Site Event/Activity record ESF22067 - Post-Excavation Assessment, Long Melford Primary School

Phases of evaluation, excavation and monitoring fieldwork were carried out at the primary school in Long Melford, Suffolk. The site is located within the centre of Long Melford, flanked by the medieval High Street to the west and by the school and a modern housing estate to the north, east and south. Small quantities of residual Mesolithic to Early Bronze Age flint were recovered from the site, with further redeposited Iron Age struck flint and pottery present within later feature fills. The main phase of occupation dates from the later Iron Age-Roman transition into the 2nd century AD. This consisted of a small number of pits, aligned ditches and postholes, which produced early Roman pottery, animal bone, CBM, metal working debris and a possibly associated crucible, burnt flint, lava quern, fired clay and iron nails. The more unusual features on site were a cremation burial and three grave cuts, containing the remains of four individuals, dating from the late 1st to late 2nd centuries. The cremation contained an adult with an urn and three vessels. The latest grave produced two samian dishes and a flagon and also contained a skull fragment of a child alongside the adult female buried therein. Another of the graves, for an adult man produced a single jar and the presence of nails formed clear evidence for a coffin. These two inhumations were also buried within rectangular cuts, far larger than required for a coffin. The final grave only contained the partial remains of an adult.