Edgerley Drain Road, Fengate, Peterborough: An Archaeological Excavation

This report is an assessment of the results of an archaeological excavation at Edgerley Drain Road, Fengate, Peterborough, carried out by the Cambridge Archaeological Unit between October 2004 and January 2005, and commissioned by Barnack UK Ltd. The site lies on the eastern edge of Peterborough (centred TL 2174 9985) and consisted of two main excavation areas and eight smaller areas and trenches. The excavation confirmed and expanded on the results of the evaluation carried out in 2004; generating further evidence for later Neolithic and Bronze Age occupation, in addition to evidence for previously unidentified Beaker, Early Bronze Age and Roman phases of activity. The earliest activity identified at the site was in the form of an earlier Neolithic pit, with more plentiful evidence for later Neolithic activity provided by 33 Grooved Ware pits and a tree-throw, loosely dispersed across the site. Ten Beaker pits ranging from large possible storage pits to small, shallow bowl-shaped pits were also exposed. Early Bronze Age activity was in the form of 20 Collared Urn pits, 16 of which were in a circular cluster; another cluster and several isolated pits were also uncovered. A Middle Bronze Age boundary system extended over the whole site, with one main north-south axial ditch, forming the eastern side of a droveway in the southern part of the site. East-west ditches bounded areas and formed large paddocks to the east of the droveway, whilst a smaller paddock was exposed to the west. Three Middle-Late Bronze Age pits cut two of the silted-up boundary system ditches with a fourth large pit nearby. The pits, the main ditch and a western ditch were then sealed by a substantial Late Bronze Age metalled surface. Further evidence for Late Bronze Age settlement was exposed in the northern and southern parts of the site. A single Roman feature was uncovered that cut the metalled surface