Bronze Age ring ditch, Ardleigh Ring Ditch Two, Ardleigh (EHER 82006)

Ardleigh ring ditch two was completely excavated with the exception of four baulks at the east, west, north and south sections, together with small areas of ditch which extended beyond the limit of the excavation.

Excavation, 1960 Ardleigh ring ditch two was completely excavated with the exception of four baulks at the east, west, north and south sections, together with small areas of ditch which extended beyond the limit of the excavation. The ditch was about 0.75m deep and 2m wide with shallow sloping sides, an uneven base and a primary fill of stony clay. Thirty-three sherds of Bronze Age pottery were recovered from the ditch. Four other sherds were recovered during removal of the subsoil from the interior of the ring-ditch in the south-east quadrant. Within the interior, parts of two urns were visible at the surface of the subsoil. The lower part of the globular urn survived but the rim had been ploughed off. The interior of the vessel contained cremated bone, but no cut for a burial pit was observed. About 1m to the north-west, the upper part of a bucket urn was recovered: the burial pit was tracible from the surface of the subsoil from 'dirty soil' and stones. Cremated bones were recovered from the urn fill but were lost prior to their examination. Removal of the subsoil revealed the undulating upper surface of the gravel across the interior of the ring-ditch. Both urns lay within a shallow depression in the gravel surface roughly 1.3m in diameter and bounded on the south, east and west sides by a sandy deposit section, not shown on plan. <1> Although the two urns were placed at roughly the same level, their heights were different, so that the globular urn would have been completely covered by some four inches of soil. The bucket urn, however, must have been considerably taller, judging by similar urns of like diameter from the adjoining urnfield. The base of this inverted urn then, must have projected slightly above ground level. The fragments of cremated bones from the globular urn were shown to Mr. E.P. Spencer, of the Ipswich Museum. He stated that, although there were no fragments which could unhesitatingly be assigned to one of the sexes, the fineness of the bones suggested that they belonged to a female. Also some twenty-five fragments were extremely thin, inferring that they belonged to a young child. <2>