A programme of archaeological investigation was carried out on this 1.5 hectare site, on the northern outskitrs of Scunthorpe, in advance of the construction of a new residential care home for Prime Life plc. The work comprised a strip, map and record of the eastern half of the site, and a watching brief on the remainder of the area. An interim report has already been completed, just over a week after the end of the fieldwork, and the project is currently in the post-excavation assessment stage, so watch this space for more updates.

A previous evaluation of the site had identified pits, postholes and ditches of probable Iron Age date, as well as a single Bronze Age cremation.

 
 
Aerial view of the excavation area, looking south. The two archaeologists are working on the ditches of the co-axial field system of probable Iron Age date.
 

The site has yielded two further cremation burials, located close to the cremation recovered in the previous evaluation, believed to be of Bronze Age date, suggesting that the area was a 'special place' away from any settlement centres at this time.

By the Iron Age however, the site was being divided up for agricultural use, with a series of ditches on different alignments suggesting at least three phases of land division. Large quantities of animal bone and pottery from the ditches also suggested that settlement activity was taking place nearby. Other finds included a near complete large fired clay loomweight, and a curious fired clay pedestal. A curving line of postholes at the east side of the site may indicate a roundhouse of later Iron Age to Romano-British date.
 
 
The Iron Age fired clay loomweight
 
 
Another curious discovery on the site was a circular pit filled with burnt stones. The uppermost deposit in the feature was a possible cremation deposit, while a large lump of slag was recovered from the base of the feature. As such, the precise date or function of this pit is unclear, although it may suggest that the site maintained some form of ritual significance into the Iron Age.
 
 
Pit of probable Iron Age date, filled with burnt stones and topped with a possible cremation deposit
 
 
The final phase of activity identified on the site was represented by a series of shallow east - west aligned furrows, reflecting the agricultual exploitation of the site in the medieval and post-medieval periods.