P0489 The Fox
Item
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Title
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P0489 The Fox
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Alternative Title
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1997.70 60 Tadcaster Road
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Description
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"Twelve sherds of Iron Age or Romano-British pottery were recovered from the truncated remains of a pit which was sealed by a layer interpreted as plough soil dating to the Roman period, suggesting that prehistoric or Romano-British settlement had been truncated by later Roman occupation. While this excavation could not determine the nature or the extent of occupation, evidence for possible prehistoric occupation within York city is extremly rare.
The excavation recorded a moderately complex sequence of Roman occupation dating from the 1st to the 4th c. AD. A ditch and gully which ran parallel to the line of the Roman road between York and Tadcaster were dated to the late 1st or early 2nd. They may indicate division and settlement of land to the west of the road. These features were sealed by a layer of shallow plough soil dated to the mid 2nd c. The agricultural use of the area continued until the early third century when a cobbled path was constructed. Flanking its northern edge a large ditch was excavated and to the south two shallow gullies also ran parallel to the path. This routeway may have been laid to allow access to animal enclosures, out-buildings or refuse disposal near-by. A sandy occupation deposit overlay the track and a large pit truncated the gullies. The occupation deposit was cut by a mid/late 3rd c. inhumation burial containing an almost complete black burnished ware jar and a copper alloy ring. Later deposits of dumped metalworking slag indicate possible manufacture close by. Late 3rd c or 4th c. plough soil overlay all deposits, and the large ditch to the north of the track finally silted up.
The plough soil was probably reworked in the Anglo-Scandinavian and medieval periods. A large post-medieval pit contained the semi-articulated remains of a cow. Two Victorian wells were located and a number of modern service trenches and other modern features relating to the use of the site as a public house and a farm with stables truncated earlier deposits."
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Date
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1997 – 1997
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Creator
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York Archaeological Trust
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Spatial Coverage
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60 Tadcaster Road, Dringhouses, York
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SE58654958
Position: 426 (143 views)
Archaeology in the Environs of Roman York
Interim Volume 22 Number 4