Iron Age settlement site, Boyn Hill terrace (EHER 5285)

An apparently unenclosed early pre-Roman Iron Age site was discovered which comprised a group of pits and post-holes. One bell-shaped pit contained several kilograms of carbonised grain sealed by a layer containing much pottery including a complete carinated bowl.

Original HER entry merged with NRHE data import. Small early iron age open settlement on a hill of Boyn Hill terrace (100ft), around 0.5km to the west of the Orsett Cock enclosure (see EHER 1856-1862) and around 0.5km north west of the Orsett causewayed enclosure (see EHER 5158-5165). An unenclosed early pre-Roman Iron Age settlement excavated in advance of the A13 works. A small area excavated-only a scatter of pits and post holes were found, with 2 large pits exposed in a nearby roadside cutting. One of these was a shallow 'bell-shaped' storage pit floored with several kilograms of carbonised grain. The pit had been backfilled with layers of clay and sand containing and partly protecting many fragments of early iron age flint-gritted pottery. They included an almost complete carinated jar. <1> The grain was analysed and the results can be found in <2> <3> <4>