Undated but probably Bronze Age-Middle Iron Age ditches and unurned cremation burial, the Eastgate site, Crown Orchard, Great Chesterford (EHER 83357)

Archaeological excavation in 1980-1981 recorded a 23m section of curved ditch which possibly formed one side of an enclosure. Within the area it may have enclosed, was a small pit containing the cremated remains of an individual. The pit was cut by a 'V-shaped' ditch.

1980-1981. Archaeological excavation and watching brief. The earliest features on site are undated (or at least the finds from them cannot be traced, see note in EHER 4963). They stratigraphically precede features that can be dated to the late 1st century and were dated by the excavator to the Late Iron Age. However, the lost pottery from these features is described as being of a heavily flint-tempered fabric. This type of pottery fabric in Essex typically dates to the Bronze Age–Middle Iron Age. Moreover, the Late Iron Age material that has subsequently been characterised is all grog-tempered. The supposition is, therefore, that those features which are described as containing only heavily flint-tempered wares are Bronze Age–Middle Iron Age in date. A 23m length of curved ditch 0.75m deep, possibly forming one side of an enclosure, was recorded and yielded seven sherds of heavily flint-tempered pottery. Within this enclosed area was a small pit 0.26m in diameter and 0.17m deep containing the cremated bones of one individual and two sherds of flint-tempered ware: it is not thought, however, that the individual was placed within a vessel. The pit was cut at its southern end by a V-shaped ditch 0.5m wide and 0.68m deep. <1> <2>