NAR SH48NE24

A burnt mound set on the edge of low, possibly damp ground close by an old stream channel.
This is a crescentic mound of blackened soil and burnt stone. It is about 18m north-south by 12m and rises up to 0.5m high, opening onto the old stream to the west.
Mounds such as these were a product of firing stones, 'pot boilers', used to heat water in a trough. This might be used for cooking, textile processing or baths and saunas. Most excavated burnt mounds, particularly classic crescentic examples such as this, are dated to the Bronze Age although burnt stone technology and with it some form of burnt mound, persisted through the Roman interlude and into the early medieval period.

John Wiles 11.09.07