A Bronze Age Barrow with associated funerary evidence and a Roman trackway at Horseheath Road, Linton

From the 6th July to 4th September 2020 Oxford Archaeology East conducted an excavation at land south of Horseheath Road, Linton, Cambridgeshire (TL 57170 46743). Five phases of activity were identified at the site spanning the Early Bronze Age to post-medieval periods, with the majority of features dating to the Early to Middle Bronze Age, including a barrow and associated burials.
During the Early to Middle Bronze Age a barrow was constructed, which consisted of a large ring ditch measuring 32m in diameter (external) and which yielded a large assemblage of worked flint (30,229 pieces weighing 1177.89kg).
A single inhumation burial of an adult female was recovered from the centre of the barrow alongside pig and dog bone, and a large post-hole directly next to the grave appears to have acted as a grave marker. A small group of three urned cremations were also identified within the north-east part of the barrow dating to the Middle Bronze Age and a single un-urned cremation to the south. Three boundaries comprising two ditches and a post-built fence line and small group of four pits were also dated to this phase.
A small quantity of Roman pottery was recovered from across the site. The presence of a large fragment within one of the barrows ring ditch fills suggests that the barrow remained a prominent earthwork at this time and may have been subjected to some backfilling during this period. A trackway was identified in the western part of the site with a north-east to south-west alignment which was overlain by a layer of colluvium.
Within the southern part of the barrow a second inhumation burial was uncovered, the skeleton of a sub-adult in a supine position with two knife blades which have been dated to the Anglo-Saxon period. No other features or finds have been dated to this phase. Two ditches, representing enclosures and boundaries were identified in the western part of the site have been dated to the post-medieval period and a small group of undated ditches were uncovered to the north-west.
Other than the large quantity of worked flint recovered from the barrow’s ring ditch, all other finds were recovered in fairly small quantities and included prehistoric and Roman pottery, animal bone, metal working debris, stone and ceramic building material. Although a number of environmental samples were taken from across the site, preservation was fairly poor.