Test pit excavation within currently occupied rural settlements: results of the English CORS project in 2014

Abstract

In 2016 a twelfth year of test pit excavation took place within sixteen currently occupied rural settlements (CORS) in southern England, all bar two in eastern England (Fig. 1), with more than 150 test pits excavated in total. Two settlements were new additions to the programme, with work in others building on that previously reported (reports in this journal, 2005–2016). The aims and methods of the CORS project are outlined elsewhere (Lewis 2007a; 2014a). Pottery reports from each site, along with maps showing the approximate location of test pits, are available on the Access Cambridge Archaeology (ACA) website. The maps show the distribution of pottery, period by period, from the prehistoric to the modern, for every settlement where test pit excavations have been carried out in association with ACA since 2005. The summaries in this paper can be considered in more depth if read alongside these maps. Data on pottery finds from the test pits are submitted each year to the Historic Environment Record (HER) for each county and archive reports are prepared for each test pit showing the precise location and detailing finds. Summaries of the results are published annually in this journal and online. Discussion and conclusions for each settlement are added to create a final archive report when test pit excavation ceases in each settlement. Occasional research papers are published on specific aspects of the results (e.g. Lewis 2010; 2015b; 2016). Sites are discussed below in alphabetical order, listed by county.