Scrooby South Quarry, Scrooby, Nottinghamshire: post-excavation assessment

The work was carried out as part of a series of archaeological excavations. The excavation area was set out using a Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS), in the same position as that proposed in the WSI. A sample of archaeological features and deposits was hand-excavated, sufficient to address the aims of the excavation. A sample of natural features, such as tree-throw holes, was also investigated. The earliest known feature within the excavation area was a large undated pit that was truncated by a possible medieval ditch. The excavation also revealed two phases of field system; the earliest of which comprised two rectilinear enclosures on an ENE-WSW alignment. The only securely datable material recovered from the enclosure ditches was a sherd of Romano-British and a sherd of medieval pottery. The enclosures have provisionally been phased to the medieval period however, this is tenuous due to the small amount of finds. One of the boundary ditches aligned well with a crop mark shown on aerial photographs, indicating that the fields were part of a field system that extended to the west and possibly to the south. The later field system was defined by a large post-medieval field boundary ditch and line of postholes on a north-west to south-east alignment, at the east side of the excavation area. The boundary is shown on 19th and 20th-century OS maps. Several undated features comprising a ditch and pits were also recorded at the east end of the excavation area.