Prehistoric barrows and cremations at land at Henham Road (EHER 49602)

A 2022 further explored prehistoric features uncovered during a 2021 evaluation. Two Bronze Age barrows and prehistoric cremations were the most significant features recovered.

October and November 2021. Trial trenching. The earliest evidence of human activity comprises finds of struck flint, dated from the Mesolithic to the Bronze Age, predominantly from the south-eastern part of the site. While a large part of these were unstratified finds from the topsoil, the bases of trenches or residual in later features, some may have come from minimally disturbed Mesolithic deposits. A small but convincing number of dispersed prehistoric features were recorded during this evaluation. Pottery of probable late Bronze Age to early Iron Age date was recovered from the large ring ditch in Trench 84, ditches in Trenches 69 and 124 and the large pits in Trench 14, likely to have been prehistoric waterholes. The ring ditch, about 20m in diameter, was an isolated feature. It was located about 150m west of the area with the cremations and extended beyond the current field boundary. No archaeological features were identified in its proximity. The largest concentration of dating material was recovered from a group of large watering holes by the northern edge of site (Trench 14). It comprised a number of pottery sherds of probable late Bronze Age to early Iron Age date. No archaeological features were identified in the adjacent trenches indicating the features may have been located at some distance from an associated settlement. The pitting activity in Trench 14 would perhaps have been associated with settlement further north. The cremations identified in Trench 97 and the potential cremation in nearby Trench 99 demonstrated the presence of mortuary activity in the central part of the south-eastern field. Despite a lack of immediately datable material the character of the cremations is consistent with them being prehistoric in date. Surrounding the cremations and further to the south-east, concentrations of undated, morphologically similar pits were identified which may also represent prehistoric activity. A small number of these pits contained struck flint in their fills. The only prehistoric feature in the north-western part of the site was a layer of burnt material in Trench 29 which contained pottery of probable late Iron Age date. No other features of this period were identified by the evaluation. Given the dispersed nature of these features and the limited quantity of finds retrieved across the site, there is little evidence for any concentrated prehistoric settlement activity across the site. The area of site from around Trench 84 (the ring ditch) approximately north-east to Trench 97 (i.e. the cremations) would seem to offer the best potential for any further surviving prehistoric remains on this site. Apart from these areas the site holds little potential for significant prehistoric remains. March 2022. Excavation. The excavation identified and recorded two ring ditches likely representing Bronze Age barrows. A number of undated pits and postholes were also recorded. These could belong to an earlier phase of prehistoric activity as some of the pits were cut by the ring ditches. Similarly to the wider area, the only evidence of Mesolithic and Neolithic activity on site are isolated and residual finds of worked flint found during the evaluation, suggesting the presence of hunter-gatherers in the area. The two ring ditches were the only features containing dating material, comprising predominately Neolithic to Bronze Age worked flint as well as Late Bronze Age to Early Iron Age pottery. The pottery, however, appears to be a result of secondary activity in the area as it was recovered from only the upper fills of the ring ditches. A possibly intrusive find of a puddingstone quern in the basal fill could represent evidence of late Iron Age presence on site which is noteworthy if ambiguous. This fits in with the limited evidence of human presence on site during these periods which had been previously identified by the evaluation. The cremations excavated during the evaluation remain the only definite evidence of mortuary activity on site as the two possible cremations investigated during the excavation contained no human remains. <2>