Late Iron Age to Roman features at land at Moors Fields, Station Road, Flitch Green, Little Dunmow (EHER 81106)

The late Iron Age to Roman period is represented by possible agricultural or settlement features and a large number of finds.

September to October 2023. Trial trenching. The earliest archaeological feature recorded was in Trench 1 where an uncertain cut feature contained pre-conquest late Iron Age pottery. The exact form or function of this feature was not determined and it was not evident in the geophysics results. To the east in Trench 6, three pits were recorded that were thought to be possible unurned cremation burials; they contained Late Iron Age or Early Roman pottery. However, the sherds were very abraded and these features may well be later in date. Additionally, it is unlikely that these pits contained cremation burials as they yielded only a very small amount of burnt bone that could not be clearly identified as human. They may be postholes or used for rubbish disposal, and if so, could suggest an area of settlement. Some of the ditches that appear to form an enclosure(s) in the south-east of the site also contained late Iron Age or early Roman pottery hinting that they may have their origins in this transitional period. A ditch contained pottery of this period in its basal fill and had been recut in the early Roman period, suggesting a reestablishment of the existing boundary. Trench 73 also contained a narrow ditch at its south-west end that yielded similar late Iron Age or early Roman pottery. It is possible the pottery in these trenches may be residual. Most trenches in the south-east contained early to mid Roman material. Pottery and CBM from features in Trenches 70 and 73, including imbrices, tegulae and tesserae, suggest that a substantial Roman building with a mosaic floor once stood nearby. Daub recovered from Trench 73 also hints at humbler buildings or structures in close proximity. Bulk samples taken from the ditches in the southeast shows evidence for the cultivation and processing of cereal crops, peas and beans and plants such as chamomile associated with arable land. The ditch running thorough Trench 63 into Trench 65, and possibly to the west into Trench 61, hints at a northern extent for the complex of enclosures shown on the geophysics results. The ditches in Trenches 69 and 72 appear to demarcate the western extent of this settlement area. Early Roman pottery was also recovered from a small ditch or gully in the west of the site just south of the uncertain Iron Age feature in Trench 1. In addition to these securely dated features, Roman material was collected from the later trackway in Trench 40 and a Roman coin was collected from the surface of the post-medieval ditch in Trench 42. The Roman remains found during the evaluation are of a broadly similar date to those recorded by previous archaeological work to the immediate south-east at Felsted Railway Station and at the site east of Station Road, which together suggest that a fairly substantial Roman settlement was in the vicinity. <1>