NHER 40940 (Monument record) - Early Neolithic pit cluster, Middle-Late Saxon charcoal pits and other, undated remains

November 2004. Trial Trenching.
Evaluation of proposed development site at eastern end of site.
A small assemblage of worked flints, including a later Neolithic/Bronze Age polished flint axehead was recovered, mostly from unstratified deposits. Several shallow ditches, some pits and post holes were found sealed by the topsoil. These have been provisionally dated to the prehistoric period.
See report (S1) for further details. The results of this work are summarised in (S2).
See also slides (S3) and photographs (S4).
The associated archive has been deposited with the Norwich Castle Museum (NWHCM : 2017.3).
A. Cattermole (NLA), 22 March 2007. Amended by P. Watkins (HES), 27 April 2019.

March 2013. Desk-based Assessment.
Assessment of large proposed development area.
See report (S5) for further details.
P. Watkins (HES), 19 November 2018.

March 2013. Geophysical Survey. Sectors 5, 6, and 7.
Magnetometer survey of large proposed development area.
No anomalies of obvious archaeological significance were identified within these two fields.
This region exhibited a high degree of small, discrete areas of enhanced magnetic responses indicative of compositional changes in the soils. This effect may have prevented any archaeological features from being detected. The eastern half of the eastern field had also previously been disturbed by archaeological excavation (see above).
See reports (S6) and (S7) for further information.
H. Hamilton (HES), 30 March 2015. Amended by P. Watkins (HES), 11 August 2021.

September-October 2018. Trial Trenching.
Examination of remainder of site as part of evaluation of large proposed development area (Field 1; Trenches 1-47).
The 47 trenches excavated at this location revealed a generally low-density scatter of linear and discrete features, the majority of which produced little or no dating evidence.
Of particular interest was a tight cluster of small sub-circular pits or post-holes in the central part of the site that produced a small assemblage of prehistoric pottery and a number of worked flints. Although the flints have been dated as Bronze Age, they are described as being a long thin blade, a small blade and four flakes, all struck from prepared cores – which would be much more indicative of an Early Neolithic date. The date of the pottery is also uncertain, with one of the 12 sherds identified as possible Late Neolithic/Early Bronze Age (Beaker), the majority as potentially Late Bronze Age/Early Iron Age and two as Early-Middle Iron Age. Samples taken from two of these features were found to contain charcoal and hazelnut shells, but little else in the way of charred plant macrofossils.
The only other evidence for prehistoric activity was a small number of additional worked flints, all of which were either from unstatified contexts or potentially residual within later features.
None of the scattered discrete features recorded elsewhere produced any clear dating evidence. The most notable were those described as 'fire pits' - which were all sub-circular features with rounded bowl-shaped profiles, dark, charcoal-rich fills and, in many cases, heat-reddened margins. These are very similar to features seen elsewhere that are now regarded as potentially associated with post-Roman charcoal production. Samples from two of these pits produced nothing apart from frequent charcoal fragments (much identifiable as oak), which is consistent with this interpretation.
Other discrete features included several relatively unremarkable pits and a small number of possible post-holes.
None of the linear features produced convincing dating evidence, although the variety of alignments suggests that they probable represented field boundaries associated with multiple phases of activity. A number of the ditches were aligned north-north-west to south-south-east and east-north-east to west-south-west, suggesting they were probably not of great antiquity (their orientations matching those of extant and recently-removed field boundaries). One corresponds with a former field boundary depicted on the Cringleford tithe map of 1842 (S8). Ditches likely to have been associated with one or more earlier field system included a number of north-north-east to south-south-west aligned features.
Other unstratified finds were limited to a small number of post-medieval to modern pottery sherds and metal objects. The latter include a post-medieval silver button, which was returned to the site archive after being disclaimed as Treasure (Ref: 2018 T820).
See report (S9) for further details.
P. Watkins (HES), 12 August 2021. Amended 8 September 2023.

February 2019. Excavation.
This final phase of work saw the excavation of a single relatively small area centred on the prehistoric pit cluster identified by the preceding evaluation (Area 1).
Four additional pits were exposed, all of which were larger than those recorded during the preceding work, although they were clearly part of the same cluster. These four features all produced worked flints and prehistoric pottery sherds, with the bulk of both assemblages being recovered from the largest pits. Most of this material was identified as probably Early Neolithic, which is in marked contrast to the varied dates suggested for the finds recovered during the evaluation. Although many of these were probably misidentified, it is nevertheless suggested that a small number of the sherds recovered during the excavation were of possible Late Bronze Age/Early Iron Age date and therefore probably intrusive. These features had clearly seen a degree of disturbance as they were also found to contain single fragments of post-medieval window glass and clay tobacco pipe. Samples taken from the additional pits were all found to contain hazel nutshell fragments, with one producing a particularly large assemblage that potentially represents discarded food waste. Samples of hazel nutshell from this feature and one of the previously excavated pits both produced Early Neolithic radiocarbon dates of 3652-3526 BC at 95% probability (SUERC-88503; 4811 +/- 30 BP) and 3644-3521 BC at 95% probability (SUERC-88498; 4788 +/- 30 BP), confirming the date of this pit cluster.
Unstratified finds were limited to a small number of worked flints.

The programme of radiocarbon dating undertaken following the excavation also saw samples of charcoal from four of the 'fire pits' submitted for analysis. These returned a Middle-Late Saxon dates of 772-966 cal AD at 95% probability (SUERC-88500; 1166 +/- 30 BP) and Late Saxon dates of 894-1017 cal AD at 95% probability (SUERC-88499; 1084 +/- 30 BP), 894-1018 cal AD at 95% probability (SUERC-88501; 1080 +/- 30 BP) and 885-1013 cal AD at 95% probability (SUERC-88502; 1104 +/- 30 BP). These features were therefore clearly related to identical pits revealed at sites to the west and south (NHERs 65245 and 63100), a number of which also produced Middle-Late Saxon and Late Saxon radiocarbon dates. Radiocarbon dating has also demonstrated that similar features uncovered around the same time to the north-west were of a similar age, although the combined date range for these pits is slightly broader (see NHER 60815). It is highly likely that the pits at these various sites were associated with the same charcoal industry, with the main phase of activity occurring during the Middle-Late Saxon period.
See report (S10) for further details.
P. Watkins (HES), 12 August 2021.

A combined archive comprising material from the 2018 and 2019 phases of work has been deposited with Norwich Castle Museum (NWHCM : 2018.243).
P. Watkins (HES), 12 July 2023.