Monument record 7943/0/1 - Pit containing Bronze Age cremation urn, Upton

An inverted, early Bronze Age Collared Urn, containing the remains of a single mature adult, was found in a small pit close to the banks of the present-day course of the River Nene. The burial has been radiocarbon dated to the early 2nd millennium BC, the early Bronze Age. Immediately to the north-west and cutting the cremation pit was a posthole, which may have supported a grave marker. Further, undated, postholes were recorded nearby.

{1} A cremation burial within a Collared Urn was recovered from pit 306. The pit had a steep-sided, concave profile and measured 0.69m in diameter and 0.34m deep. The pit was backfilled around rthe urn with reddish brown silty clay with gravel inclusions which contained no pyre debris. The urn had been intact but the base was damaged during stripping of the topsoil.

The bone deposit weighed 2.3kg, average for a complete, adult modern cremation. Age related pathology included changes consistent with osteoarthritis.

Immediately to the north-west and cutting the cremation pit was a posthole, which may have supported a grave marker. It measured 0.55m in diameter and was 0.28m deep. It was steep-sided with a break in slope half way down and steep narrower hole at the base. Its fill was similar to the fill of the cremation pit.

To the south west of the cremation was a shallow post hole and immediately to the north west was a shallow stakehole. Both features were mid greyish brown silty clay loam with gravel and charcoal flecks. Two further shallow postholes were situated to the south-east of the cremation. They were filled with mid greyish brown silty clay loam with occasional river gravels. One contained two pieces of worked flint.

This burial has been radiocarbon dated to the early 2nd millennium BC, the early Bronze Age

<1> Foard-Colby A.; Carlyle S., 2008, A Bronze Age Cremation Burial From Upton, Northampton: Upton Flood Attenuation (Phase 2), Archaeological Watching Brief, p. 3, 5 (checked) (Report). SNN106098.

<2> Foard-Colby A., 2008, A Collared Urn Burial from Upton, Northampton, pp.15-26 (checked) (Article). SNN106431.

<3> Foard-Colby, A, 2006, A Bronze Age cremation burial from Upton, Northampton (Article). SNN112210.

Record last edited

Sep 17 2021 2:46PM