Search

Excavation in Area 1 identified an enclosed settlement of Middle-Late Iron Age and Early Roman date, which included a roundhouse gully and deep storage pits with complex fills. A group of undated four-post structures, situated in the east of Area 1, appeared to represent a specialised area of storage or crop processing of probable Middle Iron Age date. A sequence of re-cutting and reorganisation of ditches and boundaries in the Late Iron Age/Early Roman period was followed, possibly after a considerable hiatus, by a phase of later Roman activity, Late Iron Age reorganisation appeared to be associated with the abandonment of a roundhouse, and a number of structured pit deposits may also relate to this period of change. Seven Late Iron Age cremation burials were associated with a contemporary boundary ditch which crossed Area 1. Two partly-exposed, L-shaped ditches may represent a later Roman phase of enclosed settlement and a slight shift in settlement focus. An isolated inhumation burial within the northern margins of Area 1 was tentatively dated by grave goods to the Early Saxon period. Area 2 contained a possible trackway and field boundary ditches, of which one was of confirmed Late Iron Age/Early Roman date. A short posthole alignment in Area 2 was undated, and may be an earlier prehistoric feature. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Archaeological investigations were undertaken at Field House Farm, Ladwell, Hampshire between February and November 2014. Evidence for occupation dating from the Bronze Age to Post-medieval period was uncovered. This included several substantial ditches of a Late Bronze Age/Early Iron Age date, suggesting prehistoric land division but there was limited evidence for corresponding settlement. A fragmentary, pegged, leaf-shaped copper-alloy spearhead of probable Late Bronze Age date was also recovered from the topsoil. Several fragmentary Iron Age ditches pre-dated a large sub-oval later prehistoric/Roman enclosure on an elevated position in the north of the site. Although there was limited dating evidence to provide a definitive date for the construction/use of the enclosure, features dating to the later Roman period suggest reoccupation of the site after a hiatus. A number of post-medieval features were also uncovered that correspond to a small farmstead present on 19th century maps. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]