| Summary: | An archaeological trench evaluation was undertaken by AC archaeology during November 2019 on land at Higher Town, Sampford Peverell, Devon (NGR ST 0249 1409). Work comprised the machine-excavation of six trial trenches totalling 240m long, with each trench 2m wide. These were mainly positioned to target anomalies identified by a previous geophysical survey.
The evaluation has established that the site is characterised by relatively-deep overlying soils and that some of the recorded geophysical anomalies are represented by a combination of archaeological and naturally-formed features, most of which were undated. In some trenches where anomalies were recorded, no matching archaeological features were present. A concentration of features at the edge of the southwest boundary of the development area, and continuing beyond it, may relate to small-scale prehistoric settlement, with five sherds of Late Bronze Age or Early Iron Age pottery recovered from overlying deposits. In the central part of the site, a pair of tree throws were present, with one of these containing a large concentration of cereal grains, with the species types present perhaps indicating the re-use of a natural hollow in prehistory.
Other finds from the site comprised a small prehistoric flint flake, one sherd of medieval pottery, 10 sherds of post-medieval pottery, bottle glass, clay tobacco pipe stems and ceramic building material all of which were from overlying deposits and the majority are likely to have entered the site through manuring of the fields. |
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