WP 029C Water Orton, Final Factual Report for Archaeological Mitigation

The metal detector survey examined the areas of Test Pitting and Archaeological Recording before and after soil stripping and was directed and controlled by professional archaeologists. A series of 2 minterval transects was established across the area and metal detecting progressed along each transect. Each sweep of the metal detector covered a width of 2 m (1 m each side of the transect). Two grids of 1 m square machine dug test pits were opened in 140 m x 80 m and 120 m x 80 m blocks, avoiding areas previously stripped during trial trenching. A total of 200 machine-dug test pits were excavated at 10 m sample intervals, followed by an additional 14 machine dug geoarchaeological test pits. The area subject to archaeological recording was stripped by area in two phases, by a tracked excavator using a bladed ditching bucket to the first significant archaeological horizon or to the underlying drift geology. A sufficient sample of the archaeological features and deposits revealed was sampled or fully excavated to allow the resolution of the aims and objectives of the work The earliest datable evidence from the mitigation area was a worked flint of Mesolithic date, recovered during test-pitting. The earliest securely dated features were boundary ditches associated with a coaxial field system, which contained a small amount of Romano-British pottery. No artefactual evidence securely dating to the Bronze Age was recovered from the burnt mounds or their associated features; the majority of the artefactual material recovered was likely from later disturbance. An exception to this was a number of waterlogged work timbers found in two of the pits, which are thought to be the fragmented remains of wood-lined troughs. The mounds are comparable in composition and location (close to a water source) with other Bronze Age mounds in the area and therefore it is thought reasonable to suggest they are of this date: scientific dating will need to be done to confirm this, however. The Romano-British evidence suggests the mitigation area may be part of a larger area of agricultural activity; mitigation works at Coleshill Park, around 600 m south of the excavation area, have uncovered potential evidence of a 2nd century granary and agricultural field system. The field system at Water Orton may be the northern fringe of this activity. The artefact assemblage, including the pottery, is largely post-medieval/modern in date, collected from the ploughsoil during test pitting and is indicative of domestic rubbish scattered through manuring. The metal finds recovered during the metal detecting survey support this conclusion. Plant and wood charcoal remains recovered from bulk samples taken from the burnt mounds and their associated pits suggest an exploitation of local woodland to provide fuel and possibly food. A reconstruction of the local environment was also possible through the presence of charred plant remains indicating a seasonally wet, or permanently waterlogged, open and disturbed habitat, with areas of shrub and woodland. Waterlogged insect and plant remains from the Romano-British ditches and the post-medieval watering hole indicate that this wet and open environment continued through to the modern period.