Late Bronze Age settlement uncovered in Ipswich during project to build new link road between Europa Way and Bramford Road

Archaeologists have been provided a glimpse into the past during a project to build a new link road in Ipswich.

Remains of a 3,000 year-old settlement were unearthed while teams worked on connecting Europa Way with Bramford Road.

The site, from the late Bronze Age, contains a cremation cemetery with 18 burials, carbon dated to about 1,200 BC.

In addition, holes where two roundhouses would have sat, alongside those of six other structures plus two ring gullies, were uncovered.

Initial observation of the site was conducted by Cotswold Archaeology before fieldwork by Oxford Archaeology.

Chris Thatcher, senior project manager at Oxford Archaeology, said: “The Bronze Age remains at Europa Way have been an important discovery to understanding prehistoric activity along this stretch of the Gipping valley.

“Some aspects of the settlement remains are of considerable significance in the wider regional context, especially the substantial pottery finds, the cremation cemetery, and the way that the agricultural landscape was organised.

“One distinctive feature of this cremation cemetery, is how close it was to the buildings and daily life – the inference being that the inhabitants of the settlement were likely buried close by.

“This is part of an emerging pattern of Late Bronze Age burial activity, and appears to mark a shift from the Middle Bronze Age preference for major cemeteries, typically within extensive field systems, or the deceased being interred at earlier-established ancestral monuments.”

Other objects uncovered at Europa Way include ceramics dating to the post Deverel-Rimbury period, clay weights, a clay spindle whorl, cremation urns, a copper alloy pin and worked flint.

The authority said the evidence pointed to the site having a mixed agricultural economy, featuring cereal production and cattle breeding.

Europa Way reopened to the public last month, with work having started in September.

In addition, other archaeological evidence has been uncovered, pointing to activity at the site during other periods, including neolithic pottery (4,300 BC to 2,000 BC), a gold Iron Age coin (800 BC to 43 AD) and two post-medieval ditches aligning with 19th century maps.

Cllr Philip Faircloth-Mutton, from Suffolk County Council, said: “Suffolk has once again revealed its unique history, and added another layer to our understanding of what life was like for previous generations in our part of the world.

“This is why it is important that the council’s archaeological service is here to help record and preserve our past. As important and interesting as finds are today, who knows how significant this information might be in generations to come.”