A total area of 3.1ha, taking in much of a settlement largely of the
earlier Middle Iron Age (c.450 to c.150BC), was excavated in 1998 in
advance of development. Two small pit groups, radiocarbon dated to the
Middle Bronze Age, produced a bronze dagger and a small pottery
assemblage. The Iron Age settlement comprised several groups of
roundhouse ring ditches and associated small enclosures forming an open
settlement set alongside a linear boundary ditch. Its origin lay in the
5th century BC with a single small roundhouse group. Through the 4th and
3rd centuries BC the settlement expanded with the original structures
replaced by a principal roundhouse group accompanied by at least a
further two groups of roundhouses and enclosures and minor outlying
structures. A group of structures and enclosures set apart from the main
domestic area was the focus for copper alloy casting, producing an
assemblage of crucibles and fragments from investment moulds for the
production of horse fittings, as well as bone, antler and horn working
debris. The site also produced good assemblages of pottery and animal
bone, an assemblage of saddle querns and a potin coin. The settlement
had been abandoned by the middle of the 2nd century BC, although the
main boundary ditch survived at least as an earthwork. By the early 1st
century AD a series of ditched enclosures were created to the north of
the boundary ditch, perhaps a small ladder settlement, which fell out of
use soon after the Roman conquest. One enclosure contained two small
roundhouses and other curvilinear gullies may have formed animal pens in
the corners of two enclosures. This final phase is dated by some Late
Iron Age pottery, an Iron Age and a Roman rotary quern, and a small
quantity of Roman roof tile. The discussion considers the physical,
social and economic structure of the settlement. The distribution of
finds around the ring ditches is examined as well as the size of
enclosed roundhouses. There is an overview of the Iron Age roundhouse in
the Midlands, using well preserved sites as exemplars for the range of
evidence that can survive. A typology and chronology for Iron Age
pottery is provided, and the date of introduction of the rotary quern is
discussed, and the consequent effect on the size of storage jars is
examined. Middle Bronze Age pits and a small cremation cemetery, and
Late Iron Age to early Roman settlement on the site of the nearby
deserted medieval village of Coton are also described. With
contributions by Trevor Anderson, Paul Blinkhorn, Pat Chapman, Steve
Critchley, Karen Deighton, Tora Hylton, Dennis Jackson, Ivan Mack,
Anthony Maull, Gerry McDonnell, Matthew Ponting and Jane Timby.
Illustrations by Andy Chapman, Pat Walsh and Mark Roughley.
