Wiltshire Archaeological & Natural History Magazine, vol. 95 (2002), pp. 279-91 



Excavation and Fieldwork in Wiltshire 2000 



Amesbury 



Boscombe Down Airfield; Prehistoric, Roman and 

 modern 



Eleven watching briefs were undertaken on the 

 airfield at Boscombe Down by DERA Archaeology 

 during 2000. Nine produced modern or geological 

 features; two however produced evidence of earlier 

 periods. The first, centred on SU 1730 4053, 

 revealed part of a linear feature of possible Bronze 

 Age date (SMR No SU14SE750).The feature was 

 badly truncated by buildings on the airfield. A 

 number of other features were noted, again 

 truncated, and without dating evidence. The second 

 watching brief (centred on SU 1716 4029) 

 produced evidence of a double linear feature of Late 

 Bronze Age - Early Iron Age date (SMR No 

 SU14SE749). One leg of the linear was investigated. 

 Here it was 0.9 m deep, 2.8m wide at the base and 

 5.0m at the top. It is possible that the surface of the 

 site was partially removed in modern times, as the 

 boundary between the topsoil and upper fill was 

 extremely sharp. Of note was a 1 st - 2nd century 

 Roman nail cleaner, possibly part of a chatelaine, 

 from the lower fills (Figure 1 ) . The work was carried 

 out by Colin Kirby, Gary Ancell and Bob Clarke. 

 All projects were managed by Colin Kirby for 

 DERA Archaeology. 



Butterfield Down (SU 1675 41 1 8); Prehistoric and 

 Romano-British 



Archaeological observations were conducted by AC 

 archaeology in conjunction with groundworks to 

 excavate a pipe trench on land under development 

 for housing at Butterfield Down (Phase 3). The site 

 lies within an area rich in recorded archaeology, 

 with prehistoric and Roman funerary sites less than 

 1 km away to the east and south, and the extensively 

 investigated prehistoric and Roman site of 

 Butterfield Down some 100m to the west. 

 Approximately 200m of trench was excavated under 

 archaeological supervision, and a single large 

 undated ditch was recorded. The dimensions and 



alignment of this ditch suggest that it may be related 

 to the Earl's Down Farm linear, a substantial 

 boundary or land division of probable later Bronze 

 Age date. 



Earl's Close Nursery School, Boscombe Down (SU 

 1 72 408); Modern 



An archaeological evaluation by Wessex 

 Archaeology on the proposed site of a new nursery 

 school and associated car park revealed only 20th- 

 century brick and concrete footings and service 

 trenches cut into the natural chalk. These features 

 were associated with pre-fabricated buildings that 

 formed Earl's Close until their demolition in 1972. 

 The close spacing of these former buildings in this 

 area and the probable truncation of the ground 

 surface in association with their construction and/ 

 or demolition suggests there is little potential for 

 the survival of earlier archaeological remains on this 

 site. 



Lidl, Porton Road, Boscombe Down (SU 1678 

 4130); Romano-British 



Wessex Archaeology undertook excavation on the 

 site of a proposed new retail store and car park. 

 The site had been stripped of topsoil in 1 993 during 

 the development of an adjacent plot and very small 

 scale sample excavations were carried out. Features 

 identified at that stage included a ditch and two 

 Beaker pits, a so-called 'linear ditch' thought to be 

 of Bronze Age date, and a series of ditches of 

 Romano-British date. The site was cleaned and 

 more extensive excavation undertaken. 



No further evidence for later Neolithic or Early 

 Bronze Age activity was discovered. Another section 

 was excavated through the linear ditch. No dating 

 evidence was recovered, but an assessment of the 

 land snails indicates that it lay within an open 

 environment. During the Romano-British period 

 the site lay outside the main area of late Roman 

 settlement known on Boscombe Down and was part 

 of the land farmed by that community. Part of the 



