Site Event/Activity record ESF26186 - Evaluation - Orion Business Park, Blackacre Hill, Great Blakenham

Evaluation was undertaken ahead of a proposed development on the 5.7ha site area. A series of linear trenches were mechanically excavated to the depth of the natural subsoil. The land designated for soil dumping would be undisturbed during development and therefore was not sampled. The machine removed a silty loam topsoil 0.3-0.35m deep to expose a series of archaeological features cutting into the sandy gravel and silty clay subsoil. The features occurred in two broad areas of the site; in relatively concentrated area in the north-east corner of the site, in trenches 7 and 8, and spread across the central part of the site, in trenches 3,4 and 10. Over most of the field the topsoil lay directly over the subsoil with no evidence of occupational, or ancient buried soil levels. This absence may be partly due to plough damage, as ploughmarks were observed cutting the subsoil surface in some areas across the field (S1).