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Further topsoil removal in The Flasks has revealed a number of anomalies, including modern field drains, animal burials, and field boundary ditches, in addition to areas of peat, naturally in-filled hollows and five solution holes.
The field drains and animal burials were tested in order to retrieve dating evidence (in the case of the animal burials, this included plastic ear tags and baling string) and mapped. Once confirmed as modern, no further investigation took place. The peat deposits were mapped, but yielded no further archaeological remains; a sondage excavated through an irregular anomaly within one of the peat deposits, allocated F13, revealed it to be a naturally occurring hollow.
Two linear features were exposed and identified as post-medieval to modern field boundaries. An east-west aligned ditch was excavated in two segments, each measuring 2.50m in length and allocated F5 and F11. A third segment of this feature was excavated during the earlier phase of evaluation (Intervention 10) of the Flasks, in Trench D, and allocated F6. This ditch appears to be deeper and narrower towards the east, where the excavated segment (F11) measured approximately 1.10m in width by up to 0.45m in depth with a v-shaped profile. Excavated segment F5 was located some 70m to the west of F11 and measured approximately 2.30m in width and up to 0.40m in depth with a shallow concave base. This ditch petered-out approximately 20.0m to the west of F5. Finds recovered from F5 and F11 include fragments of modern ceramic building material, ironwork and animal bone.
A roughly north-south aligned ditch was revealed to the north of F5/F11 and allocated F9. Two segments of the feature were excavated, one at the southern butt-end of the feature and one towards the northern end of the feature. The north segment measured 2.50m in length, where the feature proved to be approximately 1.38m in width and up to 0.15m in depth with a shallow scoop profile; the south segment measured 2.40m in length, and revealed similar characteristics being 1.0m in width and up to 0.15m in depth with a shallow concave profile. The total length of F9 was approximately 45.0m. No finds were recovered, although the nature of its backfill was strongly reminiscent of that of F5/F11 and the presence of numerous desiccated roots suggest it was also a post-medieval/modern field boundary. A posthole allocated F10 was identified and excavated on the edge of F9 and measured approximately 0.40m in diameter, reaching a depth of 0.18m.
Five solution holes were revealed and allocated F4, F6 to F8 and F12. F4 was defined in plan as a sub-circular feature measuring approximately 2.80m in diameter and was half-sectioned to a depth of 1.10m (Plate 1). The sequence of backfills encountered consisted of two upper deposits which yielded a high concentration of modern material including white china, barbed wire and brick and tile fragments. These backfills were identified as a modern attempt to in-fill the depression caused by the collapsed solution hole. Underlying these backfills was a deposit identified as collapsed topsoil, which contained a clay pipe fragment. The earliest backfill within F4 was a peat deposit which was contacted at a depth of 0.80m, the base of F4 was augered which revealed peat to continue below the reach of the auger (1m).
F6 was defined in plan as an oval feature measuring approximately 5.20m x 4.20m and was half-sectioned to a depth of 1.60m (Plate 2). The sequence encountered consisted of 10 backfills, the upper two of which were similar to those of F4, containing a quantity of modern debris. A sequence of buried soils overlay a peat deposit contacted at a depth of 1.05m. This deposit in turn overlay a pocket of collapsed gravel subsoil, which in turn overlay a richer peat deposit in the base of the feature. This deposit was augered and proved to continue below the reach of the auger (1m).
F7 was defined in plan as a circular feature measuring approximately 4.00m in diameter and was half- sectioned to a depth of 1.55m. The latest backfill yielded finds of modern ceramic and was identified as collapsed ploughsoil. Underlying this was a deposit which contained a modern iron hinge pivot and ceramic building material fragments. This deposit proved to be the backfill overlying a cow burial; it would appear the animal had been deposited within the hollow formed by the collapsed solution hole (Plate 3). Upon recording and removal of the cow burial, excavation of F7 was continued in half-section, contacting a peat deposit at a depth of 1.00m. As with F6, this peat proved to be the later of two peat deposits which were separated by a gravel subsoil shoulder. The earlier peat deposit was augered in the base of F7 and proved to continue below reach of the auger (1m).
F8 was defined in plan as an oval feature measuring approximately 8.50m x 6.50m, a sondage measuring 1.0m in width was excavated through the middle to a depth of 0.50m (Plate 4). The sequence encountered consisted of a humic upper backfill, identified as a collapsed ploughsoil into the top of the solution hole and measured approximately 0.20m in depth. This backfill overlay a rich peat deposit which continued below the hand-excavated level and when augered, proved to be more than 1.30m in depth.
F12 was located against the northern boundary of the Flasks and as a result, only half of the feature was exposed for excavation. The excavated extent projected 2.00m into the excavation area and measured approximately 2.80m in width, F12 was excavated to a depth of 1.80m below the top of ploughsoil (Plate 5). The sequence encountered consisted of three buried soils and a collapsed subsoil shoulder which overlay a deep peat deposit first contacted at a depth of 1.40m. This peat was seen to overlay an earlier, richer peat deposit and, when augered, proved to continue below 1m from the base of hand-excavation.
Each of the five solution holes contained well-preserved peat deposits and the latest of these deposits were sampled for the purposes of dating the formation of the peat and thereby informing any further environmental potential these features may have.
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| Plate 1 - F4 | Plate 2 - F6 | Plate 3 - Cow burial in F7 |
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| Plate 4 - F8 | Plate 5 - F12 |