Middle Iron Age to early Roman activity on land East of Hazeleigh Hall Lane, Hazeleigh (EHER 81081)

Evaluation in 2022 recorded Middle Iron Age to early Roman (about AD 100) ditches, pits and post holes in thirteen trial trenches. These features produced Middle-Late Iron Age and Late Iron Age-early Roman pottery, suggesting a pre-conquest date for the entire assemblage. Several ditches correspond to two large enclosures which were detected in an earlier geophysical survey, and one of these may also include a ring ditch or second concentric ditch.

October 2022. Trial trenching. Thirteen of the 217 excavated trial trenches contained archaeological features and deposits, and were concentrated towards the central area but largely absent outside of this. The uncovered features comprise ditches, gullies, pits and postholes, and represent two main periods of activity: Middle to Late Iron Age and Late Iron Age to early Romano-British. There is also some evidence of earlier activity in the vicinity as indicated by small quantities of worked flint of probable Neolithic/Bronze Age date, found residually in later features. Two large enclosures towards the centre of the site, suggested by the geophysical survey, were confirmed by the evaluation. A circular feature central to the smaller of these was also confirmed, and the evaluation suggested the possibility of a second concentric ditch in this location. Pottery formed the main dating evidence and was interpreted as either Middle to Late Iron Age or Late Iron Age to early Romano-British. There are no specifically Roman artefacts in the assemblage and much of the possibly later pottery is found within the same contexts as the more securely dated Mid to Late Iron Age material. This suggests a pre-conquest date for the assemblage. <1>