They were identified as possible hearth pits, the kind of shallow, fired-earth hollows in which a fire might be lit directly in the soil, perhaps for cooking, perhaps for some form of heat treatment of materials. Simple as they sound, such features are among the more elusive traces of early activity, easily disturbed or missed entirely.

Archaeologist Sheila Lane directed the excavation, recorded under the licence number 09E522. She found four pits in total. Two were oval in plan, ranging from 0.75 to 1.25 metres in diameter and reaching up to 0.33 metres in depth. The remaining two were smaller and subcircular, between 0.33 and 0.45 metres across, with a depth of only 0.15 metres. The variation in size and shape raises quiet questions. Hearth pits of different dimensions sometimes reflect different functions, or different moments in time, but without further dating evidence or associated finds noted here, the pits remain tantalisingly incomplete as a story.