Northstowe Phase 2, Cambridgeshire, Archaeological Post Excavation Assessment (Vol 3) Area DD

Abstract

Cambridge Archaeological Unit (CAU) undertook an open-area excavation within a field designated (by the CAU) as Area DD, which was located along the northern edge of the Northstowe Phase Two boundary with Phase 1. Within Area DD a small later Iron Age farmstead was identified (Site 7) which was positioned across a landscape boundary ditch that extended across the entire site. The settlement consisted of several irregular shaped enclosures, and the remains of roundhouses and other associated features together with a series of large watering holes. Also, within the Area was the south-eastern extent of the large Romano-British settlement excavated during the Phase 1 works (Site 19). This activity consisted of a series of planting beds which were replaced/supplanted by an enclosure and field-system with possible foci for both domestic activity and metalworking. The only post-Roman activity recorded was evidence for medieval and post-medieval ridge and furrow farming and several objects recovered from the metal-detecting survey.