Archaeological excavation at Cornfield Meadows, Welland, Worcestershire

Trenching and excavation of principally Iron Age settlement. The investigations revealed the southern areas of a sequence of Iron Age enclosures. The earliest phase of enclosure largely lay beyond the excavation area and little could be determined about its character or function, although the presence of domestic debris indicated that the enclosure was probably occupied. The southern part of a later rectilinear enclosure was also revealed and appeared to have two phases of development. The first was defined by a substantial enclosure ditch with a south facing entrance. This enclosure had subsequently been reworked through the addition of a smaller ditch to the north which blocked the entrance. This may reflect that the enclosure became double ditched or that the enclosure shifted slightly to the north. Internal features were sparsely present and restricted to a ditch, several short lengths of gully and a number of postholes and small pits. Whilst clearly indicative of internal structures and sub-divisions, it was not possible to closely define form or function of these features or to determine which phase of enclosure they were associated with. The ceramic assemblage recovered indicated that occupation of these enclosures was probably fairly short-lived, commencing in the 2 nd century BC and extending through the 1 st century. However, the complete absence of any Romanised wares indicates that occupation had ceased by the mid-1 st century AD. This assemblage provides a significant addition to the corpus of Iron Age pottery for the region, especially as it offers a window into an assemblage spanning a relatively narrow temporal window. It is particularly notable for the markedly good condition of much of the pottery. An iron projectile point was recovered from the main enclosure ditch. Environmental remains were poorly preserved and sparse, consisting of small quantities of charred cereal crop remains and associated weeds. Animal bone, though present, was highly fragmented to the extent that little identifiable material was present. Lastly the presence of a small quantity of disarticulated human bone within the enclosure ditch is of interest. Such discoveries on prehistoric sites, particularly in the Iron Age, are relatively common and may reflect the practice of excarnation with the subsequent deposition of remains potentially either deliberately in specific contexts or accidental through disarticulation and disturbance of the remains.