Isfield Enclosure, Sussex (2013)

Excavating a test pit in sunny Sussex! July 2013

The excavation project near Isfield, Sussex, managed by the Sussex School of Archaeology, formally finished on August 2^nd, 2013.  Throughout the two weeks that I participated as a volunteer, I was introduced to Iron Age features and types of dwellings that would have existed during this period (circa 800 B.C.E until 100 C.E.). I spent several days excavating a test pit, in an area where the geophysics reading had indicated a considerable level of activity. This area was thought to be where the drip gully of the roundhouse ran through. Despite finding bits of plastic, paper, felt, and some sort of animal tooth in the plow levels of the soil, the feature turned out to be very shallow and was suspected to be in fact a decomposed tree root. The field, as I was informed, was a heavily wooded area until the early 1970s when it was deforested for agriculture, resulting in mass piles of burning brush and stumps. Traces of these burning piles were thought to be found in another test pit, where there was a charcoal-like feature. Other evidence of the once forested field were tree “throws” – depressions in the subsoil created in the wake of a tree collapsing on its side, or from when stumps are removed, and dark linear soil outlines suspected to be the decomposed roots from the trees.

Test Pit B with possible tree throws?

The test pit with the charcoal feature was excavated after a set of aerial photographs were taken of the field. These photos revealed a rectangular pattern in the crops (a recently harvested hay field) near to one of the main trenches. Yet, once excavation was underway in an area where the north wall would have been, no evidence of a structure has yet been found. Only an excellent example of a plow line was uncovered in this pit in addition to a Mesolithic flint arrowhead. This test pit example highlights the importance of consulting both geophysical surveys and aerial photography when attempting to locate a feature.

Looking for the ditch.

I spent the remainder of my last week troweling and mattocking in two different trenches. In one, a cobbled track was thought to have been uncovered. In the other trench, there were several features that contained bits of charcoal, pottery, worked metal, and plenty of flint and ironstone. This area is highly debated at the moment. The site enclosure trench is also thought to have been uncovered just outside of these pit-like features, indicating that maybe they were not completely rubbish pits but perhaps a workshop area.

A full report by the Sussex School of Archaeology will be available soon.
                                                                                   http://www.sussexarchaeology.org/