Monument record MLI82124 - Iron Age features at South Witham quarry

Summary

Iron Age features at South Witham quarry

Type and Period (7)

Protected Status/Designation

  • None recorded

Full Description

PRN 35433 A geophysical survey and trial trenching recorded a double-ditched feature, heavily recut and aligned north-east/south-west to east/west, thought to be a trackway or droveway leading towards an Iron Age farmstead of unknown location. This feature was recorded in Trenches 1, 8 and 9, and contained pottery thought to date to the Middle Iron Age, as well as animal bone and worked flint (PRNs 35435 and 35436). A cluster of pits (PRN 35434) were also recorded within the track/droveway, however, and also contained pottery of the same date and in the same condition. These pits were unlikely to have been in use at the same time as the track/droveway, making the dating of the pit cluster and the track/droveway tentative at best. Other ditches were also recorded on the same alignment and on an east/west alignment. One of the east/west ditches contained fragments of daub. The pottery and flint were thought to be secondary or residual finds.{1}{2}{3} A range of Iron Age features were identified during excavations. The majority of these dated to the mid-late Iron Age although a small quantity of early Iron age style pottery was found which may indicate an earlier date for some features, although this material may well be residual. A number of ditches were uncovered, many of which appear to be boundary ditches, although some later examples may represent trackways. Pits and post holes were also identified, although no definite structures were observed. The pits include two large bell-shaped pits of a distinctive type used for grain storage. Animal bones were deposited in these pits after they stopped being used for grain storage, and it is suggested that this activity represents structured deposition rather than simply waste disposal. Pottery from the site includes scored ware, and a large amount of material datable only as 'Iron Age'. Daub fragments were also present. Small finds include items associated with textile working, antler working, bronze smithing and cereal farming as well as a miniature copper axe blade probably used as a votive offering. The small finds may also be the result of structured deposition rather than casual loss or waste disposal. Several undated features were also present which likely date to the Iron Age but may be later. {4} A subsequent geophysical survey detected a southwesterly continuation of the Iron Age (possibly Romano-British) trackway recorded in the earlier evaluation. Its magnetic response was less well defined; traces of the flanking ditches were present, albeit fragmented. Groups of pit-like anomalies lie within the putative track, particularly towards the north eastern part of the survey. This apparent relationship may be circumstantial - the discrete features possibly being natural features or quarrying activities.{5}

Sources/Archives (5)

  •  Report: Pre-Construct Geophysics. Nov 2000. Survey on land at South Witham. SWTH00.
  •  Report: Hertfordshire Archaeological Trust. Jan 2001. Land at South Witham. HAT498.
  •  Archive: Hertfordshire Archaeological Trust. Jan 2001. Land at South Witham. LCNCC 2001.16.
  •  Report: Archaeological Solutions. 2006. Excavations at South Witham Quarry. -.
  •  Report: Pre-Construct Geophysics. Dec 2007. Geophysical Survey: Proposed Site of Quarry, South Witham. -.

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Location

Grid reference Centred SK 9132 1874 (322m by 385m)
Civil Parish SOUTH WITHAM, SOUTH KESTEVEN, LINCOLNSHIRE

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Record last edited

Mar 21 2021 8:35PM

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