Harnham Park, Netherhampton Road, Salisbury, Wiltshire - Post-excavation Assessment and Updated Project Design

Wessex Archaeology

Wessex Archaeology was commissioned to undertake archaeological mitigation works comprising an archaeological strip, map and record excavation covering 0.18 hectare centred on NGR 412548 129099, at Harnham Park, Netherhampton Road, Salisbury, Wiltshire, SP2 8PF.

The archaeological investigation at Harnham Park identified features and deposits including buried soils, pits, a ditch, postholes, a gully, tree-throw holes and bioturbation features. Modern disturbance was present across the area which had in places truncated the archaeological features and deposits. The earliest artefacts came from the buried soil and a pit dated to the Middle Neolithic, these sherds of Peterborough Ware pottery reflect activity at the site during the later 4th to early 3rd millennia BC.

The most significant features were four Neolithic pits, two of which are securely dated to the Late Neolithic (2850–2200 BC) and contained important artefact assemblages and deposits of charred plant remains. As well as the Neolithic pits, prehistoric material was recovered from a probable prehistoric ditch and a buried soil. The results from the Late Neolithic pits are of regional significance and have the potential to improve our understanding of Neolithic activity and landscape use in this part of Wiltshire. Further analyses of the cultural material from the pits (artefacts and charred plant remains) will allow for an appreciation of the timescale of activity, the range of materials, variety of both wild and domesticated plants and animals, and the diversity of landscapes utilised by people in the late 4th to 3rd millennia BC.

Radiocarbon dating the material from the pits will help to refine the date of the activity within the wider chronological framework of Neolithic Wiltshire. Scientific dating of the Late Neolithic activity has the potential to add to wider (regional and potentially national) debates around the spread of particular styles of pottery (e.g., Woodlands) and the roles of domesticated cereals and wild food during this period.