EDO5742 - Late Roman Pit, Gussage All Saints; excavation 1975

A void was discovered during deep ploughing in the winter of 1975. A bomb disposal team was called in and exposed a pit and removed soil down to a depth of 3.2 m without archaeological supervision before concluding it was not a result of military activity. Martin Green was contacted to determine whether it was of archaeological interest. He excavated and recorded the remainder of the pit still surviving. The pit was sealed beneath over one metre of colluvium and the base was 3.66 m below ground level. The excavated lower fill contained fired clay and Purbeck stone roof tiles and a small quantity of pottery. Further pottery, animal bone, oyster shell, iron nails and Roman coins was recovered by sieving the spoil removed by the army. The roof tile and fired clay implies the presence of a substantial Roman building nearby. The pottery and coins suggest a date of AD 360/70-400 for the filling of the pit.