Monument record MRM 157 - Bronze Age, Iron Age and Saxon features identified at Land South of Main Road

2005: An assessment of aerial photographs identified no archaeological features on the site. (S2)

2012: An evaluation was carried out by Suffolk County Council Archaeology Service.

2014: An excavation and monitoring were carried out on land south of Main Road, Martlesham, Suffolk, in advance of housing development. The excavation of Area 1 identified several phases of field system defined by boundary ditches. The earliest of these was located on the higher ground in the north of the site and comprised several adjoining small square and rectangular enclosures with associated trackways. Small quantities of flint-tempered pottery suggest a Middle to Late Bronze Age/ Early Iron Age date. Middle to Late Iron Age and post-medieval field boundaries were also identified across the site. Ten ‘fire pits’ were scattered across the north-west area of the site. Radiocarbon dating identified these as being 7th-9th century in date. The Iron Age boundaries provide an important contextual backdrop to previously identified early Roman activity in the locality. Two additional targeted excavations (Areas 2 and 3) are due to take place in the eastern half of the site, in line with the developer's construction programme, see MRM 162 (S1). Included in the Proceedings of the Suffolk Institute of Archaeology and History annual round up of individual finds and discoveries for 2014 (S3).