Prehistoric Pits and Roman Enclosures on the A419 Blunsdon Bypass, Blunsdon St Andrew: Excavations 2006-7 by Mark Brett and E
PREHISTORICWiltshire Archaeological PITS & AND Natural ROMAN History ENCLOSURESMagazine, vol. 104 ON(2011), THE pp. 95-114A419 BLUNSDON BYPASS 95 Prehistoric pits and Roman enclosures on the A419 Blunsdon Bypass, Blunsdon St Andrew: excavations 2006-7 by Mark Brett and E. R. McSloy with contributions by Mary Alexander, Dana Challinor and Sylvia Warman Three areas were excavated in advance of the construction of the A419 Blunsdon Bypass: Sites A and B, and Area B. Site A contained a number of pits and possible postholes of Middle Bronze Age to earlier Iron Age date, and Area B revealed further evidence of prehistoric activity. Site B contained a concentration of features indicative of short-lived, rural occupation probably associated with a nearby farmstead dating from the mid 1st to 2nd centuries AD. Introduction Archaeological background Between September 2006 and February 2007 Following an initial desk study, areas of the proposed Cotswold Archaeology (CA) carried out a bypass were examined by geophysical survey programme of archaeological investigation along (Stratascan 2002; 2003), evaluation trenching (CA the route of the A419 Blunsdon Bypass, Blunsdon St 2003), and fieldwalking (CA 2004). Andrew, Wiltshire (between NGR SU 136 912 and The geophysical survey identified potential SU 152 894; Figure 1). The work was undertaken archaeological features, which were subsequently on behalf of Alfred McAlpine plc working for the examined by evaluation trenches. The evaluation Highways Agency. identified three features containing worked flint The bypass route comprises a corridor of land, of Late Neolithic or Bronze Age date towards the approximately 3.3km in length, to the north of northern end of the scheme near Upper Widhill Swindon, on the south-western side of the former Farm at Site A (Figure 2).
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