Open Day and Ongoing Excavations at Butts Piece, Stanton Harcourt

On 5th September 2021, TVAS held an open day at Butts Piece, Stanton Harcourt. The open day allowed the local residents of Stanton Harcourt to see the rich archaeology of the village and it proved a great success with a continuous flow of visitors that were given a guided tour of the site. A series of posters were created for the open day which are now available to download on the resources page.

Above left and right: Photos from the open day

The excavation continues with further exciting discoveries being made every week. A series of burials, both human and animal, have been found across the site. This included a spectacular horse burial that was found in a pit that is part of a larger series of Iron Age pits. A human burial was also found in a pit adjoining the horse. Although the relationship between the two pits was lost, their proximity may suggests a connection between the two burials. Both pits are deemed to be repurposed and not purposely dug graves because the fill below the burials continued for 50cm.

Above left and right: The horse burial being excavated and fully cleaned

Two Neolithic pits have been excavated with one producing antlers and worked flint, the other contained potential feasting material. This included a variety of burnt finds such as cut bone, flint blades, hazelnut shells, charcoal and ash, all of which was capped by a dog skull.

Above left: Burnt flint tool Above right: Hazelnut from Neolithic pit

This is only a small glimpse into what has already been excavated but there is plenty more to come follow.

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