It’s week four and the sun has finally come out for Milton as we explore the remaining archaeological features in our initial strip and look ahead to moving to the next part of the site. We’ve also had ample opportunity to get the drone in the air and began our award-winning geochemical analysis. All in all, a great week.
One of the most intriguing aspects of the continuing work is with the network of enclosure ditches. As we try to carefully figure out the sequence of the site, the curvilinear ditch attributed to the late Iron Age appears to be filled during the early Roman occupation. Items from within the ditch fill are associated with peripheral activity.
Elsewhere it is evident that many enclosure ditches were recut and maintained over an extended period of occupation. At the surface a ditch may often appear as a single feature, but once dug it is often apparent that long-used boundaries were cleaned out, reused or modified. Often the uppermost fill represents final disuse, abandonment, or levelling. Among this material there have been fragments of possible masonry and building materials. Given their highly fragmented nature we are alert to the possibility that a former building stood nearby that was robbed of its materials after abandonment. Many Roman structures were stripped of useful materials in later years and reused in the construction of other structures.
The artefacts, although abundant, are highly fragmented but unravelling their intricate past remains an intriguing and enjoyable task. Among the notable finds this week are numerous Samian, burnished wares, colour-coated wares, and other fine table wares ranging in date from the 1st to 4th centuries AD. Every indication is that a wealthy household was located nearby.