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The project began in the summer of 2021 with a geophysical survey. The results showed a series of large ring shapes that had the potential of being either Bronze Age burial monuments (called barrows) or a form of enclosure, or even round houses. It also revealed some linear features, probably ditches, in the north of the field. Using the geophysics results, targeted excavation was planned to investigate the potential archaeology, with the local community. The excavations revealed evidence of ring-ditches, pits and postholes, confirming Bronze Age activity possibly relating to both settlement and burial activity with many artefacts being uncovered, including an array of Bronze Age worked flints, and earlier flint implements suggesting Neolithic and Mesolithic activity in this general area.
Volunteers targeted one of the ring ditches found in Trench 3 the previous year. After a spout of very warm and dry weather, the area was stripped and the ring ditch and a few pits were revealed. The next two days our volunteers began excavating some of the pits in very dry and difficult conditions. But their efforts revealed the first few postholes associated with the ring ditch.
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Thankfully, following on from the second day of excavating, that evening, the sky opened up and heavy rainfalls and thunderstorms ensued. This flooded the site and made many more postholes and pits visible on the surface. It also revealed a flint scatter that contained a few fragments of heat-affected flint. During the first week, a pit was excavated and extended into an exploratory sondage, as the pit looked like it had multiple phases. Our suspicions were confirmed and multiple occupation layers were discovered.
The second week of excavations revealed more pits and postholes, ranging in size and some with stake holes in the base. One feature, that began as pit, revealing its multiphase past contained two stake holes, in the base of a second, earlier pit and even a small gully preceding that. There was also evidence of two cremations found within the earlier pit.
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Many of the features excavated had worked flint, whether it be flakes, scrapers or blades associated with them. Within one of the occupation layers there was a lovely example of a pyramidal core dating from the Mesolithic period. We also recovered a few sherds of prehistoric pottery, furthering our suspicions that these rings were used as a form of settlement.
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We are waiting for further dating reports to come back from samples that were taken and specialist reports of the pottery and flint artefacts. But we believe that our site is multiphase and ranges from the Mesolithic period (9600- 4000 BC) to the Bronze Age (2500- 700 BC). Cannot wait to get back to Suffolk to continue excavating this vast Prehistoric Landscape!
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