NHER 63598 (Monument) - Middle Bronze Age, Iron Age and undated features

May 2018. Trial Trenching.
Evaluation of proposed route of Lound to Gorleston Water Pipeline (Trenches 12-15).
The four trenches excavated revealed a reasonably large number of potentially archaeologically-significant features, many of which corresponded with the numerous linear cropmarks previously recorded at this location. Unfortunately little in the way of dating evidence was recovered, although the cropmark evidence suggests that the various ditches uncovered are likely to represent at least four distinct phases of activity.
A pair of parallel north-west to south-east aligned ditches at TG 5029 0161 were potentially quite early in date as they corresponded with an extensive group of sinuous cropmarks thought to represent a long-distance trackway of possible Late Prehistoric date (NHER 43544).
The cropmark evidence suggests that a group of three parallel north-west to south-east aligned ditches exposed in a trench to the north were probably associated with some form of trackway. The corresponding cropmarks are part of an extensive group of enclosures, trackways and field boundaries of probable Late Prehistoric or Roman date (NHER 45188).
A parallel pair of roughly north-to-south aligned ditches exposed in three of the trenches are also likely to have represented some form of trackway. The cropmark evidence suggests that this trackway was associated with another fairly extensive field system, the date of which is uncertain (NHER 45174). The eastern ditch produced a single flint flake.
The other ditches included east-north-east to west-south-west aligned features in the northern and southernmost trenches that both corresponded with cropmarks though to represent elements of a post-medieval field system (NHER 45154). A sample taken from the fill of the former produced a small amount of burnt bone, the presence of which was potentially significant due to the proximity of cropmarks likely to represent the remains of several Bronze Age round barrows (NHER 17225). Although it wasn’t possible to determine whether the bone was human or animal its condition was consistent with having been exposed to high heat for an extended length of time.
A small number of dispersed discrete features were also identified including pits and several possible post-holes. None produced any finds.
Information from report uploaded to OASIS, HER copy awaited.
P. Watkins (HES), 2 October 2019.

June to September 2018. Watching Brief.
Monitoring of topsoil stripping along route of Lound to Gorleston Water Pipeline.
This section of the pipeline route was selected for full excavation due to the results of the preceding trial trenching. A large number of potentially archaeologically-significant remains were exposed, including a range of discrete features, and, as expected, a number of ditches. Although dating evidence was again limited, the finds recovered and the results of a programme of radiocarbon dating suggest that most of these features were probably associated with prehistoric phases of activity.
The worked flints recovered included several blades of probable Mesolithic/Early Neolithic date but the small assemblage consisted predominantly or later pieces and undiagnostic debitage.
The earliest of the dated features were two small pits containing Middle Bronze Age cremation burials that were found in close proximity, approximately 10m from one of three cropmark ring-ditches likely to represent the remains of Bronze Age round barrows (NHER 17225). One cremation was contained within a Deverel-Rimbury urn whereas the other burial was unurned. Bone from these cremations produced Middle Bronze Age radiocarbon dates of 1424-1271 cal BC at 95% probability (urned cremation - SUERC-82552; 3087 +/-30 BP) and 1410-1231 cal BC at 95% probability (unurned cremation - SUERC-82553; 3059 +/-30 BP). Another unurned cremation excavated during a watching brief in the field to the north is also thought to have been Middle Bronze Age but was not dated (NHER 63728). All three represent the remains of adult humans but it was not possible to determine the sex of these individuals. It is highly likely that the burnt bone recovered from a nearby ditch during the evaluation was derived from another, distrubed cremation.
Although it is suggested that a number of the ditches on this site were potentially also Middle Bronze Age there is little evidence for this, particularly as no other Middle Bronze Age pottery was recovered. The recovery of a small assemblage of post-Deverel Rimbury pottery does however demonstrate that the site saw at this some activity during the subsequent Late Bronze Age/Early Iron Age period. In most cases only single sherds were recovered from individual features (which therefore remain of uncertain date); the one exception being a pit at the northern end of the site that produced five sherds of probable Early Iron Age date. Numerous other linear and discrete features were identified in this area, many of which were probably associated with what appears to have been a more sustained period of activity during the later Iron Age. Features that could be dated to this period included several pits and a semi-circular ring ditch interpreted as the remains of a round house. This gully produced 10 sherds of Middle-Late Iron Age pottery and cut a pit that produced a radiocarbon date of 355-101 cal BC at 95% probability (SUERC-85405; 2150 +/-24 BP). Other features likely to have been associated with at least the final stage of this phase of activity included several nearby north-west to south-east aligned ditches associated with cropmarks recorded under NHER 43544. One of the ditches that appeared to demarcate a trackway contained a significant amount of charcoal, a sample of which produced a radiocarbon date of 45 cal BC – 61 cal AD at 95% probability (SUERC-85407; 1992 +/-24 BP). A date of 23-128 cal AD at 95% probability (SUERC-85408 - 1929+/-24 BP) was also obtained from charcoal present with a parallel ditch to the north of the Iron Age features. One of the trackway ditches was also cut by an undated ditch on a similar alignment to a Roman ditch identified during the watching brief to the north (NHER 63728).
The complete absence of Roman finds at this site and the very limited amount of later material recovered makes it likely that most of the other, undated features exposed were also associated with Iron Age or earlier phases of activity. The exact date of these remains, including various ditches, is however uncertain. The two north-west to south-east aligned ditches associated with the sinuous cropmark trackway (NHER 43544) again produced no finds, although it was demonstrated that, as expected, they predated the extensive, parallel north-to-south aligned trackway ditches that had also been exposed during the earlier work (NHER 45174). The date of this later trackway is however also uncertain as although some dating evidence was recovered this was limited and contradictory. An Early Bronze Age radiocarbon date was obtained for a charred grain present in the eastern ditch (SUERC-85406; 3656 +/- 24 BP; 2060-1949 cal BC at 95% probability) but this was inconsistent with the finds recovered from the western ditch, which produced single sherds of undiagnostic Late Prehistoric, Late Bronze Age/Early Iron Age and post-medieval pottery.
Information from draft report. Final version awaited.
P. Watkins (HES), 17 October 2019.