The evaluation fieldwork comprised the excavation of 63 test pits measuring 5m x 5m. The test pits were laid out on an even grid pattern across the Site and set-out to avoid a series of north-west to south-east aligned modern drain. The test pits were not specifically located to target geophysical anomalies but to provide a representative sample of the Site as a whole. All test pits were excavated in their proposed original locations. Between 15 August and 22 September 2022, Cotswold Archaeology carried out an archaeological evaluation for the Water Recycling Centre Growth Scheme Flag Fen, Fengate, Peterborough. A total of 63 Test Pits were excavated. The principal finding from the evaluation was that a deep, well-preserved buried soil survives intact across the whole of the area to a depth of c. 0.20-0.50m. Two prehistoric ditches were also identified in the central northern part of the Site, and contained possible evidence of domestic activity recovered through palaeoenvironmental sample processing. Peat layers, much of it desiccated, were recorded in all Test Pits above the buried soil. Middle to Late Bronze Age and Late Iron Age/Early Roman pottery was found in the peat layers. The Holocene sedimentary sequence within the Site was fully recorded and defined in detail through geoarchaeological assessment. Deposit models of the buried deposits were created, and a possible palaeochannel(s) was identified in the eastern part of the Site.
Peter Banks (Wed,) studied this question.