Townhill Park, Southampton. Archaeological Watching Brief on Soil Investigations (SOU1680)

Southampton City Council Archaeology Unit carried out a watching brief on soil investigations carried out as part of a proposed redevelopment of a number of modern multi-storey housing units in the Townhill Park area of Southampton, as part of the Council's ongoing estates regeneration programme. The site lies in an area of known archaeology and a watching brief was held on the works to record any archaeology encountered during the groundworks. The 35 soil investigations included boreholes, window samples and trial pits. At the south end of the site a buried soil contained burnt flints, a flint flake, and a sherd of abraded medieval cooking pot, suggesting probable prehistoric activity over a wide area, followed by period of medieval agricultural use. At the north end of the site investigations in an infilled stream valley found up to 1.6m of probable water-deposited material. These deposits may relate to the fishponds upstream of this area recorded in the Historic Environment Record, and referred in the Townhill Stockwell papers of 1603/4. The 1960s development has caused considerable disturbance in some areas, but had protected the potential archaeology in others.

南安普敦市议会考古部门（Southampton City Council Archaeology Unit）针对南安普敦汤希尔公园片区拟建的多栋现代多层住宅组团再开发项目所开展的土壤勘察工作，实施了考古监护（watching brief），该工作隶属于市议会持续推进的住宅区更新计划。该场地地处已知存在考古遗存的区域，本次考古监护的核心目标为记录土方作业过程中发现的各类考古遗存。本次共计35项土壤勘察作业，涵盖钻孔、探槽取样与试掘坑（trial pits）三类工作内容。在场地南端的埋藏土层中，出土了烧燧石、燧石片以及一件磨损的中世纪炊锅残片，这表明该区域曾存在大范围的史前人类活动，随后又经历了中世纪的农业开发阶段。在场地北端，针对一处充填溪谷开展的勘察工作发现了厚达1.6米的疑似水成沉积物。此类沉积物或与历史环境记录（Historic Environment Record）中记载的该区域上游鱼塘存在关联，且可追溯至1603/1604年的《汤希尔·斯托克韦尔档案（Townhill Stockwell papers）》。20世纪60年代的开发活动虽对部分区域造成了严重扰动，但同时也对其余区域的潜在考古遗存起到了保护作用。