Monument record 0630400000 - Aylesbury-Steppingley pipeline

Aylesbury-Steppingley pipeline site 12 (iii). Series of ditches and pits, some late Bronze Age to early Iron Age, some undated (B1).
Iron Age pits and ditches were recorded, and Late Bronze Age to earlier Iron Age pottery provided evidence of earlier activity. There were 13 ditches and 6 pits. Pottery from pit 714 and ditch 718 dated to the LBA/EIA but was probably residual - pottery of a similar date was found mixed in with later sherds in pit 708 and ditch 716. Pottery from a pit and two ditches provided evidence for mid-late Iron Age activity. The southernmost of these (726) contained a large amount of dumped burnt clay and charcoal, probably the remains of a domestic oven. Ditch 733 also had similar deposits, but this may have been secondary redepositing. There may have been a settlment nearby, perhaps to the south where finds of pottery, fired clay and animal bones and all the pits were found. The deposits in the ditches show they were water-logged and presumably dug for agricultural drainage (B2).