Archaeological Excavations at Greetham Quarry, Greetham, Rutland
Repository URI
Repository DOI
Change log
Authors
Abstract
Between September and October 2017, a team from the Cambridge Archaeological Unit conducted an archaeological excavation on land in the southwest corner of Greetham Quarry, Greetham, Rutland (centred at SK 956 738). The work followed on from a 2006 excavation by the Cambridge Archaeological Unit to the northwest of the quarry, which revealed a swathe of Iron Age occupation. The work was commissioned by George Wilson of Stamford Stone in advance of the quarry extension.The excavation revealed archaeological remains dating from the prehistoric to the Early-Middle Saxon period. This encompassed two ditches, which were part of a Prehistoric field-system along with isolated pits containing Late Bronze Age/Early Iron Age material, as well as one isolated burial of a Prehistoric date. A Bronze Age presence was also indicated by residual flint and surface finds of pottery and flint. The Early-Middle Saxon period was represented by two Sunken Featured Buildings (SFBs) with four associated pits. The SFBS produced an array of objects, including spindle whorls, worked bone and clay, metal artefacts and a significant assemblage of pot, which appear to have been dumped within the SFBs after their use. Although the number of features within the excavation area was small, a large amount of material was produced, suggesting that the area excavated was at the periphery of a wealthy Saxon settlement. Two more ditches of an unknown date, were located to the north of the area which may have been part of a later field-system.