| Summary : The site of a Neolithic causewayed enclosure at Orsett. The remains survive as cropmarks which were first photographed from the air in 1961; there are also other features. Trial trenching was undertaken in 1975 in order to determine the state of preservation and confirm the date of the main features. The cropmarks were transcribed and analysed by RCHME in 1994 as part of the Industry and Enclosure in the Neolithic Project. The enclosure comprises three incomplete, concentric circuits of interrupted ditch. The outer two are only circa 10 metres apart and follow the same irregular circuit, and feature causeways whose positions occasionally coincide. The inner ditch is separated from the outer two by a gap which varies between 27 and 40 metres, and encloses an area of circa 52 by 48 metres. A narrow ditch which runs close to the middle of the three ditches was shown by excavation to be a palisade trench. Internal features contemporary with the Neolithic enclosure were few, but an oval plan structure has been suggested from a collection of postholes and a sizeable pit. Iron Age and Early Medieval activity was also attested. Recent research into the dating of Neolithic enclosures has indicated that the inner ditch at Orsett was dug probably in 3450-3370 cal BC. The middle ditch was dug in or after 3635-3115 cal BC. Potentially the period of use could be very short. The enclosure appears to have gone out of use in the third quarter of the fourth millennium cal BC, perhaps even by 3300 cal BC. |
More information : TQ 65158055. Trial excavations of the Orsett Causewayed Camp (see plan) in 1975, revealed that the two outer interrupted ditches were on average 4.0m wide and 1.5m deep, steep-sided and flat-bottomed, only a few sherds of Neolithic pottery and a broken polished flint axe were found in them. Inside the two ditches the presence of a timber palisade slot and gateway was confirmed. The third or inner interrupted ditch was also 4.0m wide but was 2.0m deep and produced much Neolithic pottery. An overlying subrectangular enclosure ditch, V-shaped, 4.2m wide by 1.5m deep was dated to the Early Iron Age.
Two ring ditches about 9.0m diameter with entrances to the east both enclosed east to west extended inhumations in wooden coffins. A late 7th early 8th century date is suggested for these burials. (1-2)
TQ 653806. The Causewayed Enclosure at Orsett, Essex, was trial trenched in 1975 to determine the state of site preservation and confirm its postulated Neolithic date and site sequence. The enclosure consisted of three incomplete circuits of discontinuous ditch with an associated timber palisade slot lying inside and concentric to the middle ditch. Within the interior was an oval post hole structure of a contemporary date. Quantities of Mildenhall style pottery and flint arctefacts of the mid third millennium BC were recovered from the primary ditch silts and other features. A small quantity of Late Neolithic/Early Bronze Age wares came from the secondary ditch silts and the interior.
Later phases on the site were represented by unenclosed Early Iron Age occupation, a Middle Iron Age sub-rectangular enclosure and Saxon ring-ditch burials. (3)
Additional reference. (4)
Crop marks of a Neolithic causewayed enclosure, centred on TQ65158055, are visible on aerial photographs. The enclosure comprises three concentric ditch circuits. The two outer ditches, which are only visible in the west to north east sectors, lie approximately 10 metres apart and closely follow the same irregular circuit. They are cut at regular intervals by narrow causeways and the postions of these coincide in several places. This has led St Joseph to suggest that they were laid out together (6). The inner ditch is separated from the outer two by a gap of 27 to 40 metres and encloses an area 52 x 48 metres in size. A narrow ditch lies 5 metres inside the middle of the three ditches and runs parallel with it. This feature has been confirmed through excavation to represent a palisade trench (7).
The enclosure was plotted at 1:2500 scale, by the RCHME Air Photography Unit in September 1994. This survey formed part of the national industry and Enclosure in the Neolithic project. (Event UID 927129, Parent Event UID 923509). For further details, see report and plan at 1:2500 scale, held in archive.
Also as part of the neolithic enclosures project, a reconstruction painting of the site was commissioned from Frank Gardiner by RCHME and Essex County Council; a copy of this is held in the archive (Essex CC Copyright Reserved) (5-7)
Scheduled. (8) [See also source 10 below for online acess to the scheduling information]
Recent research into the dating of Neolithic enclosures has included that at Orsett. The model indicates that the inner ditch at Orsett was dug probably in 3450-3370 cal BC. The middle ditch was dug in or after 3635-3115 cal BC. Structures in the entrance area, which should have functioned together with the middle ditch, may have been built in or after 3520-3325 cal BC. There are insufficient radiocarbon measurements from the Orsett circuits for the model to determine the span of use of the enclosure but potentially the period of use could be very short.
Both the digging of the middle ditch and the building of a timber entrance could be contemporary with the construction of the inner circuit; the possibility of a single construction for all three circuits and the palisade is compatible with the radiocarbon results. The dating evidence is, however, scarce, and is also compatible with piecemeal construction of the complex over a few generations.
The enclosure does seem to have gone out of use in the third quarter of the fourth millennium cal BC, perhaps even by 3300 cal BC. This suggests that there is likely to have been a substantial interval between the abandonment of the enclosure and the resumption of significant activity on the site. (9)
At time of recording in 2011, access to the designation (scheduling) information, noted in source 8 above, is provided via the National Heritage List for England. (10)
|