Peters Road, Locks Heath, Fareham, Hampshire
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Peters Road, Locks Heath, Fareham, Hampshire Updated Archaeological Excavation Report for Taylor Wimpey plc CA Project: 779004 CA Report: 14411 February 2016 Peters Road, Locks Heath, Fareham, Hampshire Updated archaeological excavation report CA Project: 779004 CA Report: 14411 Document Control Grid Revision Date Author Checked by Status Reasons for Approved revision by A 09/10/14 CJ Ellis KEW Internal MAW review B 28/03/15 KEW Additional conservation work C 11/04/16 KEW External Specialist review comment This report is confidential to the client. Cotswold Archaeology accepts no responsibility or liability to any third party to whom this report, or any part of it, is made known. Any such party relies upon this report entirely at their own risk. No part of this report may be reproduced by any means without permission. © Cotswold Archaeology Peters Road, Locks Heath, Fareham, Hampshire: Excavation Report © Cotswold Archaeology CONTENTS SUMMARY ..................................................................................................................... 5 1. INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................ 6 The site .............................................................................................................. 6 Archaeological background ................................................................................ 6 Archaeological objectives ................................................................................... 8 Methodology....................................................................................................... 8 2. RESULTS (FIGS 2-10) ....................................................................................... 10 Natural Soil Sequence ........................................................................................ 10 Area 1 (Figs. 2-10) ............................................................................................. 11 3. THE FINDS AND ENVIRONMENTAL RESULTS ............................................... 13 Bronze Age Urns by E. R. McSloy ...................................................................... 13 The Charcoal Remains by Sarah Cobain ........................................................... 18 Human remains by Sharon Clough ..................................................................... 20 4. DISCUSSION ..................................................................................................... 25 4. CA PROJECT TEAM .......................................................................................... 27 5. REFERENCES ................................................................................................... 27 APPENDIX A: CONTEXT DESCRIPTIONS FOR STRIP, MAP AND SAMPLE EXCAVATION ................................................................................................................ 31 APPENDIX B: SUMMARY DESCRIPTION OF URNS AND CONDITION ...................... 38 APPENDIX C: CHARCOAL IDENTIFICATION .............................................................. 40 APPENDIX D: OSTEOLOGICAL METHODOLOGY ....................................................... 47 APPENDIX E: OASIS REPORT FORM .......................................................................... 49 3 Peters Road, Locks Heath, Fareham, Hampshire: Excavation Report © Cotswold Archaeology LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS Fig. 1 Site location plan (1:25,000) Fig. 2 Site location plan with all Cotswold Archaeology (CA) investigations Fig. 3 Plan of Area 1 urned cremation cemetery Fig. 4 East facing section of decorated cremation urn 4005 (RA 52) (0.4m scale) Fig. 5 Northwest facing section of urns 4003 (RA 50) and 4004 (RA 51) Fig. 6 General view of Area 1A looking southwest (1m scales) Fig. 7 North facing section of urn 4042 (RA 65) cutting into earlier urned cremation burial 4102 (RA 70)/4103 (RA 71) (0.4m scale) Fig. 8 General view of urn 4039 (RA 62) truncated by a modern pit, looking north (0.4m scale) Fig. 9 Glass bead from soil sample <167> associated with Urn RA 57 (fill 4134) from Cremation pit 4079 Fig.10 Flake of an opaque glassy slag from soil sample <73>, taken from Urn RA 64 (context 4041, fill 4077) LIST OF TABLES Table 1: Weight of cremated bone for each burial by skeletal area Table 2: Weight of bone by fraction to determine level of fragmentation Table 3: Deposit contained in urn total weight for spit Table 4: (Appendix B) Summary description of urns and condition Table 5: (Appendix C) Charcoal identification Table 6: (Appendix C) Charcoal identification Table 7: (Appendix C) Charcoal identification Table 8: (Appendix C) Charcoal identification Table 9: (Appendix C) Charcoal identification Table 10: (Appendix C) Charcoal identification Table 11: (Appendix C) Charcoal identification 4 Peters Road, Locks Heath, Fareham, Hampshire: Excavation Report © Cotswold Archaeology SUMMARY Project Name: Peters Road, Locks Heath Location: Fareham, Hampshire NGR: SU 5022 0715 Type: Strip, map and sample excavation Date: 14 April – 9 May 2014 Planning Reference: P/07/1515/OA Location of Archive: To be deposited with Hampshire Museum Service Accession Number: A2014.31 Site Code: PRL 14 An archaeological strip, map and sample excavation of two areas of land off Peters Road, Locks Heath, Fareham was undertaken by Cotswold Archaeology in April/May 2014, as part of a programme of archaeological investigation. The site had been the subject of three phases of evaluation (in 2009, 2013 and 2014). The two areas comprised 925m² in total. The excavations were undertaken to investigate the extent of a Middle Bronze Age urned cremation cemetery, of which four burials had been identified in 2009. The site had been subject to heavy truncation. Despite this, at least 16 pits were recorded, containing urns. Additional cremation urns, or fragments thereof, were also recovered without visible cuts, or from a tree-throw hole. Portions of some 21 cremation urns have been identified, which are dateable to the Middle Bronze Age and to the Deverel–Rimbury style, which commonly characterises pottery in southern England in the period c. 1600–1200 BC. The Locks Heath group is among the largest of Middle Bronze Age date excavated from the county in recent decades. A glass bead was the single possible grave good identified. Despite the urns being block lifted and excavated in spits, and the deposits surrounding them also being widely sampled, the amount of cremated bone recovered was very small (just seven deposits), and the weights of bone were very low when compared to the average for the time period, with high fragmentation levels. Flotation of the soil samples produced, in general, very little ecofactual material. No carbonised plant macrofossils were present and charcoal, where present was poorly preserved. 5 Peters Road, Locks Heath, Fareham, Hampshire: Excavation Report © Cotswold Archaeology 1. INTRODUCTION The site 1.1 An archaeological strip, map and sample excavation of land off Peters Road, Locks Heath, Fareham was undertaken by Cotswold Archaeology in April/May 2014, as part of a programme of archaeological investigation which was commissioned by Taylor Wimpey plc. The development (hereafter referred to as ‘the site’) encloses an area of approximately 8.3ha within Locks Heath, Fareham, Hampshire (Figs. 1, 2). It is bounded to the north by Peters Road, to the east by Lockswood Road, and south by fields and to the west by properties fronting onto Brook Lane and Chichester Close. The site is generally flat and sloping down to the south, lying at 28.8m above Ordnance Datum (aOD) in the north and 23.8m (aOD) in the south. 1.2 The underlying bedrock geology of the area is mapped as Earnley Sand Formation of the Palaeogene Period, overlain by superficial clay and silt River Terrace Deposits of the Quaternary Period (BGS 2014). Natural geological deposits comprising clayey sand and sandy silts were exposed during the earlier evaluations (CA 2009, 2013). Archaeological background 1.3 For a detailed archaeological background, and the scope and findings of previous phases of work undertaken, reference should be made to the site-specific Desk- based Assessment (Wessex Archaeology 2007), the Written Scheme of Investigation (WSI) prepared for the evaluations (RPS 2008), the Heritage Statement prepared by Cotswold Archaeology (CA 2011), and the reports for the Phase 1-3 archaeological evaluations (CA 2009, 2013 and 2014b). 1.4 In summary, previous archaeological investigations identified a number of sites and findspots of prehistoric date to the south of the site close by. These included finds of Palaeolithic axes and burnt flint spreads. Of particular significance to this site is the reported discovery of other Bronze Age urned cremation burials, and a Bronze Age founder’s hoard from a pit north of Fleetend (AHBR 19318), particularly from large gravel pits around at Fleetend (Hampshire County Council Archaeology and Historic Buildings Record: AHBR). These include: a single Deverel-Rimbury influenced urn from Buttons Pit (AHBR 19468, SU 450090 106100), a Deverel-Rimbury barrel- 6 Peters Road, Locks Heath, Fareham, Hampshire: Excavation Report © Cotswold Archaeology shaped urn from Dyke's Pit (AHBR 19319, SU 450600 105800), two Deverel- Rimbury urns and a Late Bronze Age accessory vessel from New Pit (AHBR 60766, SU 450533 106053), and four Deverel-Rimbury urns, a beaker and two early Iron Age vessels from Newbury's Pit (AHBR 60767, SU 450729 105500). A V-profiled ditch containing Iron Age pottery was recorded