All work was carried out in accordance with the WSI (Headland Archaeology 2020) with further instruction provided by Blakeney Estates Ltd and following consultation with the Historic Environment Team at Hertfordshire County Council. The site works comprised the excavation of a c.0.1ha area in the north of the DA, and was undertaken between August and October 2021. The area targeted a defined unit of archaeological activity identified through prior trial trenching. The excavation area was set out using a Trimble Global Navigation Satellite System, and topsoil was removed by a tracked excavator fitted with a flatbed ditching bucket under direct archaeological supervision by qualified personnel. Machine excavation was undertaken in 50-200mm 'spits', and terminated at the top of the natural geology or where archaeological features or deposits were revealed. No machinery tracked over areas that had previously been stripped. Features identified during machine stripping were marked on the ground and hand-cleaned where necessary to determine the presence or absence of archaeological deposits. Archaeological features were excavated by hand using the appropriate tools. Linear and curvilinear features like ditches and gullies were 10% sample excavated (50% sample if structural), and discrete features such as pits and post-holes were 50-100% sample excavated, with sample sections located at the junction of features where possible to establish stratigraphic relationships. Deposits relating to funerary/ritual activity and domestic/industrial activity, such as burials, hearths, and floor surfaces, were 100% excavated. Finds were recorded by context and with three dimensional locations where relevant. Deposits identified as archaeologically significant were sampled for environmental material and other finds. Bulk samples of at least 40l (or 100% if the entire deposit was less than 40l) were subjected to flotation and their contents assessed. Further details of the methodology for finds and environmental samples are details in the relevant sections. The excavation over an area of c.0.1ha revealed a multi-period sequence of enclosures and land divisions spanning the Late Iron Age/Roman, Late Saxon, and medieval periods. Late Iron Age/Roman activity is represented by an agricultural or stock enclosure and associated quarry pit or watering hole, and may relate to a rural settlement recorded 250m north-west of the site at Bury Field. During the 10th to 11th centuries a series of rectilinear or rhomboid enclosures were lain out across the site, and represent the creation of formally planned plots within a Late Saxon nucleated settlement. This settlement survived into the medieval period but was abandoned before 1400, possibly because of settlement contraction in the aftermath of the Black Death. The Late Saxon and medieval features contained a well-preserved assemblage of environmental remains, including charred cereals, pulses, flax and hazelnuts, which may indicate the use of a mixed cultivation regime within a seasonally rotated open field system. Undated ditches and discrete features were also recorded together with residual prehistoric lithics.
Murray Andrews (Sat,) studied this question.