SDO9664 - Archaeological Evaluation of the Maiden Castle Road First School Site

Evaluation of an area of c. 1.44 hectares (3.5 acres), including part of a crop-mark settlement of presumed Iron Age or Romano-British date, revealed parts of two ditched enclosures together with linear features presumed to form a trackway. The most coherent enclosure (Enclosure 1), within which excavation revealed traces of two hut platforms and pits, lies in the north-eastern corner of the site. Excavation revealed traces of pits and two hut platforms, for which associated pottery suggests a date in the later Iron Age or earliest part of the Roman period. Other, probably contemarary, hut platforms were recorded to the south-west of Enclosure 1. A second enclosure lay only partly within the evaluation area, but would also seem to be of late Iron Age / early Romano-British date. Limited excavation of the enclosure ditches and other features produced small but well-preserved animal bone assemblages, and indicated some potential for molluscan analysis