EDO8028 - Area 2, Hurn Quarry, north of Parley Lane, Hurn; evaluation 2022

OASIS ‘The trench locations were set out using a Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS). The trenches and areas were excavated in level spits using a 360º excavator equipped with a toothless bucket, under the constant supervision and instruction of the monitoring archaeologist. Machine excavation proceeded until either the archaeological horizon or the natural geology was exposed. Where necessary, the base of the trench/surface of archaeological deposits were cleaned by hand. A sample of archaeological features and deposits was hand-excavated, sufficient to address the aims of the evaluation. Project Results: The evaluation revealed the presence of archaeological features in the centre and west of the Area 2, no features were identified in the east of the area. The vast majority of features uncovered by the evaluation were ditches, with only four pits found. The works provided no conclusive evidence regarding settlement activity, the features followed a coaxial orthogonal arrangement consistent with their being part of a field system. The evaluation dated the pits (trench 13) and two ditches (trench 17) to the Middle to Late Iron Age, with residual material tentatively suggested to date to the Late Neolithic. The majority of features investigated remained of uncertain date. The data produced by the geophysical survey suggested that the area would contain an extensive field system with occupation activity, and whilst it appears a field system was present, the results of the evaluation correlates very little with the geophysical anomalies identified by the survey. A number of additional features not identified by the geophysical survey, typically ditches, were also recorded indicating that the geophysical survey may not be wholly reliable in this instance for predicting the position and frequency of archaeological features.’