HILL TOP, ALCONBURY WESTON 2020 SAWTRY HISTORY SOCIETY EXCAVATION SITE DIARY SUMMARY Site Details Site Reference Code: ALW171-20 Location: NGR TL1877 (OS. Explorer Map 225. Huntingdon and St Ives - West) Site Bench Mark (SBM): Description – South corner of tree line bordering residential gardens. Lat and Long – 52°23'2.03"N, 0°15'43.89"W (Google Earth 2018) NGR – TL18374 77628 (OS. Explorer Map 225. Huntingdon and St Ives - West) AMSL – m (Mapping) Figure 0.1: Montage of pre-Season 3 images Aims and Objectives Investigate the pit revealed in the south end of Trench #1 in order to: - determine its form and use(s) - excavate the fill of the pit for 100 percent environmental sampling in order to further understand the pit's use(s) Investigate the possible wall and post-hole in close proximity to the pit in order to determine whether they are indeed structural and to further determine whether the post-hole respects a supporting post or a door post. Investigate the marked differences immediately south of the pit and possible structural features; marked differences include soil type, colour and texture, and the absence of CBM, tesserae and other archaeological artefacts. Conduct geophysical earth resistance survey. Project: Romano-British Settlement on Hill Top Season: 03 This session of excavation and geophysical survey proved to be another successful set of investigations that, despite the weather and ground conditions, addressed all the aims and objectives set above. The true extent of the pit was revealed and the half section showed it to be a 'beehive' or 'bell' shaped pit; a style of in-ground storage pit in common use from the Late Iron Age through the second century Romano-British - as evinced by finds from the pit fill. As the pit ended up being much larger than originally believed, environmental sampling was limited to several litres of fill taken from the base and sides of the pit. Although there turned out to be no structural wall associated with the post-hole (the cluster of adjacent stones were consequently deemed to be disturbed packing for the post), a floor surface was revealed with sharp edges that indicated the wall lines on both a northeast and northwest alignment that formed a corner on the post-hole. This conjunction of wall corner and post-hole respects the first to second century wall corner at the north end of the Season 2 excavation. Although a mixed stratigraphy was revealed in the area of marked archaeological difference immediately south of the post-hole, their narrative has yet to be properly defined. The geophysical earth resistance survey covered eighteen 20m x 20m squares and four partial 20m x 20m squares; approximately 8,000 m2. The raw data clearly shows the expected linear anomalies that correspond with both the crop marks visible on Google Earth and the gas pipeline that cuts through the site. Other interesting linear and circular anomalies are also visible in the raw data which will need further analysis to determine whether they are likely to be archaeological or natural. A total of six volunteers participated at various times throughout the session, and twelve visitors from RAF Alconbury were received. .