Early Bronze Age to Early Iron Age activity at Elmstead Hall reservoir site (EHER 80589)

Excavation in 2017 recovered a small amount of residual Mesolithic to Early Bronze Age flint which was interpreted as representing transient activity at the site during the prehistoric period. A small assemblage of Middle Bronze Age pottery including a probable Deverel-Rimbury vessel, and an un-urned cremation were further representative of activity at the site into the Middle Bronze Age. Late Bronze Age to Early Iron Age occupation is attested by small amounts of pottery and the fragmented remains of vessels in a small, stone-lined hearth. There was no evidence for continued occupation of the site into the Middle or Late Iron Age.

September 2017. Archaeological excavation. No archaeological features or deposits of demonstrably pre-Middle Bronze Age date were identified within the excavation area. Only a small amount of broadly prehistoric (Mesolithic to Early Bronze Age) worked flint was recovered from across the site. This material was generally interpreted to be residual in later features. An incomplete flint dagger (an unstratified find) suggests transient activity in the area during the Early Bronze Age. A small pit containing a probable Deverel-Rimbury vessel and a nearby pit containing an un-urned cremation provide the only evidence for use of the site during the Middle Bronze Age. Late Bronze Age/Early Iron Age occupation is attested by small amounts of pottery from five shallow pits and the fragmented remains of one or two vessels found in a small, stone-lined hearth. The prehistoric pottery evidence is supported by a small assemblage of (mostly undiagnostic) struck/worked flints of later prehistoric date. The evidence is suggestive of a limited, and presumably transient, presence in the landscape during the prehistoric period. There was no evidence for continued occupation of the site into the Middle or Late Iron Age, suggesting a period of abandonment until the site was reoccupied in the Roman period (see EHER 80590).