Middle Bronze Age to early Roman dispersed activity, Land South of Cockaynes lane, Alresford (EHER 49994)

Evaluation and excavation revealed dispersed prehistoric activity and medieval rural settlement, including a possible building and associated field system.

Archaeological remains were uncovered in twenty-five of the evaluation trenches, spread sparsely across the proposed development area with some concentrations in the northeast, southeast, and north-central parts of the site. Multiple periods of occupational activity were represented, from late prehistoric to post-medieval dates. Some residual prehistoric worked flints were recovered; however, the earliest phased feature comprised an east-west ditch in Trench 4 that contained a small amount of Deverel-Rimbury pottery, dated to the Middle Bronze Age. Several pits and other later prehistoric/Early Roman ditches demonstrated light use of the area, likely for agricultural purposes.<1> Preceding evaluation of the c.6.6ha site in 2017 comprised the investigation of forty-three trenches, which established the presence of prehistoric, Late Iron Age/Early Roman and post-medieval and modern remains, including ditches, gullies, pits and postholes, in twenty-five trenches. Three excavation areas, totalling c.1,756sq m, were subsequently targeted upon the recorded remains in the north of the site. The recovery of a small quantity of largely residual worked/burnt flint of broadly prehistoric date and Early/Middle Bronze Age pottery from across the excavation areas and evaluation trenches provides evidence of a limited and perhaps transitory presence in the landscape during the earlier prehistoric period. The remains of a probable Middle Iron Age field system comprised the first clear evidence for land use at the site. A series of broadly NNE/SSW and WNW/ESE aligned ditches, delineate areas of land – probably agricultural fields – and a possible cultivation layer may provide evidence for their cultivation. Late Iron Age/Early Roman period land use is limited to three pits recorded across the site. The recovery of a small quantity of Early Roman pottery, all from one vessel, from a pit in the north of the site may be indicative of deliberate deposition. Except for a single, probable Later Roman ditch recorded during the evaluation phase, no recorded archaeological features were dated to the Later Roman or Saxon periods.