Monument record EXG 082 - Substantial Iron Age ditch at 7 The Highlands, Exning

Section excavated across substantial ditch, probably from large hilltop (?) enclosure, with regionally important Late Bronze Age/Early Iron Age (mainly EIA) pottery assemblage. Similar to material from excavations in nearby Landwade, Cambs, a few miles to N (pers comm Matt Brudenell).

Feb 2006 evaluation report (S2). A small archaeological excavation at 7, The Highlands, Exning, Suffolk identified a 20m length of a single, 4m wide, ditch of Early Iron Age date, with evidence of later quarrying to the north and south. Possibly enclosing a settlement on the high ground of Windmill Hill, the ditch was used as an area for the disposal of domestic waste, upon falling into disuse. The upper fills of the ditch contained one of the largest pottery and worked flint assemblages known in Suffolk, with fragments of nearly 800 separate vessels of a domestic nature being recovered. A date range of 800-600/550 BC for the assemblage has been confirmed by AMS radiocarbon analysis. The ditch is currently an isolated feature but indicates the presence of a substantial and hitherto unknown Early Iron Age settlement in the immediate vicinity (S3). Included in the Proceedings of the Suffolk Institute of Archaeology and History annual round up of individual finds and discoveries for 2006 (S1).