Ditches

Ditches D1 & D2 prior to excavation

the ditch terminals appears to reflect a conscious water management strategy that may have served to keep the interior dry, define the entrance and deter the movement of stock.

The eastern edge of the northern terminal of D1 appeared to have been initially laid out as a series of large pits, while the course of the southern limb was defined by a series of smaller interconnecting pits on its eastern edge. There was no archaeological evidence for a bank. Where stratigraphic evidence survived it was apparent that the ditch sediments were predominantly a product of in situ accumulation of decayed vegetation and windblown silt and fine sand. Rapidly redeposited lenses of sand and very thin silt laminations occurred at the base of the ditch where the ditch had cut through unconsolidated natural sand. This sequence has been interpreted as evidence of episodic slumping of sand back into the ditch following construction, and prior to possible bank consolidation. The silt laminations are thought to represent periods of stabilisation within the ditch, accompanied by the growth of vegetation and the accumulation of shallow pools of stagnant water.

The fills of D2 were again predominantly a product of in situ accumulation of decayed vegetation and windblown silt and fine sand. Where the ditch cut through natural interbedded silt, sand and peat, the primary fill comprised a mixture of these; a result of initial slumping of excavated material back into the ditch. Where it cut through sands, microlaminated sands with silts rich in organic matter dominated. The primary fills of D2 had entered the ditch from both sides, evidence that, unusually, the bank material was not confined to one side.

The construction of the inner ditch resulted in the destruction of a larger part of S2. The fills within the ditch terminal, along the northeastern portion and the southern portion had a high component of domestic refuse which included the cleanings of hearths. This material was evidently dumped into the ditch from the interior. Elsewhere the ditch was filled with a mixed peat, sand and silt deposit that accumulated in much the same way as suggested for D2 (see above). This was overlain by silt, rich in organic material that accumulated in situ occasionally interrupted by aeolian sands and silt.