Early Iron Age pits and gullies, Friary East, Carmelite Way (EHER 81807)

Trial trenching in 2017 recorded five gullies and two pits, most of which produced Early Iron Age pottery. The linear features were on a different alignment from the north-south oriented medieval and post-medieval activity at the site, associated with the Carmelite Friary (EHER 7728) and were thus considered to be a definitely separate phase of activity.

Trial trenching. July 2017. A total of nine archaeological features were recorded, cut into the natural deposit at the bases of Trenches 1 and 2. Two gullies and a pit were found in Trench 1. The pit was the earliest feature, both stratigraphically and by the date of the artefacts, which included pottery from the early Iron Age (800-500 BC) and a prehistoric struck flint. It was cut by a gully, which did not produce any dating evidence. The second gully was considered to be medieval or post-medieval (see EHER 7728). Four gullies and two pits were revealed in Trench 2, but two of the gullies are interpreted as parts of the same feature, separated by the trench baulk. The gullies were all orientated on the same SE-NW alignment and were likely to be closely related in chronology and function. The alignment was notably different from the north-south orientation of the medieval/post-medieval linear features in Trench 1. Pottery was recovered from all three of the gullies, all of it dating to the early Iron Age (800-500 BC), the same date as the pit in Trench 1. <1>