Late Iron Age and Roman settlement at land off Broadway, Yaxley, Peterborough

Between 16th November 2009 and 14th January 2010 Oxford Archaeology East (OA East) carried out an excavation at land off Broadway, Yaxley, Peterborough in advance of residential development. The work was commissioned by Camvil Developments Ltd. The excavation area was 0.7 hectares and lay at approximately 20m OD. The site was adjacent to an area excavated by Northamptonshire Archaeology in 2005. The earlier excavation covered 1.9 hectares and found evidence of a Late Iron Age through to Late Roman farming settlement. The current excavation should be viewed as part of this larger site and the results combined to form a more coherent picture of a settlement which developed from the Late Iron Age through to the end of the Roman period.
The investigations by OA East revealed evidence of previous land use from two broad periods; the Late Iron Age and Late Roman periods. The Late Iron Age occupation was restricted to the south-eastern half of the site and comprised a square enclosure, a roundhouse and parts of a field system. Within the square enclosure was a much smaller C-shaped enclosure which may have been the remains of a shelter of some form. The presence of slag and hammerscale suggests that this shelter or structure was the focus of industrial activity. The low density of artefacts from the Late Iron Age features suggests this was on the periphery of any settlement.
Late Roman activity was restricted to the north-western half of the site. The dating evidence suggests that there may have been an earlier Roman presence, although it has been difficult to separate this out from the predominantly Late Roman (3rd - 4th century AD) activity. Two Late Roman phases have been identified. In the earlier phase a rectilinear field system of small fields was constructed on a north-east to south-west alignment. A significant feature was a rectangular 'tank' with parallel beamslots in its base, interpreted as having once held water. In the second phase the earlier fields had been partially abandoned giving the site a more open plan. A narrow boundary ditch cut across the earlier field system, as did a beamslot structure. A second beamslot structure was found, as well as an aisled building or barn, which possibly extended beyond the western limit of excavation.