Monument record SPT 059 - Former Sugar Beet Factory, Sproughton

July 2017: The earliest activity was evidenced by a small assemblage of struck flints dating to the Mesolithic/Neolithic period, a ring gully and key-hole oven indicative of settlement of likely Iron Age date and a rubbish deposit within a natural hollow. Small sherds of pottery tentatively dated to the prehistoric period were recovered from the oven, along with struck flints dating to the Mesolithic/Neolithic period - flints dating to this period were also recovered from the ring gully. Due to the form of the ring gully and oven it is believed that these features date to the Iron Age period, despite the lack if supporting cultural material. Industrial material and a significant number of seeds were recovered from the oven and the natural hollow, suggesting that these features were contemporary. The majority of the site has been heavily truncated and landscaped by modern activity, predominantly relating to the former sugar beet factory that occupied the site in the latter 20th century (S1).

November 2017: Later excavation fully revealed the extent of the ring gully including a sterile pit at its centre. The previously excavated oven was not identified. Two flint blades were recovered from the ring ditch and it has been suggested that the ring gully could also be the remains of an Early Bronze Age ring ditch. A small undated rectilinear enclosure was identified west of the gully however it possibly aligns with post-medieval field boundaries that extend down the river valley slope. Three undated pits were also excavated. A geoarchaeological test pit recorded a sand and gravel sequence reflecting a periglacial environment and deposits associated with braided channel systems during a cold climatic phase. A thin possible covers and is potentially interpreted as a flood deposit away from the main channels (S2)(S4).

Archaeological desk based assessment identified the site has a high potential for the survival of prehistoric evidence extending back to the Mesolithic and perhaps Palaeolithic periods. It is likely the during the construction and active life of the factory, extensive groundworks are likely to have damaged much of the site. This has left an area which eques to approximately ten percent of the sit with any real potential for the survival of archaeological deposits (S3).