Land South of Burwell Road, Exning, Suffolk

From the 25th February to the 7th of March 2019 Oxford Archaeology East undertook a trial trench evaluation on land south of Burwell Road, Exning, Suffolk (TL 6093 6577). A total of 80 trenches, each measuring 30m in length, were excavated across the site, only 9 of which contained archaeological features. A sample of periglacial hollows were investigated by the excavation of a series of 1m test pits, with the hollow in Trench 11 yielding Early Neolithic pottery and animal bone. In the north-west part of the site, Trenches 3 and 7 revealed a large ditch with a north-east to south-west alignment. No finds were recovered and therefore the ditch remains undated; a single grain of emmer/spelt was recovered from an environmental sample. A small number of other features were recorded in the north-west part of the site, including a pit and post-hole yielding Early Neolithic pottery in Trenches 9 and 12, and a post-medieval ditch in Trench 9. Within Trenches 79 and 80, at the south-eastern limits of the site, two small pits and a ditch terminus were uncovered. Although the pits contained no finds, one pit (63) was found to contain fragments of hazelnut. Ditch terminus 71 contained animal bone, Early Neolithic pottery and Early Neolithic worked flints. Early Neolithic pottery was also recovered from three trenches in the north-west corner, including from a possible post-hole. Although much of the site was found to be devoid of archaeological remains, a small area of Early Neolithic activity has been uncovered along the south-east limit of the site. Early Neolithic ditches are deemed unusual, therefore making this small number of features and its unabraded finds assemblage significant.