After three days of painstaking work, Time Team has gathered enough evidence to piece together a picture of what life and death was like here some 1,500 years ago. Though the soil conditions have left most of the finds in poor condition, it has become clear that this site was once a very important place for the peoples who lived here in antiquity. The sheer volume of artefacts, and the quality of the finds, has convinced the Team that the people buried here were most likely of a high status in their society, using items that were traded from across the world.
A lot of evidence has also been uncovered for earlier activity from prehistoric times. Both Neolithic and Bronze-Age flint tools have been found. Most of these are scrapers, which were used for preparing animal skins. A large volume of struck flint flakes have also been found, telling the archaeologists that the crafting of tools from flint nodules was carried out on the mound. The discovery of a preserved prehistoric wood chip, meanwhile, highlights the fact that timber was cut here. Could there have been a settlement? The possible ring ditch geophysics anomaly, which Time Team did not have the time to investigate, probably holds the answer to that one.
‘We came here thinking that we were going to find a small Anglo-Saxon cemetery that was on top of a Bronze-Age barrow,’ says Tony. 'We were right on the first count – except the cemetery is a lot bigger than we thought – but we were not quite right on the second bit.’ Though the mound looks as though it was built up above the natural high ground with turfs, it doesn’t fit the classic description of a barrow.
Katie Hirst made a prize find in Trench Five of two individuals buried with spears and knives and a late fifth-century buckle brooch with garnet decoration. Added to this was her great copper alloy find of another bucket, which actually contained a second bucket inside it.
Carenza has sorted out the story for her trench. She found the individual who was buried with the Byzantine bucket, together with three other small tankard-like buckets and a beautiful spearhead. ‘This is so symmetrical and high status that I think we are dealing with some important people,’ says Carenza. ‘We certainly have an important site here and it’s been fascinating to dig.’
Landscape archaeologist Stewart Ainsworth gave us a summary of the site: ‘With the curve of the river in this floodplain, the site is positioned like a finger of higher ground going across the valley. It was obviously an important place for prehistoric peoples, who used the area to make tools and possibly prepare animal skins. They may even have settled here. We then have what looks like a break in activity on the mound during the Roman period until the Saxons started using it for their burial practices. The bigger picture of the site within the surrounding landscape is also interesting. We have a dispersed settlement pattern in the valley, and fieldwalking to the north of the site has highlighted a concentration of Anglo-Saxon pottery about half a mile from here. I think that could be where the Saxons lived who used this site.’
In a hotel bar the end-of-shoot party was still rocking into the early hours. Series producer Tim Taylor gave us his final thoughts above the din: ‘This has been an incredible site to work on. There have been so many fascinating finds and everyone has worked so well together. It’s been fascinating.’
The end result is a snapshot of prehistoric activity and Anglo-Saxon life and death, giving us a better understanding of the archaeology of this field in the middle of Hampshire. Phil Harding summed up the excavation when he said: ‘I thought this was going to be good, but I never thought it was going to be this good. The whole dig has been fantastic!’
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