Examination of Technological Material from Hog Cliff Hill, Maiden Newton, Dorset

Extract

1) Soil samples

AM600732 (E quadrant IV)

No evidence for any industrial activity was found on examining the five samples. A small number of red particles were present in sample 2, the latest fill of pit E2 (phase 4), and these were analysed using powder x-ray diffraction (X.R.D.). Only quartz was detected which was presumably form the soil which contained sand. If haematite (∝-Fe ₂O₃) was present it was at too low a concentration to be detected (less than about 5%) even after selective sampling of the particles which appeared most likely to contain it. No other evidence of industrial activity, such as hammer scale, was found in any of the samples, although a few fragments of charcoal were present in sample 1, the fill of post hole E36 (phase 4).