Printed from the APC web site: navigation and non-essential images removed.
Please view on-line for full content (URL at end of document).
1. The site was visited in the company of Steve Timms and Antony Dickson. Areas A and B were fully stripped and features were partially excavated. Area C was only partially stripped and no hand excavation had taken place yet. The following topics were discussed:
2. Natural v man-made features.
The majority of possible features cut into the subsoil surface do not contain artefacts and it is not clear in many cases whether they are man-made. We discussed the evidence that may be used to discriminate between natural and man-made features. The nature and composition of fills is variable but appears to reflect the age of features rather than their origin. Features with fills that closely resemble the modern ploughsoil are believed to be of recent origin with fills retaining their organic matter content. Highly gleyed fills, some with basal iron pans, appear to have formed in conditions wetter than at present and therefore the features pre-date agricultural drainage. Features with peaty fills in areas lacking a general peat cover must pre-date the general loss of peat through drainage, oxidation and cultivation. The most useful property for determining the origin of features appears to be the overall morphology of the 'cut'. Regular features are more likely to be man-made, highly irregular features are more likely to be natural in origin. This classification is not entirely satisfactory and some features will be mis-classified.
3. Original landscape
It is clear that the modern landscape is significantly different from the prehistoric landscape. Two main changes can be identified. Prolonged cultivation has smoothed out the ground surface that was originally more complex, with low rises and hollows. Gravel rises have been truncated and intervening hollows partially filled up. Agricultural drainage over the past few centuries has permanently reduced the groundwater table, allowing the whole of the area to be cultivated. Prior to this, the land appears to have comprised dry gravel rises with intervening wet areas. There was extensive accumulation of peat, most of which has since been destroyed. The key conclusion from this is that the prehistoric landscape was much more heterogeneous than the present landscape would indicate. This may be reflected in the distribution of definite man-made features, which appear to be concentrated on the higher gravel areas.
4. Plough damage
There is evidence for on-going plough truncation in all of the stripped areas. Progressive damage to archaeological features can be caused by one or more of three processes:
5. Gypsum collapse features
Gypsum collapse holes were recorded during the first evaluation of Ladybridge Farm. A probable collapse hole was exposed at the south end of Area C, infilled but still forming a slight surface hollow several metres across. This has not yet been investigated. Other much-smaller circular features could also be caused by gypsum collapse. The interpretation of any regular, circular features should be questioned as they may not be man-made.
6. Dating materials
The potential for recovering material suitable for radiocarbon dating was discussed. Concentrations of carbonised plant remains appear to be very low so, although potentially sufficient for AMS dating, the taphonomy of any carbonised remains must be challenged. Rare small fragments could well be either residual or intrusive and therefore not suitable for dating. Highly humified peat is present in some features and could be dated. This material is likely to be the base of a formerly extensive peat cover and any date would indicate when peat started to accumulate at that spot. Given that the peat is now very close to the modern ground surface, care should be taken to exclude samples that contain modern carbon (plant roots) or that have experienced bioturbation by modern ploughsoil invertebrates. Careful examination in the field should be sufficient to exclude clearly unsuitable material.