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Archived News ~ Week ending Friday 6th May 2005.

Watching Brief

The ongoing watching brief at Nosterfield Quarry resumed last month, when an area of bund along the western extremity of the quarry was stripped, revealing a number of linear features, pits and two inhumation burials.

At the southern end of the NE-SW aligned stripped area, two curvilinear ditches were defined and excavated, which can possibly be associated with the two inhumation burials. These linear features (F433 and F430), extended beyond the quarry site to the northwest, and appeared in plan to be roughly concentric. The northernmost feature, F433, measured up to 0.6m in width, and ran SW-NE, before turning towards the northwest at its northern end; beyond this point, the feature had been destroyed by ploughing. The shallow feature was entirely hand-excavated in order to recover dating material; although animal bone and flecks of charcoal were noted, no further evidence for date was recovered. Possibly set within F433, F430 was less regular curvilinear ditch, which disappeared beyond the limit of the investigation at its northwestern and southwestern limits (photograph 1). The ditch was excavated and recorded in seven sections, and, like F433, was found to have been entirely ploughed out in places. Although no secure dating evidence was recovered, two small lithic artefacts were recovered, which are of likely prehistoric date.

Potentially associated with the curvilinear ditches, two inhumation burials were also defined and excavated. F432 was identified within F430 as an extended supine burial within a sub-rectangular grave cut; the excavation of the latter feature was found to have truncated a second, earlier inhumation (F431), also within a sub-rectangular cut (1.7m x 0.4m) (photographs 2 and 3). Both burials were found to have been badly plough-damaged. The dipped profile of grave cut F432 had resulted in the survival of the torso and left arm of the individual beneath the modern plough horizon; however, the skull, right arm and legs below the proximal femurs had been lost. Most of burial F431 had survived, although the front of the skull had been lost and the in situ bones showed clear signs of fragmentation and 'old' breaks which are likely to be the result of ploughing. The burials are currently being analysed by osteologist Malin Holst, and radiocarbon dating will follow. Update: 9th August 2006 - radiocarbon dates for features 431 and 432 and osteological report now available.

Between the ditches F430 and F433, a small, subrectangular feature was identified (F434); upon excavation, this was found to contain a length of metal pipe, which suggests a modern date.

Close to the ditches and burials a second small pit was defined and excavated (F436). F436 appeared as a blackened deposit, over an area of reddened subsoil. Excavation revealed a shallow pit, up to 0.15m in depth; the upper backfill was found to contain charcoal, animal bone, an iron object and a single fragment of prehistoric ceramic, whilst the lower fill contained charcoal and animal bone.

Further to the northeast, a linear ditch (F435) crossed the stripped area, on a NW-SE alignment. The excavated feature measured 0.90m in width, and 0.35m in depth, and produced no finds indicative of date. The alignment of the feature, however, and comparison with similar features from the rest of the quarry, suggests that it may represent an historic field boundary.

At the northeastern end of the stripped area, two further ditches were revealed beneath the stripped bund (F428 and F429). F429 was found to run north-south, and measured 1.20m in width; upon excavation it was found to have steeply sloping sides to a depth of 0.40m; potentially modern ceramic recovered from the backfill may indicate a relatively recent date. F428 was less regular in plan, and was found to curve slightly, extending beyond the stripped area to the north and south. This feature, measuring up to 1.2m in width, was found to reach up to 0.35m in depth, and contained two distinct backfills; flint and animal bone were recovered from both deposits.


F430, curvilinear ditch	F432, extended supine burial	F431, earlier inhumation