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This remarkable feature revealed an exceptionally rare, unbroken sequence of deposits dating from at least the later Mesolithic to the early Bronze Age. It was discovered by Martin as a clear circular crop mark nearly 10m in diameter (see image 01), betrayed by the much greater luxuriant growth of the grass at this spot. No previous indication of its existence had been suspected despite intensive fieldwalking and aerial observation, and the fact that it lay within a five-minute walk from Martin's house.
| Image 1 - Cropmark. |
Image 2 - View from Google Earth. |
Image 3 - Shaft section. |
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Martin started to excavate this crop mark in 1992, first encountering a layer containing exclusively Beaker period pottery and flintwork. Below this was a sequence of layers containing mid - late Neolithic pottery of the Peterborough tradition followed by layers producing a few sherds of earlier Neolithic plain bowl. The lower layers of the 3m deep weathering cone produced no pottery but bones exclusively of wild animals (aurochs, deer and pig) and flintwork — the only diagnostic pieces of which were all Mesolithic (Green & Allen 1997). This included a group of seven microliths found in fresh condition and in very close association. Five were of 'rod' form, a type which is uncommon in the area.
It seems quite likely that these were hafted as a composite tool or weapon when they came to rest in the shaft. A radiocarbon date from an aurochs bone at this level indicates a dates of 4340 - 3990 cal BC. This falls within the late Mesolithic -early Neolithic transition, a time when rod microliths commonly occur. However, no conclusive contemporary Mesolithic site has yet been found in the area. The excavations to this stage revealed stratified layers within a very large weathering cone, beneath which lay a deep shaft infilled with almost artefact-free chalk rubble interspersed with dark, organic-rich lenses. The shaft itself was 4 - 5m in diameter with irregular, but essentially vertical, eroded sides. In the summer of 1994, the water table was reached at a depth of 13.2m and excavations were abandoned. Further excavation seemed impossible and fruitless, and augering showed that even at 25.2m (83ft) below the surface the bottom had still not been convincingly reached.
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