012AD00918

Enclosure Ditch


 
 
Ditch Details
Length  2027 Maximum Width 135 Maximum Depth 35 Profile U-shaped
Material Culture Number of Objects 3 Number of Animal Bones 7
Environmental       

Phasing

This enclosure ditch is one of a sequence of a least eight recuts (directly stratigraphically linked with five of the other phases, this is demonstrably the latest of the 8 phases). Click here to go to a separate Master matrix page, which shows all eight phases of the ditch sequence. As 012AD07217 cuts a Grubenhaus and is thus believed to be Middle Saxon in date, this phase must also be Middle Saxon.

Stratigraphic Matrix Diagram

                         
        012AD00917  012AD00924             
                         
                         
                         
            012AD00921             
                         
        012AD00918                 
                         
                         
                         
              012AD07217          
                         
                         
            012AD01018            
                         
                         
                         
                         
        012AD00920                
                         
                         
    012AD00871               012AD00754    
                         

Discussion

Very few finds were recovered from this final phase of the enclosure system, although to some extent this is because it was not recognised as a separate event until part-way through the excavation. (A number of the finds from this feature were thus treated as being from 012AD00754, an earlier phase in the sequence.) All of the ditches on the eastern side of the enclosure system were filled with a similar material, which was highly magnetically susceptible. This was caused by the high occurrence of burnt material in the fills (notably charcoal and burnt daub deposits). The fill itself was a fine, dark sandy loam (Munsell 10YR 32), with less than 5% chalk inclusions. A stonier (inclusion rate 20%) primary fill was noted in the central part of the ditch, although not extending along the entire length. The ditch had a U-shaped profile, and was cut into chalk at the southern end, and into hillwash in the north. It represents a change in the layout of the enclosure, terminating in the north where earlier phases used to continue in an east-west direction. It is thus most likely associated with the other, shorter curvilinear ditches in the area (012AD07218, 012AD07220 and 012AD07072)

All Contexts and Associated Finds Totals

CUT  FILL VOLUME OBJECTS AN BONE DENSITY
012AD00918 012AD00917   3 0  
  012AD00921   0 0  
SAMPLE 012AD00924   0 7  


Context Details

012AD00918 Sections and Notes


 
KEY_ID TYPE SHAPE L B D PROFILE NOTES
012AD00918 DITCH CUT LINEAR 390 48 32 U-SHAPED DITCH CUT. CUT INTO SOLID CHALK ALTHOUGH AT S END CUT INTO HILLWASH OF 10% CHALK INCLUSIONS. CUT BY DITCH 753/4. APPEARS TO CUT 872/3.
012AD00917 DITCH FILL LINEAR 390 48 32 U-SHAPED DITCH FILL. DAUB AND CHARCOAL FLECKING. BONE BULK SAMPLE UNDER 903. < 5% CHALK INCLUSIONS.
012AD00921 DITCH FILL LINEAR SEG. 178 40 35 U-SHAPED DITCH FILL. STONIER FILL THAN 917. 20% CHALK INCLUSIONS < 7CM. BONE FOUND SOME BONE BULK SAMPLED UNDER 904 AND 924. DAUB AND CHARCOAL FLECKING.
012AD00924 BULK SAMPLE           BULK SAMPLE OF ANIMAL BONE IN SLOT 917/8 N OF SECTION WHERE BONE WAS BULK SAMPLED UNDER 904.


Objects By Context

KEY_ID OB PERIOD MATERIAL TYPE SUB_TYPE CLASS No
012AD00917 AA 2-4C POTTERY SHERD J   1
012AD00917 AB   STONE STONE     1
012AD00917 AC   STONE STONE   RED CHALK 1

Animal Bone by Context

KEY_ID SPECIES ELEMENT QUANT CHEW BURN BUTCH FBRK
012AD00924 Cattle Humerus fr 1 0 0 0 0
012AD00924 Cattle M/C C 1 0 0 0 1
012AD00924 Cattle N.Cuboid 1 0 0 1 0
012AD00924 Cattle Phalanx 1 1 0 0 0 0
012AD00924 Cattle Radius P 1 0 0 0 0
012AD00924 Dog Humerus C 1 1 0 0 0
012AD00924 Sheep/Goat Mand fr 1 1 0 0 0