Monument record BSE 340 - Neolithic activity and Bronze Age ring ditch, 15 Sicklesmere Road, Bury St Edmunds

2010: Evaluation identified a scatter of features belonging to two distinct phases of activity in the Mesolithic/Neolithic and middle Bronze Age-Early Iron Age periods, which have been dated by the recovery of small flint assemblages (S1). Included in the Proceedings of the Suffolk Institute of Archaeology and History annual round up of individual finds and discoveries for 2010 (S2).

2010: A program of archaeological excavation and monitoring was carried out in advance of housing development at 15 Sicklesmere Road, Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk. The excavation identified low-level activity on the site in the Neolithic period, followed by a ring ditch, c.23m in diameter, of probable Early Bronze Age date which may have been dug for the construction of a burial mound or barrow overlooking the valley of the River Lark. The site subsequently had a likely agricultural use through the medieval and post-medieval periods. Although no evidence of a burial was identified the absence of cut features or finds material indicating contemporary occupation may suggest that the site forms part of a funerary landscape. The ring ditch and possible barrow appears to have then acted as a focus for temporary, passing activity in the later Bronze or Iron Age (S3).