Iron Age Riverside Pit Alignments at St Ives, Cambridgeshire

Abstract

Excavations at a deeply alluviated site near St Ives, Cambridgeshire, revealed a complex sequence of boundary works of later prehistoric and Roman date running along the edge of a former course of the river Great Ouse. The most significant of these were two successive pit alignments constructed in the early-mid 1st millennium BC. One alignment ran along the very edge of the channel and was waterlogged over much of its length; upon excavation producing a rich assemblage of worked wood, including hedging debris. Broader discussion on the social context of pit alignments as boundary systems is offered.