Archaeological Excavation Report Archaeological Bronze Age post alignments, an Iron Age trackway and a Roman field system on land south of the Bell Language School, Cambridge Excavation Report November 2015 Client: Hill Partnerships Ltd. OA East Report No: 1662 OASIS No: oxfordar3-200969 NGR: 546736, 254865 Bronze Age post alignments, an Iron Age trackway and a Roman cultivation system on land south of the Bell Language School, Cambridge Archaeological Excavation By Louise Bush BA MA MCIfA and Richard Mortimer MCIfA With contributions by Barry Bishop MA PhD MCIfA, Chris Faine MA MSc ACIfA, Carole Fletcher HND BA ACIfA, Rachel Fosberry ACIfA, Chris Howard-Davis BA MCIfA, Alice Lyons BA MA MCIfA, Sarah Percival BA MA MCIfA and Mairead Rutherford BA MSc Editor: Rachel Clarke BA MCIfA Illustrator: Dave Brown BA Report Date: November 2015 © Oxford Archaeology East Page 1 of 152 Report Number 1662 Report Number: 1662 Site Name: Land South of the Bell Language School, Cambridge HER Event No: ECB 3736 Date of Works: 12th May to 14th August 2014 Client Name: Hill Partnerships Ltd. Client Ref: 13915 Planning Ref: 13/1118/S73 and 13/1786/REM Grid Ref: TL 4672 5487 Site Code: CAMBLS12 Finance Code: CAMBLS12 Receiving Body: CCC Store OASIS No: oxfordar3-200969 Prepared by: Louise Bush Position: Project Officer Date: April 2015 (updated November 2015) Checked by: Richard Mortimer Position: Senior Project Manager Date: November 2015 Signed: Disclaimer This document has been prepared for the titled project or named part thereof and should not be relied upon or used for any other project without an independent check being carried out as to its suitability and prior written authority of Oxford Archaeology being obtained. Oxford Archaeology accepts no responsibility or liability for the consequences of this document being used for a purpose other than the purposes for which it was commissioned. Any person/party using or relying on the document for such other purposes agrees and will by such use or reliance be taken to confirm their agreement to indemnify Oxford Archaeology for all loss or damage resulting therefrom. Oxford Archaeology accepts no responsibility or liability for this document to any party other than the person/party by whom it was commissioned. Oxford Archaeology East, 15 Trafalgar Way, Bar Hill, Cambridge, CB23 8SQ t: 01223 850500 e: [email protected] w: http://thehumanjourney.net/oaeast © Oxford Archaeology East 2015 Oxford Archaeology Limited is a Registered Charity No: 285627 © Oxford Archaeology East Page 2 of 152 Report Number 1662 Table of Contents Summary.........................................................................................................................................7 1 Introduction................................................................................................................................8 1.1 Location and scope of work.........................................................................................8 1.2 Geology and topography.............................................................................................8 1.3 Archaeological background.........................................................................................8 1.4 Evaluation and geophysical survey...........................................................................11 1.5 Acknowledgements....................................................................................................12 2 Aims and Methodology..........................................................................................................13 2.1 Aims...........................................................................................................................13 2.2 Research Aims and Objectives.................................................................................13 2.3 Methodology..............................................................................................................13 3 Results......................................................................................................................................15 3.1 Introduction ...............................................................................................................15 3.2 Period 0: Undated......................................................................................................15 3.3 Period 1: Mesolithic to Neolithic (c.10,000-2000BC)................................................16 3.4 Period 2: Bronze Age (c.2000-700BC)......................................................................17 3.5 Period 3: Early and Middle Iron Age (c.700-100BC)...............................................23 3.6 Period 4: Late Iron Age and Roman (c.100BC- AD 410)..........................................27 3.7 Period 5: Post-medieval and modern (c.1500-present)............................................31 3.8 Finds Summary..........................................................................................................34 3.9 Environmental Summary...........................................................................................35 4 Discussion and Conclusions.................................................................................................37 4.1 Bronze Age................................................................................................................37 4.2 Early Iron Age............................................................................................................41 4.3 Middle and Late Iron Age..........................................................................................43 4.4 Romano-British..........................................................................................................43 4.5 The Addenbrooke's landscape..................................................................................46 Appendix A. Context Inventory with Phasing.........................................................................49 Appendix B. Posthole Alignment Quantification....................................................................85 © Oxford Archaeology East Page 3 of 152 Report Number 1662 Appendix C. Finds Reports.......................................................................................................96 C.1 Prehistoric pottery......................................................................................................96 C.2 Prehistoric pottery catalogue...................................................................................100 C.3 Roman pottery..........................................................................................................104 C.4 Roman pottery catalogue.........................................................................................106 C.5 Post-medieval pottery..............................................................................................108 C.6 Post-medieval pottery catalogue.............................................................................110 C.7 Struck flint.................................................................................................................112 C.8 Struck flint catalogue................................................................................................115 C.9 Metalwork.................................................................................................................120 C.10 Glass......................................................................................................................122 C.11 Clay pipe.................................................................................................................122 Appendix D. Environmental Reports......................................................................................124 D.1 Faunal remains........................................................................................................124 D.2 Environmental samples............................................................................................127 D.3 Palaeoenvironmental samples.................................................................................130 Appendix E. Radiocarbon Certificates...................................................................................134 Appendix F. Bibliography .......................................................................................................143 Appendix G. OASIS Report Form...........................................................................................151 © Oxford Archaeology East Page 4 of 152 Report Number 1662 List of Figures Fig. 1 Site location showing archaeological trenches (black) and excavation areas (blue) in development area (red) Fig. 2 Terrain map Fig. 3 HER map Fig. 4 Plan of evaluation results with the geophysical survey Fig. 5 All features plan Fig. 6 Period 0: Undated Fig. 7 Period 1: Neolithic Fig. 8 Distribution of early prehistoric pottery and flintwork Fig. 9 Period 2: Bronze Age Fig. 10 Distribution of Bronze Age pottery and Bronze Age-Iron Age flintwork Fig. 11 Plan of Bronze Age post alignments Fig. 12 Selected Bronze Age feature sections Fig. 13 Selected posthole sections Fig. 14 Period 3: Early and Middle Iron Age Fig. 15 Distribution of Early and Middle Iron Age pottery Fig. 16 Plan of cobble trackway Fig. 17 Selected Early and Middle Iron Age feature sections Fig. 18 Period 4: Late Iron Age and Roman Fig. 19 Distribution of Late Iron Age and Roman pottery Fig. 20 Selected Late Iron Age and Roman feature sections