NHER 61665 (Monument record) - Early Neolithic, Bronze Age and Iron Age features

August 2014. Trial Trenching.
Evaluation of proposed development site.
The three trenches excavated revealed a number of archaeologically significant features, including several ditches, a gully and a pit. One of the ditches produced several sherds of Iron Age pottery but the other features produced no dating evidence. The only other finds recovered were two potentially Late Neolithic/Early Bronze Age worked flints and an unstratified Iron Age pottery sherd.
Information from (S1). Report awaited.
P. Watkins (HES), 9 September 2016.

September-October 2014. Strip Map and Sample Excavation.
Excavation of proposed development site.
This final phase of work exposed a number of additional features, the majority of which were of probable prehistoric date. The initial phases of activity were represented by a small number of discrete features, the earliest of which was a probable tree-throw hollow that produced a small assemblage of Early Neolithic worked flints. Several potentially contemporary flint-tempered pottery sherds were also recovered. A sample taken from the fill of this feature yielded only a small amount of charcoal. Apart from a similar flint blade recovered from a subsoil deposit there was no other evidence for activity during this period.
Two adjacent pits in another part of the site appeared to represent a later, Bronze Age phase of activity. One of these pits produced an assemblage of probable Bronze Age flints, including unsystematically worked flake cores and unmodified flakes. A number of burnt flint were also recovered. A sample from the dark charcoal-rich fill of this feature yielded cereal grains and hazelnut shell, suggesting it contained at least some food preparation waste. The adjacent pit produced no dating evidence, but was of a similar size and shape. Its upper fill also appeared to be similar in composition to that of its neighbour, although a sample produced little other than charcoal.

A number of linear features were also identified, all of which appear to have been associated with a more sustained phase of activity during the Middle Iron Age. The main features were a pair of straight parallel ditches that crossed the site on a north-to-south alignment. These ditches both produced sherds of Middle Iron Age pottery and probably delineated a trackway or drove way. Towards the southern end of the site the west ditch was interrupted, at which point it was also joined by another (possibly slightly later) ditch on a divergent north-north-east to south-south-west alignment. It is possible that these features had been designed to controlled the movement of livestock, assuming they were indeed broadly contemporary. It should however be noted that the features in this part of the site appear to have been significantly truncated by the initial stripping, being much narrower that the ditch section recorded during the earlier evaluation.
A sample taken from one of the ditches produced no evidence for domestic activity suggesting the site probably wasn’t particularly close to a settlement focus. This is supported by the small size of the Iron Age pottery assemblage and the lack of any contemporary discrete features.
A single Roman pottery sherd was the only evidence for subsequent activity on the site. There were however a number of undated features, including a large hollow that may have been a quarry pit or an infilled pond. Two further tree-throw hollows were also excavated and it is possible that several other undated discrete features were also of natural origin.
Two ditches and a gully recorded during the evaluation was not identified during the excavation, these presumably having been removed during the initial machine stripping.
See report (S1) for further details.
The associated archive has been deposited with the Norwich Castle Museum (NWHCM : 2016.251).
P. Watkins (HES), 18 October 2016.