Bronze Age ring ditch, Ardleigh Ring Ditch Four, Ardleigh (EHER 82013)

This ring ditch was originally discovered from the air in the drought of 1959. Its diameter was measured as 66 feet. In October 1965 the site was marked out for excavation, using the lump of chalk as the centre. The ditch was excavated in four places and was 4 to 5 metres wide and up to 1.3m deep and revealed four unurned cremation burials immediately below the plough soil.

Excavation, 1965 Ring ditch four was originally identified and measures in 1959, but lost due to the methods used to measure it (electricity and telegraph poles which were realigned and put underground). Luckily the cropmark briefly reappeared in May 1965 and excavation took place that autumn. During excavations, two trenches were opened north/south and east/west across the ring-ditch, with a box approximately 7metres square opened in the centre. The ditch was excavated in four places and was 4-5m wide and up to 1.3m deep. The central area was progressively lowered to the surface of the gravel. This process revealed four unurned cremation burials immediately below the plough soil. The central burial was described as large with 'much wood ash', the cremated bone included remains of an adult and a young child. The other three were described as small and lay in a group at the edge of the central excavated area 3-4m north-west of the central burial. All the cremations were unurned but three sherds of Late Bronze Age pottery were found within three feet of the primary cremation, all at depth of 15 - 18 inches. <1> <2>