The Archaeological Recording was undertaken across three land parcels of land across four adjacent fields: C31058, C31064 (Blackgrounds East) and C31059 (Blackgrounds Central). C31059 was spilt into two areas (A and B) during the mitigation. 1.6.3 The Archaeological Recording followed a staged approach. After the site was stripped the Archaeological Contractor conducted a non-discriminatory metal detecting survey (combined with standard walkover survey for recovery of all other artefacts) as set out in the Methodology section of the LSWSI. After all the topsoil and, where present, subsoil overburden, was removed the archaeology was mapped using the recording process set out in the Methodology section below. During the mapping process, limited sample of archaeology was excavated (according to the requirements set out in the hand excavation section of the LSWSI). 1.6.4 Following the mapping process and the limited hand excavation a site meeting was held with key stakeholders and the Contractors HERDS team on site to agree the sampling strategy for each area. As a result of this a Post Strip Sample Strategy (PSSS) document was produced for each area detailing any variations from the agreed LSWSI. C31059B formed the focus of the Roman activity, and it may represent the periphery of a small Roman town. The activity comprised predominantly craft and industrial workshops with associated working areas focussed in the south-west and centre of C31059B. These were primarily associated with metalworking, specifically smithing, though evidence of textile and woodworking was also present in the recovered artefactual assemblages. This activity was established in the late Iron Age/early Roman period, and it likely continued until the early 5th century. In the late Roman period, three possible domestic rectangular stone structures with an associated burial plot, were noted in the south-east of the area. In the north of C31059 (A and B) a series of 15 burials, potentially part of a cemetery beyond the boundaries of the Roman town, were also identified. Possible Saxon/medieval quarry pits were identified in C31059A, and remnants of ridge and furrow cultivation were identified across all of the Archaeological Recording areas The two Archaeological Recording areas at Blackgrounds East (C31058 and C31064) investigated the periphery of a late Iron Age and early Roman settlement, which formed the focus of settlement in the landscape when the middle to late Iron Age settlement previously identified in the Blackgrounds North was abandoned. The most notable feature was a stone lined pit, which contained a crouched inhumation burial, located in C31064.
Konradsson et al. (Sun,) studied this question.