Willow Hall Farm, Hill Row Causeway, Haddenham, East Cambridgeshire District, Cambridgeshire Archaeological Evaluation

PCAS Archaeology Ltd (PCAS) was commissioned by Dennis (Haddenham) Ltd, to undertake a scheme of archaeological evaluation trenching on land at Willow Hall Farm, Hill Row Causeway, Haddenham in the East Cambridgeshire district of Cambridgeshire (NGR: TL 40824 75858). The evaluation trenching has demonstrated that below the modern ploughsoil deep alluvial silts overlie deflated ancient peat deposits which in turn seal the degraded soil of a prehistoric landscape with material evidence of human activity spanning the earlier Neolithic to the Early Bronze Age. This survives at depths between c. 0.9m and 2.5m below the existing ground level. Unlike the modern mostly flat landscape the ancient landscape buried under the peat, was characterised by a deep permanently wet channel, orientated c. east-northeast to west-southwest occupying the southern part of the site, with an area of low sandy gravel ridges to the northwest. Most of the evidence for past human activity was concentrated along the north bank of the former channel. Incorporated into the degraded former soil was evidence for human activity consisting of numerous fragments of worked flint (including finished and utilised tools), pottery sherds, and food waste in the form of broken animal bones, indistinct charcoal spreads and heat cracked flint. Although no actual ancient constructed or excavated features were observed the recovered artefacts indicate that the site has the potential to provide evidence of daily life of the first settled communities in the area and the environment in which they lived. No actual cut or constructed features of human origins were observed during the evaluation. However, a significant quantity of work flint, as well as pottery fragments, animal bone (food waste) heat cracked stone and small amounts of charcoal (evidence of fire) were identified which attests to a sustained human presence possibly from the earlier Neolithic and certainly during the Later Neolithic-Early Bronze Age at this location. The evaluation trenching has demonstrated that below the modern plough soil deep alluvial silts overlie deflated ancient peat deposits which in turn seal the degraded, dryland/woodland soil of a prehistoric landscape which includes material evidence of human activity spanning the period of the earlier Neolithic to the Early Bronze Age. The degraded soil horizon, with associated anthropological deposits and artefacts, survives at depths between c. 0.9m and 2.5m below the existing ground level. Unlike the modern mostly flat landscape, the ancient landscape buried under the peat was characterised by a deep permanently wet channel, orientated c. east-northeast to west-southwest occupying the southern part of the site, with an area of wooded low, sandy gravel ridges to the northwest. Most of the evidence for past human activity was concentrated along the north bank of the established channel which may be a second order channel to the known Ouse palaeochannel that formerly flowed to the north of this site. Incorporated into the degraded former soil was evidence for human activity consisting of numerous fragments of worked flint (including finished and utilised tools), pottery sherds, and food/food production waste in the form of broken animal bones, indistinct charcoal spreads and heat cracked flint. Although no actual ancient constructed or excavated features were observed the recovered artefacts and the deposits with which they were associated, indicate that the site has the potential to provide evidence of daily life of the first settled communities in the area and the environment in which they lived.