Prehistoric finds and Iron Age to Roman activity at Wheeler's Hill (EHER 80890)

A small assemblage of Middle Neolithic to Late Bronze Age/Early Iron Age worked flints was recovered by the evaluation, with most pieces likely to belong to the later part of this period. Several flints may be contemporary with the small number of Iron Age features also recorded on the site, which are characteristic of Early Iron Age settlement. A large enclosure ditch forming the West side of a possible bounded approach to an enclosed settlement was identified and dated to the Roman period, and the vast majority of the pottery recovered from the site belonged to the mid-1st to mid-2nd centuries.

November 2011. Trial trenching. A small assemblage of Middle Neolithic to Late Bronze Age/Early Iron Age worked flints was recovered by the evaluation, with most pieces likely to belong to the later part of this period. Several flints may be contemporary with the earliest Iron Age to Early/Middle Iron Age transition (800-300 BC) features also recorded on the site. These include the pit cluster in Trench 17, a series of ditches, a layer and several pits, though the pits and ditch in Trench 17 may be Roman features with residual earlier material. The geophysical survey suggests this ditch is the same boundary as that exposed in Trenches 25 and 26, where it has been dated as early Roman, and the feature looks to form the West side of a possible bounded approach to the enclosed settlement. The other features however may be genuinely Early Iron Age. For the layer in Trench 35 the dating is supported by the fact that two of the pits that are visibly cut through it have been dated as Late Iron Age/Roman. These Early Iron Age features suggest an established presence in the landscape but are not direct evidence of settlement. This being said, the remains are overall more characteristic of Early Iron Age settlement than agricultural use, although the enclosure ditch in this area appears to be Roman. Although some Late Iron Age/early Roman and later Roman pottery was recovered, the vast majority of the pottery assemblage belongs to the mid-1st to mid-2nd centuries AD. Consideration of the entire pottery assemblage suggests the settlement activity at the Southern end of Area 1 is of a postconquest date and fell into use during the 2nd century. Most of the pottery-producing contexts are of 1st century date, around AD 50-80. The trench results alongside the geophysical survey clearly show multiphase remains with several enclosures and replaced/maintained boundaries. This suggests evolution in use even though occupations seems to be confined to the early Roman period. <1>