SILTING OF THE DITCH

A series of determinations have been obtained from the secondary fills of the Ditch in order to date their accumulation (results). The dated material was spread from the base to the upper portion of the fill. Unfortunately further archive material relating to the precise location of the samples came to light after submission, and so a number are regarded as unreliable on archaeological grounds (rejected results).

Although material was deliberately selected for size and freshness to minimise the possibility that samples were residual, we are not willing to make the assumption that such material has been excluded entirely, so the analysis does not apply the constraint that the samples from phase 2 must be later than the samples from phase 1. They must be earlier than the burial which was cut into the secondary fills however.

Analysis of the results suggests that the infilling of the Ditch took 400-730 years, although many of the items dated are likely to have been deposited well within the first century after construction. The fill accumulated between the digging of the Ditch (3020-2910 cal BC) and 2570-2450 cal BC (3% confidence) or 2500-2260 cal BC (92% confidence) (see probability distributions).

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