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SEDGEFORD HISTORICAL AND ARCHAEOLOGICAL RESEARCH PROJECT 2001: SIXTH INTERIM REPORT
by Sophie Cabot, Gareth Davies and Rik Hoggett
Despite the restrictions of the Foot and Mouth outbreak, the 2001 summer season was highly successful one for SHARP. Our excavations and fieldwork continued apace and we greatly increased our range of on-site courses in archaeology, developing close links with the University of East Anglia's Continuing Education Department. We also continued our tradition of public lectures, site tours and open days, and the season ended with a very well received conference on 'The Origins of the Anglo-Saxon Church', the proceedings of which are currently being prepared for publication.
In the interests of broadening our academic profile, during 2001 members of the team gave papers at the Society for Medieval Archaeology's Conference in Cardiff, the Interpreting Stratigraphy Conference, York, and the Council for British Archaeology (CBA) Education Conference, also in York, as well as to local societies and educational groups, from Burnham Market to Colchester and beyond!
BONEYARD AND REEDDAM
Work continued on the main excavation site (see Norfolk Archaeology passim) and further Mid to Late Anglo-Saxon settlement and cemetery areas were excavated in the original Boneyard trench. Through a combined approach of targeted investigation and reinvestigation of certain areas, we managed to consolidate work from previous seasons, clarifying a number of very important stratigraphic relationships which had not previously been fully understood and linking up different areas and phases of the site.
Newly excavated features include a shallow pit, and north south drainage gullies at the western extent of the excavation area, these all correspond with features excavated further to the south in previous seasons. On the lower slope of the original excavation area, three more burials were excavated: two coffin burials, with brackets in situ, truncated an earlier shroud burial. This shroud burial was further truncated by a north-south drainage gully. To the west of these burials there may be an area free of burials where structural features were excavated in 1999 - 2000. Next season it is hoped to fully clarify this structural/burial sequence, and link the burial sequence from this point, to the northern extent of our Reeddam excavations.
In the Reeddam trench, the final Saxon burials were lifted and beneath them a number of Iron Age features were discovered and excavated. These include gullies and postholes dated by pottery, as well as pits, and a ditch terminus. Combined with other finds of Iron Age material in this area in the past, we are confident of occupation at the base of the Heacham river valley at this point, potentially associated with a roundhouse. All of the Iron Age features were cut into natural sands, and following their excavation the Reeddam trench has now been closed down.
A new excavation area was opened to the west of the existing trench almost tripling the size of the Boneyard trench. The heavily disturbed plough soil was removed by machine and metal detected, before excavation continued by hand throughout the season. It is expected that this area will provide further settlement and cemetery evidence, but its primary function is to relocate trenches dug in 1958 and correlate them with our own.
The phasing of the original excavation is now complete up to and including the 2000 excavation season. Results will need to be adjusted in the light of further excavation, but the basic sequence shows three main phases of cut features, the first of which are truncated by burials, whilst the second and third phases of cut features appear to post-date burial activity, and may be contemporaneous in places. Where there are stratigraphic relationships between cut features, the impression is that occupation and burial activity has slowly moved upslope through time. The refinement of pottery dating from the site has used the ratio of Ipswich ware (23%) to Thetford ware (61%), to suggest that all the secure contexts fit within a period dating roughly from 750 AD - 950AD. The next step with this post-excavation, is to look at the changes in the pottery assemblage from the various identified stratigraphic phases
Specialist Reports
In addition to the ongoing pottery analysis, in 2001 a number of specialists undertook research projects on material derived from the main excavations. Full specialist reports by all of these teams are available from the project, and their findings are summarised below.
Metal and Bone Finds: The majority of the 'small' finds date to the Eight and Ninth centuries and, as such, compliment the pottery analysis. Sedgeford's closest parallels, in terms of metal and bone finds, is the Middle-Late Saxon settlement site at Brandon, although a lack of variety in our assemblage may reflect a lesser degree of consumption of metal and bone items. An interesting link with the Middle-Late Saxon settlement site at Flixborough, Humberside, may be suggested from the presence of safety-pin brooches with ring-and-dot decoration, as this class of brooch appears to have a very limited distribution.
Archaeo-environmental: Plant microfossils and other remains recovered by environmental sampling on Boneyard indicate that cereal grains are present but on the whole chaff is not, therefore grain processing is taking place elsewhere. Fish bones occur in small quantities, as do weed seeds, but over all assemblages represent normal dry land conditions. No highly differentiated feature assemblages have been observed.
Zooarchaeology: Animal remains research results to date indicate that Sedgeford agriculture was largely typical of wool production, with the majority of bone being from sheep over two years old. Beef is also represented in some quantity, although pig is much rarer. This reflects the historic agricultural tradition in the area. Wild game, although present is very rare and does not appear to be a major element of diet. Fish and shellfish are increasingly well represented, but also remain a minor element.
Palaeodietry research: As part of ongoing PhD Research at the University of Bristol, bone collagen and bone cholesterol was recovered from human bone samples from the Boneyard site. Analysis of the relative quantities of different isotopic variants in these samples has shown that there was no unusually high marine component of the diet of the subjects. It has also shown no significant differentiation within the population in terms of access to different protein foods, which might reflect status.
Osteological Research:
From 2001, our on-site osteological research team has been engaging in a specially devised five-year research strategy. This strategy includes specific research projects into the physical anthropology and health status of the Sedgeford population, but also incorporates research into burial practice: for example, initial research has been undertaken on burial orientation, grave furnishings and groupings. By incorporating traditional and empirical human bone recording methods with anthropological elements, we hope, over the coming years, to dispense with the traditional boundaries that are frequently imposed on elements of 'specialist' research.
Bearing this in mind, the next progressive step to be made by our team of 'specialists', is to attempt to develop conclusions by working closely with the site post-excavation team, discussing changing artefact assemblages by stratigraphic phase. This work can start in earnest when our original excavation is finished, hopefully, in 2002 or 2003.
OTHER EXCAVATIONS
It has always been SHARP's intention to place all of its excavations into wider spatial contexts, initially at the level of settlement foci, but ultimately at 'parish' level. This year saw two smaller excavations attempt to incorporate previously disparate data into the wider spatial context of the shifting Middle-Late Saxon settlement focus.
Chalkpit
In the 2001 season a small excavation took place in the field containing a disused chalk pit 100m to the west of the Boneyard. This is in an area known to have contained features on interest in the past, including a Saxon oven excavated by NAU ahead of pipe laying in 1991. Trial trenching concluded that although archaeological features were present, they were of too deep, too unclear in nature and devoid of dateable material, to provide a useful research focus at this time. However, the pipe trench itself was relocated and partially excavated, allowing us to integrate other archaeological reports with our own.
Reeddam II
A 35m x 1.5m trench further 100m west of the existing Reeddam excavation was opened over extant earthworks, to provide further evidence of the construction of the Medieval reed bed, and the neighbouring track. Although water logging has made work difficult in the lower end of this trench, the results of this intervention were promising, with further work to be carried out in 2002. Features identified so far include a large ditch, thought to be Medieval, and a number of cobbled or 'made up' areas. It is thought that these may relate to the creation of the reed bed. The reed bed acts as a terminus post quem for the Middle-Late Saxon settlement activity, and this excavation has confirmed that this 'dating tool' extends further west, towards the Medieval settlement focus around the parish church.
DOCUMENTARY AND NON-INVASIVE WORK
As usual, although the focus of work was on the Anglo-Saxon site at Boneyard, SHARP and others have continued to research Medieval and later occupation of the parish. The Smithdon Hundred Local History Forum conducted a program of field-walking in the Eaton area, to the west of the village. This forms the beginning of ongoing research, and is being combined with research in the archives for this lost hamlet. Publication is expected in the annual Smithdon 'Miscellany' by the summer.
SHARP conducted further geophysical survey in the churchyard of the parish church, providing us with better than ever outlines of the demolished Chancel and North Transept. It was also possible to suggest that the lack of solid chalk underlying the eastern end of the church had been responsible for the collapse of the eastern end of the Chancel. Documentary research on Wills relating to St Mary's provided fascinating information about the pre-reformation interior. A number of images and altars are mentioned, as well as four Gilds operating in the church between 1417 and the reformation. The documentary work on West Hall Manor, reported on previously, has also been concluded this year.
This is only a summary of the results from the 2001 season, which have been more fully published in SHARP's annual Interim Report. Copies of this report are available online at http://www.sharp.org.uk, as are details of how to become more involved with the Project's work.
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