Late Iron Age 'Cauldron Pit', Elm Park, Ardleigh (EHER 3487)

The feature is referred to as the Cauldron Pit as it yielded a remarkable range of finds, apparently deliberately deposited, which incorporated copies in pottery of bronze vessels, including strainer bowls and a cauldron. It was excavated between 1972-1973 and measured round 5.5 metres in diameter and around 2 metres deep and had three phases of activity.

Excavation, 1972-1973 The feature referred to as the 'Cauldron Pit' was discovered by R.H. Farrands from aerial photographs he took of Ardleigh in June and July 1959, it was then excavated between 1972 and 1973 by the Colchester Archaeological Group. The pit is at TM 0565 2875, some 6m outside the boundary ditch of the Late Iron Age and Early Roman settlement. The feature measured around 5.5 metres in diameter and around 2 metres deep, was a circular pit cut into the natural gravel to a depth of 1.5m below the base of the modem plough soil and was steep sided except on the north. The feature yielded a remarkable range of finds, apparently deliberately deposited, which incorporated copies in pottery of bronze vessels, including strainer bowls and a cauldron. This has led to the feature being referred to as the Cauldron Pit. These finds were mixed with other find from Ardleigh in the Colchester Museum and can not be separated. The pit's lowest fill was two sterile sandy layers some 15cm deep, which need represent no more than sand washed in during a downpour of rain. Onto this sand was dumped the 30cm of the Phase I deposits which show signs of intense burning and were rich in Late Iron Age Belgic pottery some of which shows signs of having been burnt. Also observed, but not recovered dur to their fragile state were masses of tiny rib bones, likely from rodent like animals. The burnt debris was thrown in from the north and did not cover the entire floor of the pit, some of the fragments are large and unabraded which could be reconstructed into complete profiles. The pottery seem to have all been a more or less contemporaneous group, with no hint of earlier residual material. It does not represent old or redeposited material but seems to have been consigned to the pit not long after its first breakage. Phase II It does not represent old or redeposited detritus but bears every appearance of material consigned to the pit not long after its first breakage. This backfilling must have taken place immediately after Phase I. Phase Ill was a recut of the pit after the backfilling operation of Phase 11. The Phase Ill recut took place by around AD 55. Its date is fixed by the terra rubra layer. This ware is rare or absent on military sites founded after around AD 50. Although it may have continued to reach civilian markets for a while longer. The layer above has a brooch dating to around AD 50-100, and the local copies of butt-beakers suggest a pre-Boudican date, as such forms likewise are not present at Chelmsford. The excavators said that the upper layers of the pit were dominated by Cam forms 108, 218, 246 and 266; from here too presumably came the mortarium sherd, a Verulamium region product of Flavian or early 2nd-century date. There is nothing in the Phase III infill that is exclusive to the 2nd century so it would seem that the pit had been filled by around AD 125 at the latest. <1> Also found within the pit were metal finds including an extremely corroded iron adze, nail cleaners, a terret or harness-brass and the small brooch also mentioned above. <2> Additional references <3> <4> For aerial photo references, see EHER 3502.