Later Bronze Age cemetery, Elm Park (EHER 3472)

Later Bronze Age cemetery comprising both barrows and urnfield. A total of some 106 cremations in urns of bucket and globular types and 20 in heaps without urns have now been discovered. It was first discovered during deep ploughing in 1955 and has been subjected to several excavations since. It is a Scheduled Monument.

Original HER entry merged with NRHE data import. Later bronze age cemetery comprising both barrows and urnfield. Fragments of urn were first unearthed during deep ploughing in 1955 on Vince's Farm by the owner FH Erith, but the majority of vessels were not located until the following couple of years' ploughing. <1> - <14> In the 1960 PPS article <15> the total number was put as 101 urned cremations - 88 in bucket, 13 in globular urns - plus other unaccompanied cremations, all without grave goods. These cremations were not evenly distributed throughout the field but fell into eight discrete spatial groupings. However during the course of winter ploughing in 1960 several further discoveries were made, making a total of '106 cremations in urns, plus a further 20 or so not in urns'. <4> The area was first photographed from the air in 1959 by R.H Farrands. This showed ring ditches existing within the urnfield area, which F.H Erith was then able to locate on the ground by differential crop height. <3> <16> Since this time the area has been flown intensively, resulting in the discovery of many more ring ditches as well as cropmarks of other forms and periods (Aerial Photographs <21> <22>). Several ring ditches were excavated by FH Erith and the Colchester Archaeological Group, of which seven have proved to have Middle Bronze Age origins. Mostly these produced only a few cremations each <5> <6> <9> <10> <11> <12> Ring ditch three was more significant and yielded 21 urned and 3 unurned cremations, plus fragments of at least 3 other urns. <8> Urn 20 from this ring produced the only non-ceramic artefacts - a pierced canine tooth of a young pig, and a fragment of a plain bronze bracelet, the only fragment of metal found with a Deverel-Rimbury urn in the eastern counties. <17> The destruction of Ring ditch eight was observed by Erith during the course of its destruction by gravel workings, and some Bronze Age sherds recovered. <14> In 1974 a routine watching-brief at the quarry by ECC revealed a further 3 'flat' urned cremations, and one unaccompanied multiple cremation. This brought the total of known Deverel-Rimbury cremation burials to about 170, although of these a fair proportion of those examined have included the remains of more than one person. <18> From information supplied at this time by quarry workers it is apparent that many more cremations had already been destroyed without record in the area of the pit. <20> The major cropmark area was scheduled in 1976 and planning permission to extend the pit northwards was rejected. In 1979-80 the CEU carried out limited excavations. An area in the vicinity of the urnfield revealed all or part of 17 circular ditches, presumably the sites of levelled barrows, whose internal diameters ranged from 2 to 7 metres. A double-ditched trackway immediately to the E although not independently dated marked the E extent of the cemetery, and on this and other evidence is probably contemporary (see EHER 3471). <22> and <23> OS cites total number of 12 ring ditches in the barrow complex. <28> This is taken from reference <11> In 1963 some of the cremated bones were tested for evidence of blood-grouping <29>, with dubious results. <30> Some barrows were deliberately levelled in the R-B period (see EHER 3484); others in the locality were still visible (see EHER 3337), although mostly the ditches were infilled by the 1st century AD ( EHER 3491 to 3495). <1> For AP refs, see EHER 3502. Site Management: The site was first deep ploughed in 1955 which led to the initial discovery of the Middle Bronze Age urnfield. It remains under arable cultivation. To the south is a gravel pit which prior to 1976 had already destroyed certain archaeological features. <14> and <18> The operators of this pit applied for planning permission to extend their workings northwards in (probably) 1976. This was opposed by ECC Archaeology Section <20> and the appeal upheld. By this time the area had already been declared a Scheduled Ancient Monument. <20> <24> <26> A watching brief (Nov 95 - March 96) on the stripping of a new access road revealed multiperiod remains which were subsequently excavated. Features recorded included a late Beaker burial; a single unaccompanied pot in a rectangular pit. Other features comprised a series of LIA/Early roman field ditches (see EHER 17435); Prehistoric (EHER 17436) and post-medieval (EHER 17437) features. Environmental sampling revealed mainly cereal remains and industrial debris. <32><33> There centre of area pointed out by Erith at TM 05602848. There are no evidence of mounds in this area. <34> <35> Scheduled listing <36> Additional references <37> <38> <39>