012AD005266

Ditch


 
Ditch Details
Length  1188 Maximum Width 110 Maximum Depth 15 Profile U-shaped
Material Culture Number of Objects 3 Number of Animal Bones 1
Environmental   

Phasing

Click here to go to a separate Master matrix page, which shows the relationships of the ditches and pits in the immediate area. The strange plan of the ditch in the north indicates that there were at least two phases on this alignment, although these were not recognised during excavation.

Stratigraphic Matrix Diagram

                   012AD05244                  
                                     
                  012AD05265                   
                                     
              012AD05374                       
                                     
                                     
                                     
                                     
  012AD05275    012AD05277    012AD05271    012AD05281        012AD05279    012AD05269    012AD05401    012AD05399   
                                     
  012AD05276   012AD05278    012AD05272    012AD05282        012AD05280    012AD05270    012AD05402    012AD05400   
                                     
                                     
                  012AD05266                   
                                     

Discussion

The ditch fill was surprisingly lacking in both objects (two snails and a single sherd of Roman pottery) and animal bones (a single sheep/goat mandible fragment), although this can be partially explained by plough truncation (only 15cm of the ditch remained). It was also different from the other ditches in the immediate area in that it had eight associated post holes, all of them in the northern excavated segment. The ditch fill was generally a sandy silty loam (Munsell 10YR 4/3). The post holes were filled with a slightly darker material (ranging from 10YR 3/2 to 10YR 4/2), indicating that the posts had rotted in situ. Only one of the post holes showed evidence of a post pipe (012AD05276) , and post packing was noted from this and one other post hole (012AD05278). A line of charcoal (012AD05374 ) was found only in the northernmost excavated segment, centrally placed. The ditch was cut by 012AD05244 to the east, a ditch with a similar roughly north-south alignment.

All Contexts and Associated Finds Totals

MASTER CUT FILL VOLUME OBJECTS AN BONE DENSITY
012AD05266 012AD05266 012AD05265   3 0  
012AD05374   0 0  
POST HOLE 012AD05270 012AD05269   0 0  
POST HOLE 012AD05272 012AD05271   0 0  
POST HOLE 012AD05276 012AD05275   0 0  
POST HOLE 012AD05278 012AD05277   0 0  
POST HOLE 012AD05280 012AD05279   0 0  
POST HOLE 012AD05282 012AD05281   0 1  
POST HOLE 012AD05400 012AD05399   0 0  
POST HOLE 012AD05402 012AD05401   0 0  

Context Details

012AD05266 Section and Notes


 
KEY_ID TYPE SHAPE L B D PROFILE NOTES
012AD05265 DITCH FILL SEG LINEAR SEG.
360
110
15
 U-SHAPED FILL OF DITCH. 10% CHALK. CHARCOAL INCLUSIONS. PLOUGH TRUNCATED.
012AD05266 DITCH CUT SEG LINEAR SEG.
360
110
15
 VERT.SIDE F.BASE CUT OF DITCH. PLOUGH TRUNCATED. CONTAINS MANY PHS THAT ARE POSS. CUT BY THE DITCH.
012AD05374 DITCH FILL LINEAR
180
15
7
 U-SHAPED CHARCOAL LAYER IN FILL OF DITCH 5265/6. ALMOST ENTIRELY COMPOSED OF BROKEN-UP CHARCOAL WITH SILTY MATRIX. ENVIRONMENTAL SAMPLES KEPT.

012AD05270 Section and Notes


 
KEY_ID TYPE SHAPE L B D PROFILE NOTES
012AD05269 POST HOLE FILL SUB-CIRCULAR
33
29
15
 U-SHAPED FILL OF POST HOLE IN BASE OF DITCH 5265. 15% CHALK. NO FINDS. NO VISIBLE INCLUSIONS.
012AD05270 POST HOLE CUT SUB-CIRCULAR
33
29
15
 U-SHAPED CUT OF POST HOLE IN BASE OF DITCH 5265. STRAIGHT SIDED CUT.

012AD05272 Section and Notes


 
KEY_ID TYPE SHAPE L B D PROFILE NOTES
012AD05271 POST HOLE FILL SUB-CIRCULAR
30
23
26
 U-SHAPED FILL OF POST HOLE IN BASE OF DITCH 5265.5-10% CHALK. NO VISIBLE INCLUSIONS. NO FINDS.
012AD05272 POST HOLE CUT SUB-CIRCULAR
30
23
26
 NARROW U CUT OF POST HOLE IN BASE OF DITCH 5265. STRAIGHT AND EVEN SIDES.

012AD05276 Section and Notes


 
KEY_ID TYPE SHAPE L B D PROFILE NOTES
012AD05275 POST HOLE FILL SUB-CIRCULAR
30
28
30
 U-SHAPED FILL OF POST HOLE IN BASE OF DITCH 5265. CLEAR P/PIPE ONE SIDE WITH CHALK P/PACKING ON W SIDE.5% CHALK. CHARCOAL INCLUSIONS. NO FINDS.
012AD05276 POST HOLE CUT SUB-CIRCULAR
30
28
30
 VERT.SIDE U.BASE CUT OF POST HOLE IN BASE OF DITCH 5265. CLEAR P/PIPE ONE SIDE WITH CHALK P/PACKING ON W SIDE. VERY STRAIGHT VERT. CUT.

012AD05278 Section and Notes


 
KEY_ID TYPE SHAPE L B D PROFILE NOTES
012AD05277 POST HOLE FILL SUB-CIRCULAR
32
28
20
 U-SHAPED FILL OF POST HOLE IN BASE OF DITCH 5265. LARGE CHALK ROCKS EMBEDDED IN TOP MAY BE DISTURBED P/PACKING.5% CHALK.
012AD05278 POST HOLE CUT SUB-CIRCULAR
32
28
20
 U-SHAPED CUT OF POST HOLE IN BASE OF DITCH 5265. STRAIGHT VERT. SIDES.

012AD05280 Section and Notes


 
KEY_ID TYPE SHAPE L B D PROFILE NOTES
012AD05279 POST HOLE FILL SUB-CIRCULAR
40
37
7
 U-SHAPED FILL OF POST HOLE IN BASE OF DITCH 5265. VERY SANDY MATERIAL WITH SLIGHT CHARCOAL INCLUSIONS. -5% CHALK.
012AD05280 POST HOLE CUT SUB-CIRCULAR
40
37
7
 VERT.SIDE F.BASE CUT OF POST HOLE IN BASE OF DITCH 5265. VERY SHALLOW - MAY BE SLIGHTED BY THE DITCH.

012AD05282 Section and Notes


 
KEY_ID TYPE SHAPE L B D PROFILE NOTES
012AD05281 STAKEHOLE FILL SUB-CIRCULAR
20
15
10
 U-SHAPED FILL OF STAKE HOLE IN BASE OF DITCH 5265. 20% CHALK. NO FINDS.
012AD05282 STAKEHOLE CUT SUB-CIRCULAR
20
15
10
 U-SHAPED CUT OF STAKE HOLE IN BASE OF DITCH 5265. VERY SHALLOW AND DIMINUTIVE FEATURE BUT ALMOST CERTAINLY GENUINE.

012AD05400 Notes

KEY_ID TYPE SHAPE L B D PROFILE NOTES
012AD05399 POST HOLE FILL SUB-CIRCULAR
20
17
8
 U-SHAPED FILL OF POST HOLE SET INTO BASE OF DITCH 5265/6. VERY SILTY MATRIX WITH CLAY CONTENT AND LITTLE STONE. CHARCOAL INCLUSIONS. NO FINDS.
012AD05400 POST HOLE CUT SUB-CIRCULAR
20
17
8
 WIDE U CUT OF POST HOLE SET INTO BASE OF DITCH 5265/6. VERY DIMINUTIVE FEATURE CUT INTO DECAYING CHALK.

012AD05402 Notes

KEY_ID TYPE SHAPE L B D PROFILE NOTES
012AD05401 POST HOLE FILL SUB-CIRCULAR
43
39
38
 U-SHAPED FILL OF POST HOLE SET INTO BASE OF DITCH 5265/6. 10% CHALK. CHARCOAL INCLUSIONS.
012AD05402 POST HOLE CUT SUB-CIRCULAR
43
39
38
 V-SHAPED CUT OF POST HOLE SET INTO BASE OF DITCH 5265/6. CUT INTO CHALK NATURAL AND REDEPOSITED CHALK OF LARGER PROB. QUARRY PITS.

Objects By Context

KEY_ID OB PERIOD MATERIAL TYPE SUB_TYPE CLASS No
012AD05265 AA   SNAIL SNAIL SAMPLE    
1
012AD05265 AB   SNAIL SNAIL SAMPLE    
1
012AD05265 AC 2-4C POTTERY SHERD J  
1

Animal Bone by Context

KEY_ID SPECIES ELEMENT QUANT CHEW BURN BUTCH FBRK
012AD05281 Sheep/Goat Mand fr 1 0 0 0 0