Record Details

NHER Number:23650
Type of record:Monument
Name:Early Bronze Age burnt mound and inhumation

Summary

Fieldwalking as part of the Fenland Survey identified a prehistoric burnt mound. An auger survey was carried which revealed the presence of undisturbed burnt mound material beneath the ploughsoil. Excavation of the mound demonstrated that beneath it lay several small pits. To one side of the mound a larger waterlogged pit contained a wooden trough and important environmental evidence. A grave cut into the top of the mound contained a crouched inhumation which had been buried in a timber coffin, hollowed out log or mortuary structure. The skeleton and charcoal from the mound was radiocarbon dated to the Early Bronze Age.

Images - none

Location

Grid Reference:TL 6320 8845
Map Sheet:TL68NW
Parish:FELTWELL, WEST NORFOLK, NORFOLK

Full description

19 March 1987. Fenland fieldwalking. Field on east bank of Little Ouse.
Rolled and weathered ploughsoil.

Context 1.
Odd flints and pot boilers and one Beaker sherd from general scatter. FWL EM.
Identified by F. Healy (NAU).

Context 2 at 6325 8850.
38m northwest to southeast x 37m northeast to southwest at 0.7m OD. Concentration of potboilers abundant, forming a slight mound 0.2m high at most. Shows on aerial photographs. FWL 171.
R. J. Silvester (NAU), 23 March 1987.

For full details of wares, flint types, etc. see (S1).

1989 to 1990. Fenland Evaluation Project.
Auger traverse across site indicated survival of intact potboiler/charcoal layer beneath peaty ploughsoil. Samples taken. See list in file.
M. Leah (NAU), August 1990.

October/December 1992. Excavation. Contexts 3-104.
As part of the Fenland Management Project, excavation of one of eight burnt mounds (as opposed to potboiler scatters) located by R. Silvester (NAU) in Wissey Embayment. Mound partially peat covered and about 15m in diameter and over 0.15m thick. Little trace of a burned soil. Prehistoric clearance and erosion? A number of burnt flint filled pits plus a contracted inhumation from beneath centre of mound. Probably contained in a coffin or log, perhaps with a mortuary structure. A single flint scraper only grave good. A large waterlogged pit to northwest of mound produced a wooden trough.
See published reports (S2) and (S3) and archive report (S4) for further details. The results of this work are also summarised in (S5). The prehistoric pits are amongst those discussed in (S6).
M. Leah (NAU) 16 July 1993.

Fenland Survey.
Low mound, no more than 0.2 metres high, consisting of fire cracked flints. Spread by plough over area 37 x 38 metres. Beneath the mound was a number of pits, occassionally filled with unshattered burnt flints and a single crouched inhumation with a flint scraper (late Neolithic/Early Bronze Age) in a coffin or hollowed out log. Stains around the edge of the grave pit perhaps indicated the presence of a planked mortuary structure.
J. Allen (NLA), 14 September 2000.

Monument Types

  • BURNT MOUND (Prehistoric - 1000000 BC to 42 AD)
  • BURNT MOUND (Late Neolithic - 3000 BC to 2351 BC)
  • CROUCHED INHUMATION (Late Neolithic - 3000 BC to 2351 BC)
  • MORTUARY HOUSE (Late Neolithic - 3000 BC to 2351 BC)
  • PIT (Late Neolithic - 3000 BC to 2351 BC)
  • BURNT MOUND (Bronze Age - 2350 BC to 701 BC)
  • BURNT MOUND (Early Bronze Age - 2350 BC to 1501 BC)
  • CROUCHED INHUMATION (Early Bronze Age - 2350 BC to 1501 BC)
  • HEARTH (Bronze Age - 2350 BC to 701 BC)
  • INHUMATION (Bronze Age - 2350 BC to 701 BC)
  • MORTUARY HOUSE (Early Bronze Age - 2350 BC to 1501 BC)
  • PIT (Bronze Age - 2350 BC to 701 BC)
  • PIT (Early Bronze Age - 2350 BC to 1501 BC)
  • BURNT MOUND (Beaker - 2300 BC to 1700 BC)
  • CROUCHED INHUMATION (Beaker - 2300 BC to 1700 BC)
  • MORTUARY HOUSE (Beaker - 2300 BC to 1700 BC)
  • PIT (Beaker - 2300 BC to 1700 BC)

Associated Finds

  • ANIMAL REMAINS (Undated)
  • INSECT REMAINS (Undated)
  • PLANT MACRO REMAINS (Undated)
  • POLLEN (Undated)
  • 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)
  • POT (Late Prehistoric - 4000 BC to 42 AD)
  • POT (Neolithic - 4000 BC to 2351 BC)
  • BURNT FLINT (Late Neolithic - 3000 BC to 2351 BC)
  • COFFIN (Late Neolithic - 3000 BC to 2351 BC)
  • FLAKE (Late Neolithic - 3000 BC to 2351 BC)
  • HUMAN REMAINS (Late Neolithic - 3000 BC to 2351 BC)
  • LITHIC IMPLEMENT (Late Neolithic - 3000 BC to 2351 BC)
  • PLANK (Late Neolithic - 3000 BC to 2351 BC)
  • SCRAPER (TOOL) (Late Neolithic - 3000 BC to 2351 BC)
  • TROUGH (Late Neolithic - 3000 BC to 2351 BC)
  • BURNT FLINT (Early Bronze Age - 2350 BC to 1501 BC)
  • COFFIN (Bronze Age - 2350 BC to 701 BC)
  • COFFIN (Early Bronze Age - 2350 BC to 1501 BC)
  • FLAKE (Early Bronze Age - 2350 BC to 1501 BC)
  • HUMAN REMAINS (Early Bronze Age - 2350 BC to 1501 BC)
  • LITHIC IMPLEMENT (Bronze Age - 2350 BC to 701 BC)
  • LITHIC IMPLEMENT (Early Bronze Age - 2350 BC to 1501 BC)
  • PLANK (Early Bronze Age - 2350 BC to 1501 BC)
  • POLLEN (Bronze Age - 2350 BC to 701 BC)
  • POT (Bronze Age - 2350 BC to 701 BC)
  • SCRAPER (TOOL) (Early Bronze Age - 2350 BC to 1501 BC)
  • TROUGH (Early Bronze Age - 2350 BC to 1501 BC)
  • VESSEL (Bronze Age - 2350 BC to 701 BC)
  • WORKED OBJECT (Bronze Age - 2350 BC to 701 BC)
  • BURNT FLINT (Beaker - 2300 BC to 1700 BC)
  • COFFIN (Beaker - 2300 BC to 1700 BC)
  • HUMAN REMAINS (Beaker - 2300 BC to 1700 BC)
  • PLANK (Beaker - 2300 BC to 1700 BC)
  • POT (Beaker - 2300 BC to 1700 BC)
  • POT BOILER (Beaker - 2300 BC to 1700 BC)
  • SCRAPER (TOOL) (Beaker - 2300 BC to 1700 BC)
  • TROUGH (Beaker - 2300 BC to 1700 BC)
  • VESSEL (Beaker - 2300 BC to 1700 BC)

Protected Status - none

Sources and further reading

---Aerial Photograph: CUCAP RC 8 EB 19.
---*Fieldwork: Fenland Survey. FWL 171. FENS.
---*Fieldwork: Fenland Survey. FWL EM. FENS.
---Photograph: FXF, FXK, FXJ, FXG.
---Record Card: NAU Staff. 1974-1988. Norfolk Archaeological Index Primary Record Card.
---Secondary File: Secondary File.
<S1>Archive: Fenland Folders.
<S2>Article in Serial: Bates, S. & Wiltshire, P.. 2000. Excavation of a Burnt Mound at Feltwell Anchor, Norfolk, 1992. Norfolk Archaeology. Vol XLII Pt III pp 389-414.
<S2>Illustration: Finds Illustrations.
<S3>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, 182-187.
<S4>Unpublished Document: 1992. Fenland Management Project, Norfolk. Excavations at Feltwell Anchor, Archive Summary..
<S5>Article in Serial: Gurney, D. (ed.). 1993. Excavations and Surveys in Norfolk 1992. Norfolk Archaeology. Vol XLI Pt IV pp 522-532. p 526.
<S6>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.

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