PHASE 2: PRE-ROMAN BURIED SOIL

A buried soil overlying the natural sand is ascribed to the pre-Roman period on the basis of its stratigraphic position in Trench12. This soil comprised a thin grey silty sand (1293) 90mm thick, which had been cut to the north by pit [1273], Phase 3. The deposit was seen in the southwest facing section created following the removal of backfill from John Bestwick’s trench. This context can also be equated with context (204) in Trench 2, the top of which was recorded at a height of 32.2m AOD.

No artefacts were recovered from this deposit.

Figure 16: Pre-Roman buried soil cut by pit [1273]

Figure 16 highlights this deposit; it can be seen running underneath the fills of pit [1273] which is clearly visible by its dark, black, organic fill.