Prehistoric Pits at Auchinleck Close, Driffield, East Yorkshire

Abstract

An archaeological investigation was carried out in advance of a housing development at Auchinleck Close, Driffield, on the basis of a Late Iron Age and Roman ditched enclosure complex identified through evaluation by geophysical survey and trial trenching. This report however focuses upon a number of Late Neolithic and Late Bronze Age/Iron Age pits which were found as an unexpected consequence of these investigations.

Keywords:

• Prehistoric
• Neolithic
• Bronze Age
• Iron Age
• Pits
• Pottery

The investigations at Auchinleck Close, and the publication of this paper, were funded by Peter Ward Homes Limited. Thanks are also due to their archaeological consultant, Ed Dennison of Ed Dennison Archaeological Services Ltd, for his guidance and support throughout and to Dave Evans of the Humber Archaeological Partnership, who monitored the work. The project was managed by Ian Roberts and Paul Wheelhouse, and the site work was supervised by Luigi Signorelli and Andrew Walsh. This report is based upon a more detailed archive report (Walsh 2009), which contains a full account of the later features and artefacts. Terry Manby wishes to record his thanks to Ann MacSween for advice on the current dating evidence of the Grooved Ware tradition in Scotland; and to Clive Waddington for providing a review of recent radiocarbon dates from Northumberland. The illustrations are by Paul

Gwilliam and Jon Prudhoe (Figs 1 and 2) and Miranda Schofield (Figs 35). The site archive is to be deposited at Sewerby Hall Museum and Art Gallery (site codes ACD03, ACD05 and ACD08).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Andrew Walsh

Andrew Walsh has supervised numerous excavations in Yorkshire for Archaeological Services WYAS, and is now an Assistant Project Officer with Gloucestershire County Council Archaeology Service. He may be contacted at [email protected]

Terry Manby

T.G. Manby is the Chairman of the East Riding Archaeological Research Trust, who has published extensively on the prehistoric sites and prehistoric pottery in Yorkshire. The address for correspondence is 43 Meadow Drive, Market Weighton, Yorkshire YO43 3QG.

Ian Roberts is Principal Archaeologist for Archaeological Services WYAS. Recent and forthcoming publications include Understanding the cropmark landscapes of the Magnesian Limestone (2010), Iron Age and Roman sites at Wattle Syke (forthcoming, 2012) and ‘A Stamford Ware Pottery Kiln from Pontefract’ (Medieval Archaeology (forthcoming). Contact details: PO Box 30, Nepshaw Lane South, Morley, Leeds, [email protected]