buried ?medieva! 

 ploughsoils 



Area 4 



218 THE WILTSHIRE ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND NATURAL HISTORY MAGAZINE 



Middle-late Iron Age activity Area 2 



The linear features 



A complex of shallow ditches was identified, 

 interpreted as the footprint of a roundhouse and 

 associated fences and paddocks. 



Gully 210 was situated at the east end of this 

 complex. 37m long, 0.44m wide and 0.22m deep, 

 it curved to form a semi-circle with an internal 

 diameter of c. 19m. It had a rounded flat base, 

 sloping sides, and was filled with a friable mid- 

 grey brown silt clay (see Figure 6, section 3). 

 Middle-late Iron Age pottery was recovered from 

 the fills. 



Gully 151 was aligned north-south and 

 measured c. 1 2m in length, 0.45m in width and was 

 0.22-0. 35m deep, with a 'U'-shaped profile. It was 

 filled by two deposits of friable grey-brown clay silt, 

 but no datable artefacts were recovered. 



Gully 220, aligned east-west, was located to the 

 west of 151. 3.1m long, 0.5m wide and c.O.lmdeep, 

 its sides sloped evenly onto a flat base. Fill 219 was 

 a silty sand containing six sheep mandibles and 22 

 sherds of late Iron Age pottery. 



An inter-cutting line of seven post-holes (304), 

 aligned north-south, appeared to represent a fence 

 line. All the post-holes were circular in plan with 

 an average diameter of 0.8m and a maximum depth 

 of 0.42m. All of those recorded contained a single 

 fill of friable mid grey brown clay silt, and in total 

 contained over 20 sherds of late-Iron Age pottery, 

 along with an iron socketed hooked blade (sf 21, 

 Figure. 8, no. 1). Post-hole 15, located c. 1 m to the 

 north of group 304, also appears to have been part 

 of the fenceline. Finds recovered from this feature 

 included an iron brooch pin (sf 9) and 1 9 sherds of 

 late-Iron Age pottery. 



Ditch 308, orientated north-east to south-west, 

 was 38m in length, 1.7m wide and up to 0.56m 

 deep. The sides sloped gently to a concave base and 

 contained two fills of dark greyish green silty sand 

 with some charcoal and limestone flecks, as well as 

 late-Iron Age pottery. 



A deposit of heavily disturbed natural sub-soil 

 (133) up to 0.20 m thick was seen at two locations 

 within the enclosure complex (Figure 3), and was 

 interpreted as trample or possibly midden material. 

 Deposit 133 contained large quantities of late Iron 

 Age pottery. 



Further post-holes were also identified in the 

 area, and may represent additional light structural 

 elements. They are marked (Figure 3) but are not 

 described in detail here. 



Fig. 4. Excavation areas 2 and 4 



The pits 



Of the 70 pits identified in Area 1, only three 



appeared not to date to this period. The majority 



of the pits were shallow and bowl-shaped and 



unremarkable. Only those of notable size or shape, 



or with significant finds assemblages are described 



below. 



Pits 153, 155, 157, 163 



The four pits were located to the south of the 

 enclosure and appeared to form a coherent group 

 defining an approximate square. Pits 155 and 157 

 were circular in plan, measuring 1.1m in diameter 

 and 0.25-0. 28m deep, with steep sides and flat 

 bases. The sole fill (156) of pit 155 contained three 

 sherds of late-Iron Age pottery. Fill 158 of pit 157 

 contained two sherds of pottery of the same date, 

 along with a single sherd of early prehistoric pottery. 

 Both were friable dark grey clay silts. 



Pits 153 and 163 were sub-circular in plan, 

 measuring 1 . 1 5-1 .30m in diameter and 0. 1 2-0. 50m 

 deep, both with a flat base and near vertical sides. 

 Secondary fill 161, of pit 163, a moderately 

 compacted dark grey sandy silt, contained 1 sherds 

 of late-Iron Age pottery, as well as environmental 



