Area J2 coincides with the southern part of the former Cavalry Barracks on the east side of Butt Road, Colchester. <1>

A small quantity of Late Bronze Age or Early to Middle Iron Age pottery shows that there was some, probably limited, activity during that period. Both these sherds were from irregular pits F15 and F19 interpreted as tree throws in T30.

Only two sherds of Roman pottery were recovered. One, which cannot be closely dated, is from the lower part of a grey ware jar or bowl. This came from the fill of posthole F43 (finds no 14) in T21. The other is a small sherd of Colchester colour-coated ware, dated early 2nd to mid-late 3rd century, from L4 (finds no 5) in T30. Undated ditches in T24, T33, T35 and T39 were interpreted as possible Roman field boundaries.

A single field ditch in T26 on the north edge of Area J2 was the only medieval feature defined in the stage 1b evaluation. It is possible that some of the undated field ditches were medieval. A post-medieval north-south gravelled track, aligned N to S, was defined across the centre of the area (possibly associated with a similar track excavated on Area J (northeast) in 2004). There were also a large number of modern, Garrison-related foundations and services.

Irregular pits (in T22, T23, T25, T27, T30, T32, T33, T34, T35 and T38) were interpreted as tree throws. LBA/MIA pottery was recovered from ?tree-throw pits F15 and F19 in T30.

Trial-trenching had previously been undertaken in advance of outline planning permission in 2002 (Stage 1a), limited to the (S and E) edges of the site. <2>