Watching Brief at Land West of Cana Lana, Marton le Moor

The investigation comprised an archaeological watching brief during the careful mechanical excavation of the proposed new drainage route, in a series of stretches referred to as Trenches 1 to 4 (see Figure 2 for locations). The excavation was either carried out to the surface of the natural, or to the proposed depth of drainage. All machine excavation was carried out with a toothless bucket. The exposed surface was then hand cleaned to establish the presence/absence, nature, extent and preservation of any archaeological remains and to ensure that any archaeological deposits encountered could be recorded. Following a review of the results of Trenches 1-4 and consultation with the North Yorkshire Council Principal Archaeologist it was agreed that the lengths of trench located within existing farm access tracks (in red on Figure 2) and immediately adjacent to the sewage treatment works, did not warrant archaeological monitoring. Standard On-Site Archaeology techniques were followed throughout the investigation and a photographic record was maintained. A catalogue of context descriptions and photographs is provided in Appendix 1. No archaeological features or finds were encountered during the watching brief. The installation of the new drainage system has, therefore, had no impact on below ground archaeological remains. Along the majority of the route of the trenches a simple sequence of natural overlain by subsoil, followed by modern topsoil was recorded. The natural was found at a relatively consistent depth of between 0.70m and 0.90m below the modern ground surface. The exception to this simple sequence was recorded in Trenches 3 and 4, where the subsoil was overlain by 20th century landscaping deposits, which in places were as much as 0.80m thick. The North Yorkshire HER records the presence of linear earthworks within this paddock, originally identified from aerial photographs dating from the 1930s and 1970s. The field has clearly experienced a degree of modification during the 20th century, with fragments of tarmac being present almost a metre below the current modern ground level. The form of any earthworks identified on the site must, therefore be treated with a degree of caution.