Trans. Leicestershire Archaeol. and Hist. Soc., 92 (2018) SCIENTIFIC DATING OF THE EARLY BRONZE AGE LOG COFFIN BURIALS AT SPROXTON AND EATON, LEICESTERSHIRE Richard Brunning, Andy M. Jones, Gordon Cook and Tony Krus Scientific dating of burials from the excavated Bronze Age barrows at Sproxton and Eaton has been undertaken as part of a wider study of the log coffin burial tradition in England and Wales. The results have provided a more precise and reliable chronology for the interments at both sites. The log coffin burials at the sites lie within the temporal boundaries for that tradition established elsewhere in Britain, with the examples at Sproxton occurring about a century after the Eaton ones. INTRODUCTION The analysis of the burials at Sproxton and Eaton were carried out as part of a wider project to improve understanding of the log coffin burial tradition in Bronze Age Britain, with financial support from a British Academy/Leverhume small research grant. The aim of the re-analysis was to obtain modern reliable scientific dating evidence for the log coffin burials at the two sites. Two new radiocarbon dates were obtained from each barrow, providing much greater temporal resolution for the burial activities on the sites and for the log coffin inhumations. The results have allowed these log coffin burials to be placed in the development of the tradition across the UK. The excavations at Eaton and Sproxton were directed by Patrick Clay and assisted by Deborah Sawday, both of the Leicestershire Museums Archaeological Field Unit, in 1978 (Sproxton) and 1979 (Eaton), and were published soon after (Clay 1981). Despite more recent investigations (Hughes 2000; Thomas 2008 and 2013; Finn 2011), the number of complete barrow excavations in Leicestershire is still relatively low compared with other regions, which means that the Sproxton and Eaton excavations remain very important for the understanding of Bronze Age burial practices in the county. A more precisely defined chronology of Early Bronze Age burial traditions remains a key aim of the East Midlands research agenda and strategy (Knight et al. 2012, 46). THE LOG COFFIN BURIAL TRADITION In the Bronze Age, log coffins were used to contain inhumations or cremations in barrows across Britain (Parker Pearson et al. 2013). Very occasionally the wood itself survives in waterlogged conditions, but more often the shape of the coffin is