Middle Iron Age subrectangular enclosure and ring ditch at land at Weeley (EHER 80365)

A Middle Iron Age subrectangular enclosure was investigated by archaeological excavation and found to contain a ring ditch measuring around 15m in diameter. A second enclosure might be indicated by a right-angled ditch at the NW of Area 7. Other ditches, a pit and a posthole were also revealed by excavation. A cremation uncovered by trial trenching and thought to be Early Iron Age may be of an earlier, Bronze Age, date and will be subject to radiocarbon dating.

January 2021. Trial trenching. A cremation burial in Trench 41 contained bone of an older sub-adult or adult, and was probably originally urned. It yielded the largest assemblage of Early Iron Age pottery with a total of 38 sherds (673g). The sherds are part of the same cremation vessel in quartz sand and very fine shell fabric. The vessel is a jar with rounded, slightly bulbous body and short upright or out turned neck. It presents an incised chevron decoration between horizontal lines that is characteristic of the Early Iron Age. <1> August 2021. Archaeological excavation. Evidence for Middle Iron Age activity were concentrated in the two Southern excavation areas (Areas 6 and 7). A small pit and a posthole were identified in Area 6 and together the features produced 33 fragments of Middle Iron Age pot. Further evidence for Early Iron Age activity was not found during the excavation and the cremation burial recovered during evaluation may instead be of earlier date. A sample of the cremated bone will be submitted for radiocarbon dating. The main concentration of Middle Iron Age activity was revealed in the Southern part of Area 7 and comprised a large ditch forming three sides of a subrectangular enclosure which measured at least 85m across and extended beyond the Western and Southern excavation limits. An additional smaller external ditch ran parallel to the Northern side of the enclosure ditch. Within the enclosure, a ring ditch measuring c. 15m in diameter was revealed at the enclosure's SE corner, and was up to 1.5m deep and 0.3m deep. A NW-SE aligned ditch extended beyond the excavation limit from its Southern terminus within the enclosure. A second enclosure might be indicated by a right-angled ditch at the NW of Area 7. <2>