Land to the South of Netherhampton Road, Salisbury, Wiltshire: Post-Excavation Assessment and Updated Project Design

Five excavation areas were opened within the site: " Area 1(0.97ha): located to investigate three Bronze Age ring ditches; " Area 2 (0.64ha): located to investigate two Bronze Age ring ditches; " Area 3 (0.04ha): located to investigate a linear feature and pits recorded on the geophysical survey and preceding trial trenching; " Area 4 (0.04ha): located to investigate a series of linear features recorded on the geophysical survey and preceding trial trenching; " Area 5 ( 0.01ha): was excavated upon the client reporting human bone had been found. The excavation areas were located to investigate features recorded by the previous geophysical survey and trial trench evaluation (see Archaeological background, above). The original scope of work was agreed by EDP, the former consultant working on behalf of the client and agreed by the then Assistant County Archaeologist, Martin Brown, for Wiltshire Council. This was subsequently revised during the mitigation work. Area 1 was partially reduced in size due to the presence of an active farm track, with the south-western corner not fully stripped due the lack of archaeological features in this area. Area 2 was only partially excavated at this stage as the decision was made to reduce the scope of works with what is termed the 'School Site' (Fig. 3) now representing a future phase of work. In the WSI, areas originally identified as '3, 4 and 5' were located to excavate ring ditches in the country park (noting this numbering system no longer relates to the renumbered excavated areas described below). However, an archaeological protection order was put on these sites with no further excavation required. The above was approved by the Assistant County Archaeologist, Roland Smith. A programme of archaeological investigation was undertaken by Cotswold Archaeology in November 2022 at the request of Vistry Partnerships Ltd at the Land South of Netherhampton Road, Salisbury, Wiltshire. Five excavation areas were opened totalling 1.7ha following a brief set by Wiltshire Council and based on a programme of archaeological survey and evaluation that was untaken by Headland Archaeology. Prior to excavation, several areas of notable archaeology were removed from the development as part of the mitigation strategy, and further additional areas, specifically containing the remains of round barrows, which were initially targeted for excavation were subsequently removed from the development and preserved in situ as parkland. The investigations uncovered multiple phases of activity from the later Neolithic to the Saxon periods, although the focus of the excavation areas was on the ploughed out remains of five barrows, part of early prehistoric funerary landscape, principally located in Area 1 and 2, all but one showing signs of later recuts or enlargement with the addition of an additional circuit; eleven inhumation and two cremation burials were uncovered mostly associated with the barrows . A background of Neolithic activity was uncovered, mostly in the areas with barrows, with evidence dating from the Early to Late Neolithic, along with a possible Middle Neolithic crouched burial, an unusual Late Neolithic inhumation burial in a pit containing burnt flint and various pits with placed deposits including Grooved Ware pottery, animal bone and worked flint. Additional settlement activity of later Bronze Age, Iron Age and Saxon date was recovered as well as later phases of agricultural activity (Romano-British and later).