Record Details

NHER Number:23680
Type of record:Monument
Name:Prehistoric/Bronze Age occupation site

Summary

Fenland fieldwalking and archaeological investigation in a field north of High Fen Drove recorded a wealth of prehistoric evidence. Numerous pot boiler scatters were recovered and a Bronze Age mound with pits and ditches of an earlier date were identified. Early Bronze Age domestic pottery, an arrowhead and worked wood fragments were retrieved from the horseshoe-shaped mound and pits for storage and holding water also date to this period. Therefore this site was probably an occupation site in the Bronze Age and possibly in earlier periods too.

Images - none

Location

Grid Reference:TL 7148 9699
Map Sheet:TL79NW
Parish:NORTHWOLD, WEST NORFOLK, NORFOLK

Full description

11 April 1987. Fenland fieldwalking, rolled and ploughed.
Context 1: general scatter odd flints. Reference NWD AR in (S1).

Context 2: at 7159 9706: concentration abundant pot boilers on north side ridge of chalky loam. Maximum area 23m (northeast-southwest) x 32m (northwest-southeast). Reference NWD 34 on (S1) at 0.8 - 1.2m OD.

Context 3: at 7156 9706: concentration of abundant pot boilers and one flint (counted as context 1) adjacent to but not included in context 2. On chalky loam. Maximum area 23m (northeast-southwest) x 26m (northwest-southeast) at 0.9-1.1m OD. Reference NWD 35 on (S1).

Context 4: at 7141 9696 a concentration pot boilers in middle of peat, but close to ridge. Area 14m (east-west) x 19m (north-south) at 0.6m OD. Reference NWD 36 on (S1).

Finds held by NCM.
See (S1) and (S2) for further details.
R. Silvester (NAU) 11 April 1987.

1989-1990. Fenland Evaluation Project
Further work at Context 4. Auger survey revealed a layer of pot boilers/charcoal beneath peat, and provided samples of the material.
Sondage excavated beside mound to sample buried soil.
Dossier prepared for English Heritage (S3). Copy in file.
For full details of wares, flint types, etc. see (S3).

1994-1995. Excavation.
Excavation of site revealed several pre-mound Neolithic? Pits and ditches.
Mound contains Late Beaker pottery, shaft like pit for holding water and another shallow pit. A subsequent small pit had been floored with timber boards.
Leaf arrowhead and worked wood found.
See full published report (S8) and smaller report (S4) for full details. The results of this work are also summarised in (S5) and noted in (S6). The prehistoric features at this site are amongst those discussed in (S7).
The associated archive has been deposited with the Norwich Castle Museum (NWHCM : 2017.465).
E. Rose (NLA) 29 March 1996. Amended by P. Watkins (HES), 25 January 2017 and 27 May 2019.

Fenland survey. Concentration of burnt flint, 19 x 14m, just showing through peat cover.
Features included a linear feature, short ditches or elongated pits, and pits/post holes, all of which are probably late Neolithic.
The mound itself was roughly horseshoe-shaped, approximately 13m in diameter.
Also a water logged pit, where five thin alder boards survived at its base.
Abundant Late Beaker sherds, apparently a domestic assemblage.
J. Allen (NLA) 14 September 2000.

Monument Types

  • BURNT MOUND (Prehistoric - 1000000 BC to 42 AD)
  • BURNT MOUND (Prehistoric - 1000000 BC to 42 AD)
  • PIT (Prehistoric - 1000000 BC to 42 AD)
  • DITCH (Neolithic - 4000 BC to 2351 BC)
  • PIT (Neolithic - 4000 BC to 2351 BC)
  • DITCH (Late Neolithic - 3000 BC to 2351 BC)
  • LINEAR FEATURE (Late Neolithic - 3000 BC to 2351 BC)
  • POST HOLE (Late Neolithic - 3000 BC to 2351 BC)
  • BURNT MOUND (Early Bronze Age - 2350 BC to 1501 BC)
  • LITHIC WORKING SITE (Early Bronze Age - 2350 BC to 1501 BC)
  • PIT (Early Bronze Age - 2350 BC to 1501 BC)
  • SETTLEMENT (Early Bronze Age - 2350 BC to 1501 BC)
  • PIT (Beaker - 2300 BC to 1700 BC)

Associated Finds

  • BOARD (Undated)
  • INSECT REMAINS (Undated)
  • MOLLUSCA REMAINS (Undated)
  • PLANT MACRO REMAINS (Undated)
  • PLANT REMAINS (Undated)
  • SAMPLE (Undated)
  • STAKE (Undated)
  • WATERLOGGED SAMPLE (Undated)
  • LITHIC IMPLEMENT (Lower Palaeolithic to Late Iron Age - 500000 BC to 42 AD)
  • POT BOILER (Lower Palaeolithic to Late Iron Age - 500000 BC to 42 AD)
  • LEAF ARROWHEAD (Early Neolithic - 4000 BC to 3001 BC)
  • LEAF ARROWHEAD (Neolithic - 4000 BC to 2351 BC)
  • MOLLUSCA REMAINS (Neolithic - 4000 BC to 2351 BC)
  • PLANT REMAINS (Neolithic - 4000 BC to 2351 BC)
  • WORKED OBJECT (Neolithic - 4000 BC to 2351 BC)
  • BURNT FLINT (Early Bronze Age - 2350 BC to 1501 BC)
  • POT (Beaker - 2300 BC to 1700 BC)

Protected Status - none

Sources and further reading

---*Fieldwork: Fenland Survey. NWD 34. FENS.
---*Fieldwork: Fenland Survey. NWD 35. FENS.
---*Fieldwork: Fenland Survey. NWD 36. FENS.
---*Fieldwork: Fenland Survey. NWD AR. FENS.
---Photograph: HBA-HBD.
---Record Card: NAU Staff. 1974-1988. Norfolk Archaeological Index Primary Record Card.
---Secondary File: Secondary File.
<S1>Monograph: Silvester, R. J. 1991. The Fenland Project, Number 4: The Wissey Embayment and the Fen Causeway, Norfolk. East Anglian Archaeology. No 52.
<S2>Archive: Fenland Folders.
<S3>Unpublished Document: Leah, M. D. (NAU) and Mathews, M. (NAU). 1990. Historic Buildings and Monuments Commission Dossier.
<S4>Monograph: Crowson, A., Lane, T. and Reeve, J. (eds). 2000. Fenland Management Project Excavations 1991-1995. Lincolnshire Archaeology and Heritage Reports Series. No 3. pp 166, 188-192.
<S5>Article in Serial: Crowson, A.. 1994. Excavation of a burnt mound at High Fen Drove, Northwold. Fenland Research. p. 20ff. pp 20ff.
<S6>Article in Serial: Gurney, D. (ed.). 1995. Excavations and Surveys in Norfolk 1994. Norfolk Archaeology. Vol XLII Pt II pp 230-239. pp 234-235.
<S7>Thesis: Garrow, D.. 2006. Pits, Settlement and Deposition during the Neolithic and Early Bronze Age in East Anglia. during the Neolithic and Early Pits, Settlement and Deposition during the Neolithic and Early Bronze Age in East Anglia.
<S8>Article in Monograph: Crowson, A. 2004. Hot Rocks in the Norfolk Fens: The Excavation of a Burnt Flint Mound at Northwold, 1994-1995. East Anglian Archaeology Occasional Papers 16.

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