Monument record FEX 299 - Possible barrow and cremations and other multi-period features

2011: Geophysical survey identified several curvilinear anomalies that could possibly reflect the remains of ring ditches. Several of these anomalies were identified on aerial photographic by the National Mapping Program. Probable ditches reflecting boundaries were also identified. Ground disturbance associated with gravel extraction was detected in the south-east corner of the site (S1).

2012: An evaluation revealed evidence for activity on the site that spans the Prehistoric to medieval periods. Of particular archaeological interest was the discovery of elements of a Early/Middle Bronze Age ritual funerary landscape that included a well preserved putative barrow and associated features such as secondary cremations. It is likely more barrows are present further to the north outside of the site boundaries, identified from aerial photography. There is also evidence for an agricultural landscape, along with possible beginnings of settlement in the form of post holes and possible round houses. Occupation of the site appears to have continued into the Late Bronze Age/Early Iron Age with the presence of at least one settlement area with a good, well preserved assemblage of pottery and other finds directly associated with settlement features. Subsequently it appears that low level activity, predominantly agricultural in nature, continued on the site into the Post Medieval period (S2).

2021: A 3ha site was excavated. 2 large pits, more than 2m in diameter and 80cm deep, had beautifully layered fills containing Carinated Bowl and Mildenhall Ware ceramics, dated to the earliest Neolithic. There were 3 groups of Beaker pits across the same area of the site, towards the N edge of a slight promontory with the land falling away to the N and W into shallow valleys. 6 barrows, ranging from 5m to 30m in diameter, occupied the edges of the promontory, 1 of which contained a central cremation burial within an upturned Early Bronze Age urn. Middle Bronze Age field systems covered large parts of the site, on 2 slightly different alignments looking NE and SW. There was evidence for settlement activity through the Late Bronze and Early Iron Ages, and a thousand years of cremation burial from the Early Bronze Age through to the Early Iron Age. At the latter end of this sequence was a cemetery group of 22 cremations and cremation-related deposits arranged in a semicircle some 6.5m in diameter, though with additional pits at the W and S. None of the initial pits contained any intrinsically datable material, but while they held no urns some had been ‘burnt out’ prior to the deposition of the cremated material. The burning was sufficiently intense to fire the edges of the pit an inch or two into the surrounding natural, almost creating ‘in situ’ pottery vessels. At the centre of the group was a slightly larger, deeper pit containing an intact vessel thought to be earliest Iron Age. The pot was upturned with a smooth, domed (unworked) stone placed on the base. The pit truncated 2 earlier features in the group. The vessel is approximately 35cm tall and wide with fingertip decoration around the shoulder and a piecrust rim. Visible fabric is dark grey/black with few obvious inclusions. The Radiography Department at the West Suffolk Hospital in Bury St Edmunds agreed to CT scan the vessel. The sequence within the pot appears relatively simple, with 3 bands of (presumably) pyre material tipped in from 1 side with the cremated bone, in large pieces, placed on top, around the level of the shoulder. The top of the pot has then been filled with regular-sized pieces of flint gravel, perhaps a hundred in all, rammed deep under the lip of the pot to a good depth and both enclosing and sealing the cremated bone (S4).

Included in the Proceedings of the Suffolk Institute of Archaeology and History annual round up of individual finds and discoveries for 2012 (S5).