Southdown Ridge investigation
Between April 2009 and June 2009 Oxford Archaeology carried out excavations on Southdown Ridge, a limestone ridge just south of Littlemoor.
It was thought that any archaeology at the site would have been removed by previous quarrying for limestone, however, this was not the case and well preserved evidence of an Iron Age settlement was found just below the crest of the ridge, facing the sea.
The excavations only investigated the part of the settlement directly in the path of the relief road. It appears to date from the Early Iron Age and seems to have been occupied continuously through to the Later Iron Age, broadly from 700 BC through to AD 43.
Oxford Archaeology project manager David Score said:
"The site has been an amazing discovery; it is highly unusual to uncover layers of such well preserved archaeology of this period."
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Buildings
There are two major building phases; the first phase saw at least two buildings built using timber posts, with circular ring gullies around their perimeter.
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Burials
As well as evidence of the lives of the Iron Age occupants, some of the occupants themselves were also found.
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Finds
This was a settlement site so there was a lot of evidence connected to people's everyday lives
