Introduction
We were asked by our client to carry out a coring operation at the site of the old MG Rover works at Longbridge, Birmingham, to help them understand the origin of deposits and help assess the archaeological potential of the site.
Background
The bedrock of the area was known to be Triassic Mercia Mudstone and Sherwood Sandstone and we found the soils on the site to be stagnogley soils which occur widely in lowlands in Pleistocene deposits. The site lay in an area of waste ground that was part of the former car works, in a shallow valley through which the River Rea once flowed.
Due to the contamination of the ground by the former car works no trenches could be dug, so samples had to be obtained by coring.
Findings
The samples we collected contained a sequence of natural deposits including in places a thin buried soil, overlain by modern deposits of made ground and industrial material. The cores were taken in a line that crossed the former course of the River Rea, small fragments of charcoal were found in some of the cores, but these were laid down in thin layers and may have been redeposited by the river.
Conclusions
From our investigations, we were able to tell the client that the deposits were Devensian sands and gravels, above which a soil had developed. The soil was thin and truncated and contained no archaeological material, and due to truncation and the amount of reworking any evidence contained will be limited.