NHER 68615 (Monument record) - Late Neolithic/Early Bronze Age, ?Roman and undated features

September 2013. Strip Map and Sample Excavation and Watching Brief.
Excavation of site of extension to existing hotel and monitoring of associated groundworks at other locations.
Four pits and a ditch were recorded, the majority of which were encountered within the main excavation area. The most notable of these features was a sub-ovoid pit that contained six sherds of Late Neolithic/Early Bronze Age rusticated Beaker pottery. A sample from this feature produced charcoal and a small number of other plant macrofossils likely to represent scattered or wind-dispersed midden waste. An adjacent and morphologically similar pit was thought to be potentially of a similar age, although it produced no finds and a sample from its fill suggested this was unlikely - due to a high density of what appears to be spelt wheat (which is more typical of assemblages of later Iron Age or Roman date).
The only other feature to produce dating evidence was an isolated pit uncovered within a trench dug adjacent to the main excavation area, which was found to contain two sherds of Early Roman pottery. A sample from this feature contained much black tarry and porous 'cokey' material likely to be either waste from post-medieval night soil or detritus from steam engines. At the very least the presence of this material demonstrates a degree of disturbance to the archaeological deposits.
The single ditch recorded was an undated west-north-west to east-south-east aligned feature that either terminated or was lost to truncation within the excavated area.
Information from report uploaded to OASIS. HER copy awaited.
An archive associated with this work has been deposited with Norwich Castle Museum (NWHCM : 2017.589).
P. Watkins (HES), 22 September 2024.