processing residues, but that does not mean that crop processing was the main activity on this part of the site. There is a suggestion that there may be barns or other buildings close by, but they cannot be within the immediate vicinity of the pits, or evidence for them has been entirely destroyed. It is tenuously suggested (since evidence for in situ burning was not found) that the fills were not functionally related to the pits themselves - that the pits were excavated simply to dispose of (or possibly cool) burnt material associated with some other activity, possibly cooking. The evidence so far points to a centre of population, which appears to have been Ermine Street. Thus, it may be that the pits exposed to the south of Winton Road reflect peripheral activities in an area that was otherwise devoid of direct population. {4}{5} During a watching brief, a probable prehistoric buried soil was recorded at NGR SK9940 5720. The deposit showed iron staining, indicating that it once had a high organic content, and charcoal flecks throughout the layer suggested that it had been dug over more than once, indicating cultivation. The deposit was also comparable with modern soils in the area. It is thought that this deposit therefore represents a soil buried during the construction of Ermine Street, which sealed the layer. As Ermine Street was the main route of military expansion and consolidation northwards for the Romans, it was probably built early in the Roman occupation, around the middle of the 1st century, thus suggesting that the buried soil predates this activity. This argument can also be applied to a small pit or gully recorded as lying directly beneath bedding for Ermine Street at NGR SK9933 5720. {9}{10} Geophysical survey and trial trenching centred on SK 9910 5728 recorded pit-like features dated to the late Bronze Age/early Iron Age from pottery finds. Environmental sampling revealed a combination of charred and uncharred remains, although the pits themselves were not burnt. The infrequency of the pits suggests that they were not a feature of daily life, leading to the suggestion of a possible ceremonial significance. House mouse bone found in a sample is the earliest yet found in the country, so possible contamination or dating error cannot be ruled out.{11}{12}{13} Middle to late Iron Age pottery was found during a watching brief centred on SK9930 5730. {14}{15}

Sources/Archives (20)

  •  Report: PRE-CONSTRUCT ARCHAEOLOGY. 1995. CHAPEL HEATH, NAVENBY. CHN94.
  •  Report: PRE-CONSTRUCT ARCHAEOLOGY. 1996. CHAPEL HEATH, NAVENBY. CHN94.
  •  Archive: PRE-CONSTRUCT ARCHAEOLOGY. 1994. CHAPEL HEATH, NAVENBY. LCNCC 154.94.
  •  Report: PRE-CONSTRUCT ARCHAEOLOGY. 1997. GRANTHAM ROAD, NAVENBY. GRN97.
  •  Archive: PRE-CONSTRUCT ARCHAEOLOGY. 1997. GRANTHAM ROAD, NAVENBY. LCNCC 25.96.
  •  Report: PRE-CONSTRUCT ARCHAEOLOGY. 1995. LAND OFF GRANTHAM ROAD. CHN95.
  •  Archive: PRE-CONSTRUCT ARCHAEOLOGY. 1995. LAND OFF GRANTHAM ROAD. LCNCC 48.95.
  •  Article in Serial: F.N. Field and I. George. 1995. Archaeology in Lincolnshire. VOL 30.
  •  Report: Pre-Construct Archaeology. Oct 2000. Central Lincs Trunk Main Rehabilitation, Phase1 - Ermine Street, Navenby. ESN00.
  •  Archive: Pre-Construct Archaeology. Oct 2000. Central Lincs Trunk Main Rehabilitation, Phase 1 - Ermine Street, Navenby. LCNCC 2000.141.
  •  Report: Pre-Construct Geophysics. 1999. Land south of Winton Road: Phase D, Chapel Heath, Navenby.
  •  Report: Pre-Construct Archaeology. Oct 1999. Land at Chapel Heath, Navenby. CHNE99.
  •  Archive: Pre-Construct Archaeology. Oct 1999. Land at Chapel Heath, Navenby. LCNCC 180.99.
  •  Report: Pre-Construct Archaeology. Nov 2001. Land off Chapel Lane, Navenby. ESNA01.
  •  Archive: Pre-Construct Archaeology. Nov 2001. Land off Chapel Lane, Navenby. LCNCC 2001.66.
  •  Article in Serial: F.N. Field and I. George. 1996. Lincolnshire History and Archaeology. Vol 31, page 58.
  •  Report: Pre-Construct Archaeology. April 1995. Chapel Heath, Navenby: An archaeological fieldwalking report. CHN95.
  •  Archive: PRE-CONSTRUCT ARCHAEOLOGY. 1995. CHAPEL HEATH, NAVENBY. LCNCC 48.95.
  •  Report: PRE-CONSTRUCT ARCHAEOLOGY. 1995. LAND OFF GRANTHAM ROAD, NAVENBY. CHN95.
  •  Report: Pre-Construct Archaeology. 1994. Desk Top Assessment of Land at Chapel Lane, Navenby. -.

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Location

Grid reference Centred SK 9911 5736 (541m by 489m)
Civil Parish NAVENBY, NORTH KESTEVEN, LINCOLNSHIRE

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Record last edited

Mar 21 2021 8:35PM

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