HER 39957 DESCRIPTION:- 2011/2015 An evaluation undertaken by Cotswold Archaeology between the 3 and 5 May 2011 and archaeological excavation was undertaken between March and June 2015 at Top Farm, Kemble, Gloucestershire. The Roman activity was confined to the south-west corner of the site, and consisted of two ditch termini and the remains of three cremations. The pottery from these features indicated a broad Romano-British date. The cremations and the lack of any definitive evidence of occupational activity suggest that this area lay on the periphery of any settlement. The lack of any Roman deposits between the southern area and the known areas of Roman activity just to the north of the site suggest that the two areas were not connected. Cremation cemetary: All of the cremation burials had been truncated but the best surviving (1033) was an un-urned burial of an adult individual, and included fragments of animal bone (fowl and mammal). The other two cremations had been more heavily truncated; both also appear to have been un-urned, and at least one was also of an adult individual. The date of the cremation and of the feature is unknown, noted as a difference to the nearby West Lane inhumations. No dateable finds were made with these remains. Ditches: The ditch, 1014, was 2.25m wide and 0.43m deep, and extended into the excavation area for c. 8m. It contained a sequence of at least three fills, the uppermost fill containing pottery dating to the 2nd to 4th century AD; the same fill from a separate intervention was dated by pottery to the 1st to early 2nd century AD. A smaller gully ran parallel to and immediately south of ditch 1014. Gully 1017 was 1.1m wide and 0.4m deep, and extended into the excavation area by 3m. Romano-British pottery was recovered from its upper fill. Post holes: The larger ditch had a well-defined terminus at its western end, to either side of which was a shallow posthole (1002, 1006), both c. 1.5m in diameter and c. 0.2m deep, but neither of which contained any dateable material. It would be fair to assume the remaining undated post holes in this area would be Roman in date. {Source Work 10561 & 15924.} |