Progress Power Project, Eye Airfield, Yaxley, Suffolk

From the 3rd to the 24th of May 2017, Oxford Archaeology East undertook a trial trench evaluation at Eye Airfield, Yaxley, Suffolk (centred TM 1255 7461) as part of The Progress Power Project. The Phase 2 evaluation comprised the excavation of 89 30m long trenches, and revealed extensive, if somewhat dispersed archaeology. The earliest activity is represented by a single prehistoric burnt mound and associated pond feature, which are probably Early Bronze Age in origin. The burnt mound was found immediately below the plough-soil and was associated with a surface scatter of burnt flint covering an area of c. 144m2. Two areas of Roman activity were also revealed by the evaluation. The first included a possible kiln or oven flue, and was potentially an area of industrial activity. The second comprised a scatter of ditches and pits and is likely to represent the remains of a small rural farmstead. Pottery from these two area spanned the entire Roman period, but with two apparent peaks in activity between AD 40-100 and AD 150-300. Evidence of Early medieval activity was revealed at the far north-east corner of the site. The density of ditches suggests a small area of 12th century settlement, the fills of which yielded pottery and an abundance of charred cereals including free-threshing wheat, barley, rye and oats. The settlement was located on the southern fringes of Brome Common, a former medieval Green site shown on Hodskinson's map of Suffolk dated 1783. Across the rest of the site a series of post-medieval and undated ditches were revealed. A number of these corresponded to linear anomalies mapped by geophysical survey, and aligned with boundaries depicted on the 1839 Yaxley and Eye Tithe maps. Finds from the ditches were scarce, but a few sherds dating from the 16th to 19th century were recovered