ENN109557 - Land at Apex Park, Phase 4, 2019 (Excavation)

The excavation exposed the Neolithic/early Bronze Age c 16m diameter ring ditch, dated by late flint, and charcoal recovered from its lower fills. Abraded late Neolithic/early Bronze Age (Beaker), Bronze Age and Iron Age pottery from upper fills suggest use continued into the Iron Age. The ring ditch probably surrounded a barrow, though no primary burial was encountered a cremation burial recorded during the evaluation was radiocarbon dated to the middle Bronze Age. The ring ditch lies a short distance to the south-east of a known larger segmented Early Bronze Age enclosure ditch. A quantity of worked flint was recovered from the ring ditch and neighbouring Iron Age features. Iron Age pottery from the ring ditch and Iron Age pits and postholes (including a possible rectangular four-post structure) evidence outlying activity associated with a settlement previously excavated to the south-west. A NW-SE aligned ditch south of the ring ditch is tentatively dated to the Iron Age possibly forming a boundary between the earlier prehistoric monument to its north and middle Iron Age settlement to the south-west. A later date for the ditch cannot be entirely ruled out, and it may be the remains of a medieval or post-medieval field boundary. Preceding geophysical survey and trial-trench evaluation in 2018 and 2019 of the wider c 14.9ha Phase 4 development site established the presence of prehistoric remains, notably a ring ditch, upon which an excavation area, totalling c 0.53ha, was subsequently targeted. The excavation exposed the c 16m-wide ring ditch. Charcoal radiocarbon dated to 1873–1663 cal BC and late Neolithic flint recovered from its lower fills indicate a late Neolithic/early Bronze Age date for its construction. Abraded late Neolithic/early Bronze Age (Beaker), Bronze Age and Iron Age pottery within its upper fills suggest that the ring ditch continued to form part of the landscape into the Iron Age. It is likely that the ring ditch surrounded a barrow, though no primary burial was encountered. A cremation burial recorded during the 2019 evaluation to the east of the ring ditch has been radiocarbon dated to the middle Bronze Age. A small number of scattered Iron Age pits and postholes provide evidence of outlying activity associated with a settlement previously excavated to the south-west. A large quantity of worked flint recovered from the ring ditch and Iron Age features suggests that the monument was a focus of later prehistoric activity. A NW–SE aligned ditch tentatively dated to the Iron Age crossed the site and may have formed a boundary between the earlier prehistoric monument to its north and Bronze Age/Iron Age settlement to the south-west. A medieval or post-medieval date for the ditch, however, cannot be entirely ruled out, and it may have constituted the remains of a field boundary. Remains of land use post-dating the Iron Age were scare and indicative of medieval/post-medieval and modern agricultural activities.