Late Iron Age to Romano-British pits and ditches, Activity Area 6, land North of Little Totham Hall (EHER 80987)

Trial trenching recorded a focus of Late Iron Age to Romano-British activity comprising of pits and ditches which produced grog-tempered pottery and a fragment of Roman amphora. The features may be indicative of peripheral activity associated with the Romano-British cropmark site at EHER 11546.

July 2023. Trial trenching. Six ditches and four pits were identified across Trenches 420-433. Several features remain undated but can be contextualised in relation to the wider landscape. Late Iron Age/Romano-British grog-tempered pottery was recovered in high quantities, with one ditch also containing a fragment of almond shaped Roman amphora. In addition, another ditch contained three fragments of highly vitrified fired clay which are probably hearth or kiln lining. Three pits of comparable form were recorded in Trenches 430 and 433, one of which contained a small amount of late prehistoric pottery. This late prehistoric to Romano-British activity probably represents the fringes of a similarly dated settlement, apparent in cropmark imagery 150m SE of Trench 429 (EHER 11546). Here, a roundhouse and associated enclosure and field systems can be seen. Whilst the ditches identified in the evaluation trenches have no clear pattern in isolation, when compared to NMP data they appear to form continuations of known cropmarks – as well as providing additional features. <1>