NHER 61940 (Monument record) - Potentially prehistoric and modern pits

October 2013. Strip Map and Sample Excavation.
Excavation of new building footprint.
This work exposed seven pits, several of which were possibly prehistoric in date. These potentially early remains included four shallow, circular and sub-ovoid pits, all of which had sterile, unremarkable fills. One of these features produced a small number of Early Neolithic pottery sherds, several flint flakes and an abraded and presumably residual sherd of medieval pottery. A number of similar flint flakes were recovered from an adjacent pit. Another potentially prehistoric feature at the southern edge of the site was larger and considerably deeper. The fills of this pit included several layers of redeposited sandy gravel, one of which was overlain by a thin lens of charcoal-rich material. The lower fills of the pit had been disturbed by a well-defined post-hole, the dark fill of which was found to contain a large amount of charcoal and charred wood - potentially the remains of a burnt post. The uppermost fill of the pit produced a small assemblage of worked flints including a core and a number of flakes. These and the majority of the other worked flints recovered during this work are notably crude, suggesting a probably Bronze Age or Early Iron Age date.
The last two pits contained fills that were very similar to the modern topsoil and were therefore probably modern. Residual finds recovered from these features included a flint blade of possible Late Mesolithic or Early Neolithic date and a fragment of post-medieval tile.
See report (S1) for further details.
The archive associated with this work has been deposited with the Norwich Castle Museum (NWHCM : 2017.208).
P. Watkins (HES), 3 November 2016. Amended 19 May 2019.