Site Event/Activity record ECH4326 - The Heronbridge Research Project;Excavation and Survey (2004, third Phase)

Trench III, begun in 2002, was extended towards the river, and additional information was recovered about the Roman quay and contemporary river conditions, as were further pieces of sculpture from the sepulchral monument erected on the neighbouring promontory. Trench V was extended westwards to obtain a full section across the post-Roman defended enclosure ditch. Large numbers of branch fragments occurred in the fill, the diagonal cuts they exhibited implying an activity such as hurdle-making. Flax seeds and stemmed were also found and radiocarbon dated, the results of which suggested a date of around 700AD. Trench VII, the only new trench excavated this season, confirmed the Heronbridge cemetery as a mass grave for battle casualties. Two skeletons were excavated, both males who had received several blade cuts to the head. The results of the radiocarbon dating suggested the early part of the seventh century.