Monument record WLD 069 - Bronze Age to Early Iron Age Occupation including a possible roundhouse and cremation at East Anglia One Area 30

2017: Excavation uncovered a cluster of pits and postholes of late Bronze Age/early Iron Age date, potentially including a roundhouse structure and rubbish pits; with the latter containing significant concentrations of post-Deverel-Rimbury pottery. To the south-east of this cluster was a sparse distribution of contemporary pits, and field boundary ditches. Included in the Proceedings of the Suffolk Institute of Archaeology and History annual round up of individual finds and discoveries for 2017 (S1). Full report to follow.

The excavation at Site 30 encountered a concentration of moderately sized postholes and adjacent large pits, containing late Bronze Age/early Iron material. Some of these features probably represent a substantial post-built structure. The architectural form of this building is unclear, but the absence of linear alignments of postholes suggests a round house with an outer diameter of c.15m. Passing through the approximate centre of the concentration of discrete posthole and pit features were two N-S ditches, the fills of which also contained late Bronze Age/early Iron Age pottery. The stratigraphic relationships between the discrete features and ditches require verification, but it is thought probable that the post-built structure preceded the creation of the first linear ditch. The charcoal-rich post-pipes in the postholes suggest that the structure may have burnt down. The double-ditch arrangement at Site 30, is mirrored by similar, parallel double-ditches c.140-150m to the west in Site 29C (MRM 173), and c.140-150m to the west at Site 31 (WLD 070). In the northeast end of Site 30 two right-angle ditches, one containing late Bronze Age/early Iron Age pottery may comprise the southwest corner of a rectangular enclosure. The precise chronological relationship between this possible enclosure and either the (round-house) structure and N-S re-cut boundary ditches, is unknown at present. The only other dated features at Site 30 were two sections of north-south oriented ditches which contained medieval (12-16th century AD) pottery, and probably represent medieval field boundaries; both these ditches were recorded as being cut by larger east-west ditches which probably, though devoid of dated finds, probably represent post-medieval field/sub-field ditches (S2).