Early Bronze Age inverted cremation burial and funeral pyre, below a flint cairn, at Bordeaux Farm (EHER 4863)

A watching brief and archaeological excavation in 1979 recorded an Early Bronze Age inverted cremation urn below a flint burial cairn. The cairn was well-preserved below more than a metre of hillwash, but there was no recorded trace of a mound, ditch or any other feaure which would suggest interpretation as a barrow. The urn was deposited within a pit, which had been cut through a charcoal deposit that probably represented the remains of a funeral pyre. The backfill of the pit contained ash from the pyre. The urn contained human remains which were fdated to the 16th-17th century BC, and a small finds assemblage including pendants, a circular stone ring, a bone bead and animal bone. Excavation removed all evidence of the monument.

March 1979. Watching brief. Site 1 (this record) was 20m west of the moated site (EHER 4766) and was found 1.09m down. It consisted of flints in dark soil, some had been removed in the process of discovery by the contractors. Below the flint mound or cairn, a pit was found, cut through an extensive spread of charcoal. The pit was 0.35m wide and 0.27m deep with a rounded bottom. In the pit was an inverted urn, the pit being backfilled with charcoal. The trench was widened to reveal the extent of the charcoal spread. Below the spread was an earlier ditch or gully (EHER 4862). The urn contained cremated bone, twigs and pendants. Other finds included a circular stone ring with signs of red pigment (haematite); also a cylindrical bone bead; a perforated animal bone; and two canines perforated through the root (one broken in antiquity). The charcoal deposit may represent the remains of a funeral pyre before the pit was dug. The pit had been backfilled with ash from the pyre and a small cairn made over the top. There were no trace of ditches to suggest a barrow and so a flat urnfield or isolated burial seems most likely. <1> <2> <3> The other finds (see above) were in the urn. The stone ring was of faience, there were three perforated teeth according to this source. An unexcavated ring ditch is known to the south west. It is unknown if there is any connection between the two sites. <4> Illustration in the EHER of the finds. <5> Photo of burial pit in EHER. <6> A C14 date for the bones dated the burial to the 16th to 17th century BC. This source describes the human remains as 'bones of a new born baby'. <7> Site Assessment: The burial and its components have few parallels in Essex. Discussion of parallels is in this source. No direct parallels for the urn are known. The applied horseshoe decoration points to the Middle Bronze Age group, but few examples have plain un-rusticated handles. This urn seems to predate the Ardleigh ones. Pot dated here as towards the end of the Early Bronze Age. <4> NRHE data transfer: TL 507 418. Observation of a cable trench at Bordeaux Farm revealed a flint Cairn. The adjacent area was excavated and a small pit, cutting a layer of charcoal, was found to contain an inverted urn. The finds were in Cambridge University Museum. <8> The area of the burial was extended and fully excavated. There was no indication of a surrounding ditch, and it was inferred that this was most likely either an isolated flat burial or part of a wider unenclosed urnfield. The excavation removed all the evidence of the monument. The burial cairn was very well preserved by over a metre of hillwash but there was no trace of a mound, ditch, or any other feature which would allow the site to be interpreted as a barrow. An unexcavated ring ditch lies a little distance to the south west, and a rectilinear cropmark has been recorded a short distance to the south. Neither of these can be said to have any direct bearing on the excavated burial. There are no current threats to the site, since it is separated from the ploughsoil by at least 0.7m. The site lies within a 'Special Landscape Area', an Essex County Council designation. <9>