Late Bronze Age cremation burials on land at Manor Farm, North Fambridge (EHER 49485)

Evaluation and excavation recovered two token cremations, one of which contained a gold object. Radiocarbon dating showed that the second burial dated to the very end of the Late Bronze Age and it is thought to be contemporary with the first.

August 2017. Trial trenching. A total of ten trenches were investigated, all but one of which were devoid of archaeology. A single cremation burial of possible Late Bronze Age date was recorded. This feature is most notable for an associated tiny fragment from a decorated gold object. The feature could not be directly dated, though a sherd of Late Bronze Age/Early Iron Age pottery found in the subsoil overlying this feature may suggest that it is of Late Bronze Age date (since the cremation rite was not widely practiced into the Early Iron Age). <1> Archaeological excavation. The excavation area encountered a further token cremation deposit, adjacent to that found in the evaluation. While the deposit did not contain significant quantities, it contains distinctive fragments suggestive of a juvenile/adult individual, and possibly represents a deliberate funerary deposit. The feature did not contain any pottery or diagnostic material immediately indicative of a period of deposition. Radiocarbon dating showed that the burial dated to the very end of the Late Bronze Age. <2>