This scheduled monument is a focus of Late Iron Age occupation and a Roman settlement alongside Ermine Street. The site is situated on arable land and work was initiated in response to concerns about the continued preservation and protection of the archaeological deposits. The archaeological resource, as on most ploughed sites, comprises 2 principle components: artefacts and materials that are more or less mobile within the ploughsoil, and earthbound and visually identifiable features and deposits that lie below the ploughsoil. Each of these components is threatened through different agencies: the regular removal of artefacts by illegal metal-detecting, and physical erosion and disruption by ploughing. Work here provides an opportunity to undertake an integrated examination of the inter-relationship between the surviving components of the resource and the different threats to their survival, and to suggest solutions to the related management problems.
The project has been designed principally to determine the character and potential significance of the resource, the nature and impact of any alterations to that character, and the means by which the resource can be best protected. In carrying out the collection and analysis of information required for management purposes the project also seeks to contribute to the continued development of appropriate methods and techniques for the assessment, evaluation, and sampling of sites in different contexts, and to the development of integrated information systems for data-gathering, analysis, archiving, and presentation.
The work carried out includes the implementation of immediate conservation measures through the excavation and lifting of a stone sarcophagus uncovered during recent ploughing. Existing information about the site has been enhanced by the transcription of cropmarks on aerial photographs, and detailed topographic survey to help identify factors which may contribute to a deterioration in the site's condition. Limited trial-trenching and test-pitting has established the nature and condition of surviving deposits, and the impact of ploughing on them. The precise location of metalwork recovered from the plough soil has been recorded to identify the range of material present, its historical significance, and commercial value, and to determine the impact of previous episodes of metalwork collection. At the same time, chemicals used in the field have been recorded, and this will be related to an examination of the metalwork to determine in more detail the impact of agricultural practices on the archaeological resource. A thorough programme of field walking has been carried out to provide a context for metalwork in the plough soil, and to examine the possibility that artefact condition can be used as an indicator of recent plough-damage. The project is also testing methods for monitoring plough-depths and examining protective measures to deter and disrupt illegal metal-detecting.
