Early Bronze Age and Later Iron Age Activity on Land at the New School Site, Hinchingbrooke Park Road, Hinchingbroke, Cambridgeshire: An Archaeological Evaluation

Between the 11/12/2000 and the 13/12/2000 Mark Hinman and Spencer Cooper of the Cambridgeshire County Council Archaeological Field Unit undertook an evaluation by means of trial trenching on land adjacent to Hinchingbrooke Park Road, Hinchingbrooke. The work was commissioned by Mr M Hucklesby on behalf of the Property Procurement Division, CCC, in advance of the proposed development of the subject site for a new school.
Evaluation has demonstrated the presence of significant archaeological remains including a group of pits, one of which contained the poorly preserved remains of a horse's skull placed on a collection of cobbles before being carefully covered in a layer of pottery. The structure and nature of these placed deposits is reminiscent of Neolithic/Early Bronze Age remains revealed adjacent to the subject site during the Bob's Wood excavation during 2000 AD. The date range for the materials from the current evaluation indicates deposition during the early Bronze Age, adding further significant evidence for the continuing tradition of symbolic placement of artefacts on the site, first encountered during 19997 excavations immediately to the west of the subject site. The presence of 'Beaker' pottery in association with the horse cranium is a highly significant discovery of regional and potentially national importance. Additional remains consisted of a series of ditches tentatively attributed to the middle-late Iron Age (c 300 BC - 50 AD) although no artefactual material was recovered to support this interpretation. Most of the ditches encountered represent field boundaries or drainage ditches.
One of the most striking observations of the evaluation was the lack of features or artefacts dateable to the Romano-British period in contrast to the high densities of finds and features found in adjacent areas of the Bob's Wood site (Hinman, 1997, Hinman, 2000).
Evidence of two distinct phases of ridge and furrow cultivation were also recorded.