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Excavations at Alconbury Weald, Stukeley, Cambridgeshire: PXA and UPD

Webb, Robin (2018) Excavations at Alconbury Weald, Stukeley, Cambridgeshire: PXA and UPD. [Client Report] (Unpublished)

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Abstract

Between September 2014 and April 2017, Oxford Archaeology East (OA East) conducted a series of archaeological investigations on the site of the former Alconbury Airfield, Alconbury, Cambridgeshire (centred on TL 19133 76906). The development area covers an area of 577ha, with the current works (10ha) within an area of 112ha. The investigations considered in this report cover six excavations, two evaluations and two watching briefs. Other evaluations took place amongst these but revealed only limited remains, and these have been reported on separately. Truncation from services and airfield activity reduced the accessible areas to 6.1ha.
The investigations revealed archaeological remains spanning the Middle Bronze Age to post-medieval periods. These were examined in three main areas: at the western end of the airfield runway; to the south of the western end of the runway, in the vicinity of the main clusters of airfield buildings; and to the south of the eastern end of the runway.
The areas excavated at the western end of the runway revealed Middle Bronze Age and Late Iron Age activity. The Middle Bronze Age activity comprised an arc of six cremation pits and three cremation related pits, located 130m to the north of a circular enclosure. The six cremations contained pottery from cremation urns. The Late Iron Age activity concentrated on an earthfast roundhouse and associated enclosure ditch.
The area to the south of the western end of the runway contained the main concentration of activity. This related to Iron Age and Roman settlement and its periphery. The relevant features included ditches that would have surrounded Iron Age and Roman roundhouses, enclosures marking the edges of the settlement areas and the surrounding field systems. Within this, residues of industrial activity were found, although no clear industrial features were identified. Activity in this area dropped away from the 3rd century, with limited ridge and furrow remains. These ridge and furrow remains were disturbed by the airfield and later developments.
The area to the south of the eastern end of the runway primarily revealed alignments of ridge and furrow that corresponded to alignments identified in aerial photographs. The gaps between the remains of the furrows revealed a small number of Iron Age and Roman features that suggested activity took place in the vicinity.
The artefacts recovered from the archaeological investigations included Middle Bronze Age, Iron Age, Roman, medieval and post-medieval pottery. Animal bone, much of which was well preserved, was also recovered from many of the features. Within the excavations a few more elaborate finds were recovered. These included a carved and polished sword hand guard, potter’s stamps and 1st and 2nd century brooches including penannular, trumpet and bow forms. A Roman glass bead was also recovered from a ditch

Item Type: Client Report
Uncontrolled Keywords: Evaluation, evaluation, Excavation, excavation, archaeological evaluation, archaeological excavation, cambridgeshire, Cambridgeshire, The Stukeleys, the stukeleys, Alconbury, alconbury, Alconbury Weald, alconbury weald, Alconbury airfield, alconbury airfield, Roman, roman, Bronze Age, bronze age, Middle Bronze Age, middle bronze age, Iron Age, iron age, Later Iron Age, late iron age, Romano-British, romano-british, Post-Medieval, post-medieval, Post Medieval, post medieval, Pottery, pottery, pot, ceramic, sherd, Roman pottery, roman pottery, Bronze Age pottery, bronze age pottery, Middle Bronze Age pottery, middle bronze age pottery, Iron Age pottery, iron age pottery, Later Iron Age pottery, late iron age pottery, animal remains, animal bone, animal bones, bone, bones, HSR, hsr, Human Remains, human remains, cremation, cremations, urned, unurned, urned cremation, unurned cremation, cremated bone, disarticulated human remains, cremation group, cremation cemetery, Middle Bronze Age cremation, middle bronze age cremation, fired clay, spindlewhorl, spindle whorl, kiln furniture, token, brooch, penannular brooch, nail, nails, sword guard, roman sword guard, worked bone, quern, whetstone, ecofacts, bead, glass, bead, blue glass bead, ditch, ditches, pit, pits, extractive pit, extractive pits, well, wells, pond, midden, rubbish pit, settlement, settlement activity, agriculture, field system, boundary ditch, enclosure ditch, circular enclosure, square enclosure, gully ring gully, ridge and furrow, furrow, landscape, CBM, cbm, ceramic building material, Ceramic Building Material, tile, Tile, roman tile, Roman tile, PXA, pxa, Post-excavation Assessment, post-excavation assessment, UPD, upd, updated project design, Updated Project Design, 1765, report 1765, Report 1765, OAE report 1765
Subjects: Geographical Areas > English Counties > Cambridgeshire
Period > UK Periods > Iron Age 800 BC - 43 AD
Period > UK Periods > Iron Age 800 BC - 43 AD > Late Iron Age 100 BC - 43 AD
Period > UK Periods > Bronze Age 2500 - 700 BC > Middle Bronze Age 1600 - 1,000 BC
Period > UK Periods > Post Medieval 1540 - 1901 AD
Period > UK Periods > Roman 43 - 410 AD
Divisions: Oxford Archaeology East
Depositing User: Hamilton
Date Deposited: 09 Dec 2019 12:03
Last Modified: 09 Dec 2019 12:03
URI: http://eprints.oxfordarchaeology.com/id/eprint/5556

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