NHER 50485 (Monument record) - Early Bronze Age burnt mound and multi-period prehistoric finds

July 2007. Excavation.
Excavation on route of Colney Yare Valley Pipeline.
Seven post holes were recorded, although there was no regular pattern to their distribution and no indication that they were related. Residual worked flints were recovered from the fill of five of the post-holes. A north-to-south aligned ditch was also identified, and probably represents a recent field boundary.
The 22 worked flints recovered on this site include an Upper Palaeolithic to Early Neolithic burin and Mesolithic/Early Neolithic blades, blade-like flakes and a core tablet. The remaining flints were not closely datable.
See assessment report (S1) for further details.
The associated archive has been deposited with the Norwich Castle Museum (NWHCM : 2016.310).
H. White (NLA), 11 June 2009. Amended by P. Watkins (HES), 18 March 2014 and 23 June 2019.

November 2014-January 2015. Watching Brief.
Maintained during installation of Hethersett to Little Melton Pipeline.
The stripping of this section of the working easement uncovered a silty sand colluvial layer. In order to characterise this deposit a series of 1m by 1m test pits were excavated, which demonstrated it was between 0.1m and 1m deep. Finds recovered from the surface of this colluvial layer and during the excavation of the test pits included 54 sherds of prehistoric pottery (the majority identifiable as Early Iron Age) and a reasonably large assemblage of more than 600 prehistoric worked flints. The worked flint assemblage is largely Neolithic in date, although some potentially Upper Palaeolithic/Early Mesolithic pieces are also present, along with later, Late Neolithic/Bronze Age material. The Neolithic pieces include a number of flakes likely to be from axe production. Some post-medieval "ceramics and glass" were apparently also recovered, most likely representing disturbance caused by recent deep ploughing.
At the northern end of the monitored section the colluvial material was found to seal a mixed deposit of very dark grey/black clayey sand containing frequent fragments of heavily burnt and fragmented flint and stone. This material almost certainly represented the remains of a prehistoric burnt mound - an accumulation of material that had been used to heat or boil water drawn from a nearby source. Two underlying pits were both probably associated with the burnt mound (both being filled with similar material), although neither retained any trace of a lining or any other evidence for their function. Samples taken from the burnt mount deposits produced abundant abraded/weathered charcoal but little else in the way of charred plant macrofossils. The date of these remains was initially uncertain as no finds were recovered from the burnt mound material itself and the worked flints recovered from the overlying portion of the colluvial deposit consisted largely of undiagnostic decortification flakes. Radiocarbon dating of two identifiable charcoal fragments (Corylus avellana and Prunus sp.) established that the burnt mount almost certainly represented Early Bronze Age activity, with broadly similar dates of 2112-1891 cal BC at 95.4% probability (SUERC-69649; 3613 ± 30 BP) and 2199-1982 cal BC at 95.4% probability (SUERC-69650; 3701 ± 30 BP) obtained.
See report (S2) for further details.
P. Watkins (HES), 31 December 2023.

October-November 2020. Geophysical Survey.
Magnetometer survey of site on proposed route of Anglian Water Norwich to Wymondham water pipeline (Area 3).
This survey of a strip along the northern edge of the site revealed no anomalies of definite archaeological significance. It did however identify a number of linear anomalies of undermined origin, the most notable of which were a pair of adjacent, parallel, east-to-west aligned, slightly sinuous responses at the western end of the field. These continued into the adjacent field (NHER 66398) and potentially represent infilled ditches.
Various amorphous discrete anomalies were all of probable natural origin.
A number of discrete dipolar anomalies and areas of magnetic disturbance at the margins of the survey area probably represent ferrous material on or near the ground surface (most likely modern debris).
Information from draft report. Final version awaited.
P. Watkins (HES), 1 November 2022.

April-May 2021. Trial Trenching.
Evaluation of site on proposed route of Anglian Water Norwich to Wymondham water pipeline
A total of three trenches were excavated at this location. Two at the far eastern end of the site (Trenches 1 and 96) revealed a ditch and a pit, neither of which produced any dating evidence. The roughly north-to-south alignment of the ditch does though suggest it probably wasn’t of great antiquity (being similar to that of extant and former late post-medieval field boundaries in the vicinity).
A third trench excavated towards the western end of the site (Trench 2) revealed no archaeologically-significant remains.
It should be noted that none of these trenches were positioned to coincide with the more notable linear anomalies identified by the preceding geophysical survey.
Information from draft report. Final version awaited.
P. Watkins (HES), 1 November 2022.