One ring ditch had no dating evidence at all, and its suggested early date is based on monument typology. The stratigraphy suggested that ring ditch had at least two phases of use. First phase: Hengiform monument/Ring ditch with poss. opposing entrances, a blocking feature and a central pit. Second phase: Closing of openings to form a complete ditch. Dated late Neolthic/early Bronze Age?

A well-defined circular ring ditch approximately 13.5m in diameter was revealed in the north-eastern corner of one excavation area. Although the northern side of the feature was truncated, it appears to have had possible opposed entrances to the north/north-east and south-west.

The ditch was cut into the natural bedrock and because of this the edges of the cut were rather irregular – it was up to 0.73m deep, decreasing to 0.34m towards the north-east. Although truncation made it difficult to be certain, it appeared to be slightly wider on the east-west axis rather than a true circle with internal dimensions of 13.5m east–west and 12.5m north–south. The sides sloped gradually with a gently concave profile onto a flat bedrock base.

The ditch contained a single fill – a sterile mid-yellow to orange-brown loose sandy silt with occasional stone fragments. No finds were recorded either during the trenching or the excavation despite 100% excavation of the fill, and no palaeoenvironmental evidence was recovered from samples.

The southern side of the ring ditch initially appeared to be continuous, but to the south-west the ditch narrowed and a longitudinal section there identified two terminals represented by two cuts creating a possible entrance c. 1m wide, with the ditch having steeper sides but also becoming shallower to the west.

Two shallow postholes were also recorded, one cut in the narrow gap between the terminals and the other cut within the base of a ditch terminal. Both postholes were 0.20m in diameter with U-shaped profiles and depths not exceeding 0.05m, and their fills were the same as the ditch deposit. No finds were recovered.

A small pit or posthole cut was also identified on the southern side of the ring ditch, a short distance from the south-western entrance. This feature was 0.5m wide and 0.20m deep with steep sides forming a U-shaped profile, and its single fill was a darker orange brown silt. Although the relationship was difficult to determine, it may have been earlier than the ring ditch.

At the north-eastern side of the feature the ditch became more irregular and segmented, possibly due to later truncation by ploughing although the extent and depth of this disturbance was sometimes unclear. A longitudinal slot through ditch cut identified a ditch terminal with moderately sloped sides and a depth of 0.18m. Identifying the opposing terminus proved difficult with the ditch tailing off as a shallow cut, with a possible truncated continuation to the west as a cut.

Approximately 1.6m south of the northern entrance of the ring ditch was a short linear ditch or gully segment orientated west by south and east by north and up to 2.80m long, 0.63m wide and 0.19m deep, with gently sloping sides and a flat base. This feature might have formed a blocking feature to anyone entering from the northern entrance and was perhaps the foundation for a wooden screen or fence. The fill was identical to that of the ring ditch, a mid-yellow to orange-brown loose sandy silt. No finds were recovered, so although the feature segment may have been contemporary with the use of the ring ditch this cannot be proven.

Within the interior of the ring ditch just north of the centre was a single shallow pit cut. This had a diameter of 0.60m and was up to 0.23m deep with steep sides forming a U-shaped profile. The fill was a mid-greyish brown silty sand with no organic material or charcoal tosuggest a cremation burial, and no finds were recovered. The feature could have originally formed the base of a central timber post.

At some point it appears that the south-western entrance of the ring ditch was closed down or blocked in some manner. A re-cut had very shallow sides and was much narrower than the rest of the ditch at this point. The fill was mid-yellow to orange-brown loose sandy silt. On the northern side of the ring ditch, later truncation made it impossible to determine if the northern entrance had similarly been closed during this phase although it is possible that the shallow segment represented a re-cut of the northern entrance, rather than the original ring ditch. See MNT28633

The other ring ditch described as a C-shaped enclosure with internal cremation burial, later urned cremation burials. Dated Early Bronze Age - Between 1984–1690 cal BC and 1731–1408 cal BC (95.4%).

Near the centre of the excavation area and approximately 12m west of the other ring ditch (mentioned above) was this ring ditch, which was situated beneath a patchy spread of subsoil making initial identification of the plan difficult. Following hand cleaning, however, it became clear that the ring ditch was open-ended on the western side forming a ‘C-shaped’ feature or enclosure. This was in contrast to the previous evaluation trench that had identified a possible western side to the ring ditch.

The ring ditch was 10.30m across on a north–south axis, with a ditch up to 0.90m and 0.23m deep, its maximum depth being on the south-eastern side. The sides sloped at a gentle to moderate angle to a flat base and lessened in gradient towards the north-west where the ditch became very shallow (0.01m deep) between a ditch slot and the northern terminal.

Although C-shaped overall the ditch actually appeared to consist of a number of straight segments – this was particularly evident with the southern side and might indicate that the feature was originally dug in a series of linked sections although there was no additional evidence for this in the excavation slots.

The ring ditch contained a single fill – a mid-orange brown sandy silt, with very occasional stone fragments. No finds were recorded from the ring ditch either during the trenching or the excavation despite removing 100% of the fill. No palaeoenvironmental evidence was recovered from the samples. To the south the ditch was truncated. A longitudinal section througha cut revealed a very gradual slope westwards where it had a depth of less than 0.05m making it difficult to identify the southern ditch terminal. Just to the west was a short linear slot, aligned north-west to south-east and 2.0m long and up to 0.09m deep. Its orientation was slightly different to the rest of the enclosure and it appears to have been a separate feature although it shared the same cut characteristics and had a similar fill.

Within the enclosure interior was a pit cut into the bedrock, slightly to the east of centre. The pit was sub-oval in plan and 0.65m deep with vertical sides falling to a flat base – it contained 1322.3 grammes of cremated human bone. The lower primary deposit within the pit was a very dark greyish-black and friable silty sand with abundant quantities of cremated bone. The upper deposit was a mid-brownish-grey loose silty sand 0.12m thick with less visible bone. Once the fill was removed the bedrock beneath was visibly heat-affected suggesting that some of the cremated material was still hot when deposited. A retouched narrow flint blade was also recovered from the pit, and oak and hawthorn charcoal retrieved from samples. The cremated remains were of an adult individual (18+ years), with no skeletal elements suitable for an assessment of possible biological sex. A radiocarbon (14C) date of 1778 – 1626 cal BC at 78.1% confidence was obtained from the bone.

Jamie Patrick, 2022, An Archaeological Field Excavation on Land of Beck Lane, Sutton-in-Ashfield, Nottinghamshire (Unpublished document). SNT5987.