#ThrowbackThursday Mile End

Today, for #ThrowbackThursday we’re remembering our work at a small excavation we carried out in 2018 at Mile End, Colchester in advance of development of the site. .

On the 21st to 30th May 2018, we worked on excavating Area B of the Colchester North development before the construction of urban residential and commercial building works.

The excavation would reveal a small Middle Bronze Age cemetery which consisted of one definite and two probable cremation burials in a small cluster to the south of two prehistoric ring-ditches. All three of the burials would contain disturbed remains of Ardleigh-style Deverel-Rimbury cremation urns

The small quantity of cremated human bone was radiocarbon dated all the way to 1374 to 1125 B.C.! Cremation burials were common in the Middle Bronze Age, and the presence of urns definitely helped to preserve the bone within!

To learn more about this site, check out CAT Report 1298 at cat.essex.ac.uk.

Written by work experience student Keely.