Monument MPM1686 - Iron Age pits and post holes, Southwick Hill Crossroads

Early Iron Age post holes and pits revealed during an excavation by Portsmouth Museum Service at the Southwick Hill Crossroads site in 1972. The features may represent agricultural activity.

A series of 18 post holes and four shallow pits of Early Iron Age date were revealed during an excavation by Portsmouth Museum Service at the Southwick Hill Crossroads site in 1972. The post holes were ovoid in form, and ranged between 15cm-45cm deep. Most of the post holes were arranged in pairs, and may have represented the remains of corn or hay drying racks. A grouping of four single post holes may have belonged to a four post structure. The pits contained small fragments of pottery and charcoal, and had no obvious function.

The features may represent evidence of Early Iron Age agricultural activity on the site. Bronze Age burials recovered during the 1972 excavation (see MPM258) and road works at Southwick Hill Crossroads in 1948 (see MPM230) suggest the site had previously been used as a cemetery.

The exact location of this site in relation to a Bronze Age inhumation burial discovered during the same excavation is not known, and therefore only a rough NGR has been included.

1972/541

Portsmouth Museum Service, 1972?, Southwick Hill Crossroads, 1972 (Excavation archive). SPM331.

Rudkin, David J, 1989, Excavations at Southwick Hill Crossroads, Proceedings of the Hampshire Field Club and Archaeological Society Volume 45 1989, p.5-12 (Bibliographic reference). SPM587.