NHER 20054 (Monument record) - Mesolithic lithic working site and probable Late Neolithic/Early Bronze Age occupation site, Decoy Fen

8 February 1984. Fenland Project fieldwalking.
Site HCW 18.
Tributary roddon of Little Ouse rodham, consisting of sandy silt. From its emergence from the peat until its confluence with the main roddon sand this sand ridge had a regular scatter of flints and fire cracked flints along its length. Max dimensions 165m x 20m maximum.
Approximately 250 pieces of struck flint were recovered, this multi-period assemblage including cores, blades and flakes. A single sherd of indet. prehistoric pottery and three fragments of fired clay were also found.
See notes in file for details of concentrations identified.
R. Silvester (NAU) 9 February 1984.

March 1985. Fenland Project fieldwalking (gridded collection).
More systematical, gridded collection undertaken in order to provide a more object assessment of spatial and chronological variations in the flint scatter. Although it was originally intended that the site would be revisited on subsequent occasions this was not possible.

The survey recovered a large number of additional worked flints (1492). Twenty sherds of pottery, a sandstone rubber, 30 fragments of fired clay, several concentrations of 'pot boilers' and considerable quantities of animal bone were also found. These finds, along with those from the earlier work represent activity during several different periods:

Mesolithic/Early Neolithic
It is likely that many of the blade cores and blades recovered and several serrated blades were associated with Mesolithic and/or Early Neolithic activity. Mesolithic activity was evidenced by two tranchet axes (found during the initial survey) and four microliths, with the recovery of a single micro burin indicating the latter were being producted at this site.

Late Neolithic/Early Bronze Age.
Most of the pottery recovered and a significant proportion of the flint assemblage (including flake cores and many hard-hammer struck pieces) appear to represent LNEBA activity. Later Neolithic activity was represented by a single sherd of Grooved Ware, a single chisel arrowhead and two Levallois cores (the latter found during the initial survey. Beaker-period/Early Bronze Age activity was represent by 6 sherds of Beaker pottery, 1 ?Food Vessel sherd and several scale-flaked knifes. The LNEBA finds were concentrated at the NE end of the sandhill. It is possible that the fired clay recovered was primarily associated with this phase of activity as it was concentrated in the area where most of the LNEBA pottery was found.

Later Bronze Age.
The presence of what are probably later Bronze Age urn sherds suggests at least a degree of activity during this period. It is possible that some of the cruder flint debitage was of this date.

For further details see project archive (S1) and the final publication (S2). The results of the gridded collection were initially reported in (S3). The finds are now held by the Norwich Castle Museum.
E. Rose (NAU) 11 August 1986. Amended by P. Watkins (HES), 4 September 2013.

1989 to 1990. Further fieldwork during Fenland Evaluation Project
Auger traverse across site and into surrounding peat. Samples of peat, both waterlogged and dry were collected by auger. Site clearly eroded by the wind.
Dossier prepared for HBMC, see copy in file (S4).
M.D. Leah (NAU) August 1990.