Yvonne Wolframm-Murray – författare

MOLA (formerly Northamptonshire Archaeology) undertook archaeological excavations at Stanground South between September 2007 and November 2009 on behalf of Persimmon Homes (East Midlands) Ltd and in accordance with a programme of works designed and overseen by CgMs Heritage. The site is situated on the south-eastern outskirts of Peterborough, on glacial tills overlooking along the Fen edge. The works comprised five areas of set-piece excavation and a series of strip map and record areas, targeted on areas of archaeological potential identified by previous evaluation works. In total, an area of 70ha was subject to archaeological mitigation.The excavations recorded archaeological remains dating from the Bronze Age to the medieval period. The earliest features comprised four burnt mounds dating to the early Bronze Age, one of which was associated with two superimposed buildings and a small group of up to six cremations. In the middle Bronze Age there was a substantial unenclosed cemetery (urnfield) comprising 78 cremations (as well as a further possible three outlying cremations to the urnfield). In the late Bronze Age/early Iron Age a substantial droveway, up to 65m wide, was constructed leading northwards from the Fen edge to higher ground. A series of post-built roundhouses were later constructed within the confines of the droveway.In the middle Iron Age, the droveway was partitioned to form a series of enclosures, within one of which a settlement was established adjacent to the Fen edge. This included roundhouses and a number of two-post and four-post structures.In the later Iron Age, an enclosed settlement had developed to the north-west. This comprised several roundhouses within a substantial rectangular enclosure, which was open at its southern end. It appears that this began as an unenclosed site, which was later enclosed. Removal of cattle horn for working may have been occurring.In the Roman period (2nd and late 4th centuries AD) a series of small enclosures were constructed on the eastern side of the later Iron Age enclosed settlement. These contained structures and features apparently associated with rural industry, which may have also exported surplus to market. Industries including the processing of hide, late Roman cheese making (with seven presses recovered), late Roman pottery production and some metalworking.The economy of the site from the later Bronze Age onwards was focussed on pastoralism, with limited evidence for grain cultivation. During the Roman period, this seems to have specialised further towards dairy farming. The environment of the site seems to have undergone little change from the later Bronze Age, being largely open with areas of woodland and wetter areas. Peat growth during the Iron Age resulted in the covering of some of the Bronze Age features.During the medieval period, large portions of the site were given over to open field cultivation, evidenced by the remains of ridge and furrow cultivation. The area was partitioned in the post-medieval period by the construction of a series of drainage ditches, which form the basis of the current field pattern.

MOLA (Museum of London Archaeology) was commissioned by RPS Group PLC, on behalf of Morris Homes, to undertake archaeological work on land at Upton Park south of Weedon Road, Northampton. Two adjacent palaeochannels crossed the western extent of the site and are likely to have dated to the Pleistocene period. The earliest evidence of human activity consisted of a background scatter of Neolithic flint. The first feature was an isolated barrow that was established in the early Bronze Age. A later unurned cremation was cut into the backfill of the recut ditch and radiocarbon dated to the end of the early Bronze Age or the beginning of the middle Bronze Age. At least one isolated early Bronze Age pit was found in another part of the site. Parts of two late Bronze Age/early Iron Age sinuous pit alignments were recorded over nearly 0.5km within the site with c257 pits revealed. An estimated 66% of these pits by volume were examined. This is the first time in the county since Wollaston Quarry in the 1990s that pit alignments were seen over such a distance within a single planning application. The archaeological excavation of these has resulted in them being by some distance the two most examined pit alignments in the county, if not the region. Both had most likely fallen out of use by the early Iron Age, but a middle Iron Age date should not be ruled out. In the northern and southern pit alignments there were 16 and seven areas respectively where there were different variables in the pits such as circular or rectangular plan form (and some pit areas had be recut by ditches), which may suggest they had been constructed and maintained by different gangs/communities over probably hundreds of years. Relatively little detailed work has been recorded on this enigmatic feature type. The extensive work and examination of the two pit alignments at Upton has allowed a typology of the variable areas of pits (and related ditches) to be postulated. A detailed discussion has compared these features in a local, regional and national context. Future recommendations for excavation of pit alignments have been recorded.A Roman trackway lay within the western part of the development area and it was part of the routeway network located around the nearby Duston Roman town. Medieval drainage ditches and field systems relating to part of the medieval settlement of Upton lay within the eastern part of the development area.