Images from an Open Area Excavation at Phoenix Parkway, Scunthorpe, August to September 2021

This collection comprises images from an Open Area Excavation at Land off Phoenix Parkway, Scunthorpe. This work was undertaken by ArcHeritage August to September 2021. The mitigation area was undertaken to investigate features at the eastern end of the development site, demonstrated by geophysical survey and trial trench evaluation. The site was subdivided into four areas relating to existing infrastructure and in order to facilitate the transitition between machine stripping and hand excavation. The topsoil was stripped by 21 tonne tracked excavator, apart from below an overhead power cable where a smaller excavator was used. Machines were fitted with toothless ditching buckets and were operated under archaeological supervision. Features revealed were hand-cleaned and excavated sufficient to understand their nature and date. Some geological features were sample excavated to recover worked flints that had accumulated in natural deposits. The mitigation excavation at the land off Phoenix Parkway involved the machine-strip of four areas, designated Areas A-D. Archaeological features, comprising linear ditches, were only identified in Areas B and C, and were interpreted as being of Iron Age date, by analogy with results from a site previously excavated just to the south. One ditch contained sherds of early to mid-Iron Age pottery, probably from a single jar, as well as animal bones, predominantly cow and horse. A later ditch, probably post-medieval date, was identified in Area A, and contained a ceramic land drain at the base. A scatter of Mesolithic to Neolithic lithics was recovered from subsoil deposits across Area C, as well as occasional sherds of Roman and medieval pottery, attributed to manuring practices. The results suggested the site had been subject to some disturbance from nearby modern construction, including dumped waste matter and the raising of ground levels through the deposition of surplus topsoil across parts of the site