Monument record ONW 067 - Roman occupation evidence, medieval pits or ditch and late post medieval boundaries on Land off Church Road (HEAD) GEO (CAS) EVAL

Excavations over Two areas were focused on features and finds of archaeological interest recorded by an evaluation undertaken on the site by Cotswold Archaeology in May 2022. In Area 1, the main archaeological feature was a ditch on a North East to South West orientation that was intercut with several gullies and pits. Other pits and postholes were sited to its east. Pottery dated this boundary and some of the associated features to the Roman period. The scarcity of early wares together with the presence of types current in the 2nd–3rd centuries AD suggests a probable focus for this activity in the Mid-Roman period. It is possible that there was little if any actual ‘occupation’ of the site in the Early Roman period. Area 2 was sited over the discovery in the evaluation of a pit with two Roman pottery vessels datable to the Late Roman period. These appeared to represent a ‘structured deposit’, and it is possible that the vessels had once contained something perishable, such as food or drink. The evaluation and excavation revealed several other pits, a ditch and gullies. These were all undated, though overall the pit with its vessels appears somewhat isolated. A single struck flint (not closely datable) is the only prehistoric evidence from the site, and there were limited archaeological remains from other periods also. A pit/ditch found in the evaluation has been dated to the medieval period by pottery, and there were also several late post-medieval boundaries (S1).

Included in the Proceedings of the Suffolk Institute of Archaeology and History annual round up of individual finds and discoveries for 2023 (S2).