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4.2 Ditches, drains and roads

Several weak linear anomalies may represent ditches (Figure 23 and Figure 24, dark green features, light green lines), the most distinct of which lie either side of the southern end of the north–south axial fortress street (between coordinates [-5m, -20m] and [-10m, -60m] on the western side of the street and between [5m, -40m] and [-5m, -60m] on the eastern side); they presumably relate to the fortress phase and may represent drainage ditches. Several examples of ditches are recorded in the excavated areas, leading from fortress houses towards the street areas. Further linear anomalies may also relate to drainage of the fortress, or to boundary ditches or roads of the pre-fortress settlement. Such anomalies are mostly present as faint trends in the data rather than solid, continuous anomalies, and it cannot be ruled out that some are random, or relate to the geology. Faint suggestions of straight features orientated NE-SW in the area of the western gate of the fortress and in its NW quadrant (between coordinates [-120m, -10m] and [-50m, 45m]) probably relate to a road on this orientation seen on early modern maps and noted during the excavations. A strong linear anomaly running NW-SE directly to the north of the fortress (between coordinates [-40m, 160m] and [-5m, 140m]) correlates with a road seen on 19th-century maps, the continuation of which was also noted during the excavations.