NHER 37349 (Monument record) - Early Neolithic site and Early Saxon cemetery, Broom Covert

July 1999. Site visited after metal detectorists had reported the presence of earthworks.
One northwest-southeast ridge, 0.4m high and 18m wide, was noted at the centre of Broom Covert and was probably a boundary of a smaller and older wood. The other features to the southeast proved to be natural flood plain scarping.
These features, together with Broom Covert, were destroyed by the housing development following the 2002 excavation.
E. Rose (NLA), 26 September 2006.

August-September 2002. Trial Trenching and Excavation.
Archaeological evaluation and subsequent excavation of proposed development area. This work took place soon after the investigation of a large area immediately to the north (NHER 25763/NHER 34489).
A dense group of 138 Early Neolithic pits was excavated. These were found to contain large quantities of worked and burnt flint, pottery, quern stones and hazelnuts. A number of distinct clusters within the pit group were visible, as was seen further to the north in Area A (NHER 34489). The flint assemblage in these pits was similar to that recovered in Area A, consisting primarily of flint-working debris rather than diagnostic tools. This pit group is extremely large, and if viewed in conjunction with that discovered in Area A, represents the largest of its kind yet found in Britain.
A shallow horseshoe-shaped gully was found in association with two pits containing fragments of burnt bone (possible cremations). The gully itself produced no finds whatsoever but was initially dated to the Neolithic. Although it was initially noted that this gully shares certain characteristics with Neolithic mortuary monuments it was subsequently reinterpreted as a Middle Iron Age structure.
The Roman evidence from this site consisted of three pits, all of which contained very few finds and had no obvious purpose.
Six Early Saxon graves and an urned cremation dating from the 6th or 7th century AD were recovered. All of the graves were aligned approximately east-west and all contained grave goods including spears, knives and a shield boss.
A single pit was dated to the 13th or 14th century .
One undated ditch and pit.
The results of this work are now fully published in (S1). See also assessment report (S2) and publication draft (S3). The results of this work are also summarised in (S4). The Early Neolithic pit groups are subject to further discussion in (S5)-(S7).
The associated archive has been deposited with the Norwich Castle Museum (NWHCM : 2006.391).
M. Horlock (NLA), 29 April 2003. Amended by P. Watkins (HES), 1 February 2017 and 5 May 2019.

Finds from metal-detecting in 2007 previously detailed here are now recorded under NHER 37439 (these had been added to this record in error).
P. Watkins (HES), 1 April 2020.

May-June 2012. Metal-detecting.
Two Neolithic scrapers, one Roman and one post-medieval coin, Early Saxon metal objects.
See lists in file.
S. Ashley (HES), 28 May 2012.