Summary : A two-phase Neolithic site at Etton Woodgate, located 80 metres west-north-west of the Etton causewayed enclosure and partly excavated in 1982-4. The site comprises an arc of ditch, curving round from the north-east towards the south-west, with a single gap on the southeast-facing side, opposite the causewayed enclosure. The site was separated from the causewayed enclosure by a relict stream bed. A series of small pits and postholes were found on the higher ground immediately to the west. Contents of these features included earlier Neolithic pottery and flints as well as fired clay and burnt stone. Although broadly contemporary with the causewayed enclosure, this phase of activity featured notable differences. For example, there were no decorated pottery sherds, in contrast to the assemblage recovered from the causewayed enclosure. A later phase at Etton Woodgate was associated with Beaker pottery and comprised two main features - a shallow hearth and a pit complex. There was also a surface spread of charcoal, burnt stones, fired clay and Beaker pottery. One of the pits contained a crouched inhumation.Recent research into the dating of Early Neolithic enclosures has indicated that activity here began probably in 3800-3540 cal BC. It can be suggested that the ditch was cut probably in 3645-3525 cal BC. Since only samples from the base of the ditch have been radiocarbon dated, it is not possible to reliably estimate when the ditch went out of use nor for how long it was in use. |
More information : A two-phase Neolithic site located 80 metres west-north-west of the Etton causewayed enclosure (TF 10 NW 51) and partly excavated in 1982-4. The site comprises an arc of ditch, curving round from the north-east towards the south-west, with a single gap on the southeast-facing side, opposite the causewayed enclosure. The site was separated from the causewayed enclosure by a relict stream bed. A series of small pits and postholes were found on the higher ground imemdiately to the west. Contents of these features included earlier Neolithic pottery and flints as well as fired clay and burnt stone. Although broadly contemporary with the causewayed enclosure, this phase of activity featured notable differences. For example, there were no decorated pottery sherds, in contrast to the assemblage recovered from the causewayed enclosure. A later phase at Etton Woodgate was associated with two Beaker pottery and comprised two main features - a shallow hearth and a pit complex. There was also a surface spread of charcoal, burnt stones, fired clay and Beaker pottery. One of the pits contained a crouched inhumation. (1)
This is the full report on the excavations undertaken in response to gravel quarrying at Maxey between 1983 and 1990, for details please refer to this monograph. Throughout, the focus was the Etton causewayed enclosure. The Etton Landscape consists of the relict river systems, former floodplain and lowermost parts of the Welland First Terrace gravels between the modern villages of Maxey, Etton and Northborough. Situated on the fringe of this seasonally wet landscape was a series of later Neolithic and Bronze Age monuments and more enigmatic areas of occupation. The other principal monuments investigated were three small henges, a C-shaped enclosure, the Etton Woodgate contour ditched 'enclosure' and associated settlement, and four barrows. The occupation areas often only consisted of a 'spread' of occupation or midden material within the buried soil, or a few post-holes and/or pits. There is also evidence of field demarcation on the floodplain edge in the later Neolithic. All of these sites straddled the period of later use of the causewayed enclosure, in the third millennium and early second millennium BC. There seems to have been at this time a mosaic of environments, ranging from old woodland to pasture and small zones of fen-like carr, with the stream zones being affected by seasonal flooding and the deposition of alluvium. By the middle part of the second millennium BC, field systems laid out at right angles to the contemporary streams were in use, with the same general layout continuing on into the Roman period. Throughout the last two millennia BC there was a gradual opening up of the landscape, on the face of it largely pasture, but probably with some arable cultivation on the higher and better drained ground. The report includes specialist reports and appendices on surveys and excavations of the Etton Landscape sites and along the line of the A15 bypass, and on artefacts found, the environmental evidence, project history, discussion and conclusions. (2)
Recent research into the dating of Early Neolithic enclosures has indicated that activity here began probably in 3800-3540 cal BC. It can be suggested that the ditch was cut probably in 3645-3525 cal BC. Since only samples from the base of the ditch have been radiocarbon dated, it is not possible to reliably estimate when the ditch went out of use nor for how long it was in use. (3)
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