Short Description:
Original cut of ditch F707
Issued to
Rosie O'Toole | 16/09/2023
Interpretation
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- The original cut (before recut 2505) of a linear N-S aligned ditch more than 3 metres in width and 2 metres in depth. As of the 2023 season, this feature is stratigraphically the earliest observed on site as every other feature that has a relationship with it is observed either above or truncating through it, both in plan and in section. The south facing section of the 1 metre wide 2023 intervention through the ditch proved that numerous graves, likely early medieval, were cut through it as well as two small probable early medieval rubble pits containing some tooled stone. The existence of the ditch in plan can be observed throughout the trench on a N-S linear alignment due to the slumping of a number of other stratigraphically later features into it. This includes walls F722 and F723 as well as drain F724. The western edge of the ditch was also located near the eastern baulk of TR2W (towards the SE of the trench) in the 2022 season, when a small partial intervention through the ditch was carried out after its initial discovery in 2021. Due to the fact that walls F722 and F723, assumed to be pre-monastic in origin, were observed slumping into the ditch, the ditch must be even earlier. The current working hypothesis is that a stratigraphically early ditch of this size and scale is likely Prehistoric in origin - perhaps Iron Age. A number of C14 samples have been obtained from the fills to refine the chronology further. At this point, the exact purpose and function of the ditch is unclear, but if confirmed to be prehistoric would likely represent a huge defensive enclosure ditch for a settlement or perhaps even a coastal promontory fort. Further excavation would be needed to confirm this.
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- Ben Swain
- 29-9-2023
Sketch Photo
- No Files Attached
Description
- Linear
- Not visible
- L - W - D -
- Sharp
- Approx N-S
- steep/diving at a 45 degree angle
- sharp
- V-shaped
- This ditch was recut by 2505. It is also partly truncated by graves F738, F733 and F736 as well as pit F741
- The existence of this ditch has been inferred throughout TR2W through slumping of later features into it.
Finds
Feature
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Feature: LDF_707
- NW-SE aligned linear ditch visible in the base of a slot against the eastern baulk of TR2(W)
Record Details
- Not set
- Rosie O'Toole 16-9-2023
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