Low Harperley, Wear Valley, County Durham
NZ 1118 3557; Aaron Goode; evaluation; September-October 2005; LHW 05
An archaeological evaluation was undertaken at Low Harperley, in the Wear Valley district of County Durham. The commissioning client was Sherburn Stone and the work was undertaken ahead of proposed sand and gravel extraction.
An earlier archaeological desk based-assessment established that although there were no known archaeological remains at the site, there are broad indications of human activity from the prehistoric eras onwards in the general vicinity. Of note is the moated fortified house Bradley Hall, c. 200m to the north, which has Scheduled Ancient Monument status and has a possible deserted medieval village to the west. An earlier geophysical survey at the Low Harperley site recorded anomalies indicative of regions of disturbed land, a large feature of possible geological origin and some possible archaeological features. An earlier borehole survey established the geoarchaeological potential of the site and its alluvial history.
The evaluation comprised the investigation of 14 trenches sited either to test geophysical anomalies or areas of probable palaeochannel activity or on a judgement basis. Natural gravel formed the basal deposit in the majority of the trenches. In Trenches 1, 8 and 10, topsoil/ploughsoil directly overlay natural gravel. Floodplain alluvial or channel fill deposits were recorded in the other trenches, overlying natural gravel in most cases, and largely comprising inorganic fine-grained sands, silts and clays. A small amount of evidence of modern field drainage was recorded.
No evidence for anthropogenic activity predating late post-medieval agricultural usage of the site was recorded in any of the trenches.
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