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A Late Bronze Age Enclosure at Lofts Farm, Essex

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  10 November 2022

N. Brown ,
R. Holgate ,
H. Major  and
P. Murphy
N. Brown
Affiliation:
Planning Department, Essex County Council, Globe House, New St, Chelmsford CM1 1LF
R. Holgate
Affiliation:
Luton Museum and Art Gallery, Wordown Park, Luton
H. Major
Affiliation:
Essex County Council, Archaeology Section, Planning Department, Globe House, New Street, Chelmsford
P. Murphy
Affiliation:
Centre of East Anglian Studies, University of East Anglia, Norwich
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Abstract

A double-ditched sub-rectangular enclosure measuring c.42 by 48 m was excavated. It was shown to have been a Late Bronze Age settlement, with a single central roundhouse opposite the only entrance, and with a rectangular structure in one corner. The site produced a typical range of Late Bronze Age artefacts. The site is low-lying, and environmental data from the waterlogged fills of a well indicate an open landscape of damp grassland. These factors together with the absence of waste from the earliest stages of crop-cleaning among carbonized plant remains from the enclosure, point to a primarily pastoral economy.

A few Neolithic features and artefacts were also found but these are not considered to represent permanent settlement.

Type
Research Article
Information
Proceedings of the Prehistoric Society , Volume 54 , Issue 1 , 1988 , pp. 249 - 302
Copyright
Copyright © The Prehistoric Society 1988

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References

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