Site Diary: Trench Three

The shovel test survey and soil sampling has now been completed. Columns have been cut for soil micromorphology and pollen analysis, the results of which will not be known for some time. With time on her hands, Helen Evans has moved on to undertake a small excavation across another feature that was identified during the original survey of the area. This takes the form of a linear ditched boundary that runs for several hundred metres approximately east/west across the moor (see plan of area).

Surface survey suggested that this ditch may have been made up of a series of large pits arranged in a line, although these pits are less clear towards the western end of the feature. We had assumed that this boundary was probably Medieval or post-Medieval in date and had placed a relatively low priority on excavation during the current phase of the project.

However, a casual comment by Graeme Guilbert last year (thanks Graeme) made us re-think this assumption. He noted that despite the apparent freshness of the pits and associated upcast banks along this boundary, it was possible that the entire feature was actually prehistoric. Our evaluation trench this year supports his suggestion. What we have is a massive pit alignment which was clearly cut before the inception of peat growth in the area. Parallels with pit alignments elsewhere suggest a date range between the later Bronze Age and the Iron Age.

Despite its small scale, Trench 3 has produced fascinating details that may well lead us to more extensive work on this feature next year. As well as evidence for the cutting of a large pit and its associated upcast, it is clear that the pit was lined with a clay cap. This would have improved the water retaining properties of the feature, and there has been plenty of speculation on what purposes this may have served. These range from the provision of water in the immediate area through to the creation of a boundary that was made all the more dramatic by the presence of what was effectively a chain of small, reflective ponds. No doubt more ideas will rise to the surface as work continues.

Two views of the clay lined pit, one element in a longer pit alignment that cuts across the moor: