Monument record MNL 618 - Former Smoke House Inn, Mildenhall

2009: Scattered evidence was also identified of a low intensity phase of prehistoric activity, most likely early Iron Age in date, of which part was associated with the natural infilling of one of the hollows that are known to have formed a typical feature of the prehistoric landscape (S1).

Included in the Proceedings of the Suffolk Institute of Archaeology and History annual round up of individual finds and discoveries for 2009 (S2).

2011: Archaeological excavation revealed features dating broadly to the Bronze Age and Iron Age. These features were found scattered across the site and were heavily truncated by later features. The Bronze Age activity was limited to a small number of datable features. These features included a linear cluster of pits and postholes that may have been used for storage, although no direct evidence for this was recovered. The lack of Bronze Age features may represent a single episode of seasonal occupation of the site.
The evidence for Iron Age was also limited with two possible heavily truncated enclosures and some structural evidence present on the site. It is possible that these features were part of a broader Iron Age agricultural landscape. Fragments of an Iron Age ring ditch with a pair of post holes was tentatively interpreted as a roundhouse based solely on the existence of comparable local examples of similar features. Four post holes arranged in a quadrilateral arrangement were thought to represent the footings of an Iron Age raised store house. The pottery record from the site points to a break in settlement activity from the Iron Age to the Romano-British period (MNL 638), although settlement appears to continue in adjacent sites (see MNL 502) (S2).
The excavation was archived under MNL 638.