Bronze Age activity and Roman ditch on land East of Thorpe Road Clacton on Sea (EHER 49538)

Trial trenching recorded a single Bronze Age pit in the SE of the site, and two undated possible cremation burials which may be related to this land use. A single Roman period ditch was also recorded in the SW corner of the site. A later phase of excavation recorded a coaxial field system, a possible small structure and several pits.

September 2019. Trial trenching. Archaeological remains were found in 33 of the 85 evaluation trenches. These range from prehistoric to post-medieval/modern in date. Dated archaeological features of interest are mostly located in the SE of the site. A small pit at the South end of the site contained a single sherd of Early/Middle Bronze Age pottery. Two small, undated pits nearby contained small amounts of burnt bone, two pieces of which are tentatively identified as human long bone. It is possible therefore that these were Bronze Age cremation burials. Three sherds of residual Middle Bronze Age pottery were found in a modern pit, in the centre of the site. A N-S ditch in the SW corner of the site, perhaps part of a field/enclosure system, produced a small amount of earlier Roman pottery. Another sherd of possible Roman pottery occurred residually in a probable post-medieval field boundary ditch. <1> November 2019. Archaeological excavation. The earliest activity was defined by parallel and perpendicular boundary ditches forming part a coaxial field system. A possible small structure and associated pits define an activity area in one corner of the field system, with a smaller number of pits further afield. Dating material was sparse but provides a tentative Middle to Late Bronze Age date. Despite the potential for cremated remains suggested by the evaluation, no further human remains were encountered. A small number of Late Iron Age/Early Roman pottery sherds were recovered from an unphased posthole; however, no substantive Iron Age, Roman, or Saxon archaeological remains were encountered. <2>