Photo: D.A.Edwards

PREHISTORY

No.29, 1986: Barrow excavations in Norfolk 1950–82, by Andrew J.Lawson
123pp, 99figs, 20pl., microfiche. £12.00£6.40

All previous barrow investigations in Norfolk of the 19th and 20th centuries are listed, and the finds from those unpublished sites briefly described. Excavations of barrows and ring-ditches, reported in this volume, include Little Cressingham; Sweet Briar Road, Norwich; Bowthorpe; Eaton Heath; Gallows Hill, Thetford; and Weasenham. (All except Thetford were of Early Bronze Age date).
    There are also brief notes on other sites at Bridgham, Cockley Cley, Garboldisham and Old Hunstanton.
Several of these barrows consisted of two or more phases, indicated by successive ring-ditches. Several had traces of earlier occupation beneath, mainly pottery scatters. The ring-ditch at Bowthorpe had a central inhumation in a coffin, possibly designed to represent a log boat, and there were several inhumations in coffins in the surrounding ditch. The two mounds at Weasenham had cremations in situ, and the ring-ditch at Sweet Briar Road had a scatter of cremation material. A radiocarbon date for the mound at Gallows Hill suggests that it was constructed early in the 1st millennium AD but its original function is unknown. Ample evidence was found for its use as the site of a gallows in post-medieval times.
    The book concludes with a review of recent discoveries of ring-ditches and barrows in Norfolk, made since the publication of EAA 12 in 1981.

No.30, 1986: Excavations at Thornham, Warham, Wighton and Caistor St Edmund, Norfolk, by Tony Gregory and David Gurney
62pp, 38figs, 18pls. £7.50£4.15

The first part of this report describes excavations carried out by R.R. Clarke, between the end of World War II and 1963.
    They include a Romano-British enclosure of the mid-1st century AD at Thornham, re-occupied in the 2nd century and finally used as an Early Saxon cemetery. At Warham Burrows, Clarke excavated part of a Late Iron Age rectangular ditched enclosure. Close by, at Warham Camp, a section across the defences revealed details of the ramparts and the remains of a timber structure at the top of the inner bank. Excavations also showed that this Iron Age fort had originally been circular, with a possible south-western entrance, destroyed by the straightening of the river. At Wighton a further defended enclosure was investigated by Clarke, and shown to have been built in the century before the Roman conquest.
    Thornham, Warham Burrows and Wighton are rectangular enclosures similar to others known from aerial photographs, and to the excavated enclosure at Gallows Hill, Thetford. They are reviewed as a group, and their locations and relation to the Iron Age forts in Norfolk are discussed.
    The second part of this report describes the Romano-Celtic temple at Caistor St Edmund, the excavations of which were initiated by Clarke. A cult-centre is suggested by its positioning inside a large temenos with a monumental gateway, also containing other buildings.

No.33, 1987: Excavation of a Cropmark Enclosure complex at Woodham Walter, Essex, 1976 and An Assessment of Excavated Enclosures in Essex together with a selection of cropmark sites, by David Buckley, John Hedges and Deborah Priddy
80pp, 44figs, 22pl. £10.00£5.40

The programme of cropmark survey and research in Essex has identified many cropmark enclosures, often forming part of complex collections of cropmarks of different periods. Excavation has been used on selected sites to date the cropmarks and place the site into an archaeological context.
    At Woodham Walter, limited excavation confirmed the postulated Iron Age and Romano-British date for the enclosures and also revealed earlier prehistoric occupation in the area. Although the excavation was small, a tentative series of phase plans have been produced for the cropmark complex. The site is considered in relation to other cropmarks in the Chelmer-Blackwater Valley, as part of the programme of landscape studies in the area.
    The second part contains a gazetteer of all excavated enclosures in Essex, with a small selection of unexcavated ones. Each type is then discussed and summarised, with the intention of ascertaining how far the excavated sites help interpretation of the unexcavated ones. This is the first stage in the classification of enclosures, where all the evidence is assembled to facilitate a more analytical approach to questions of preservation or excavation.

No.39, 1988; The Anglo-Saxon Cemetery at Spong Hill, North Elmham, Part VI: Occupation during the seventh to second millennia BC, by Frances Healy
118pp, 88figs, 11pl., microfiche. £10.50£5.65

Extensive excavations of the Early Saxon cemetery and part of the associated settlement revealed evidence of early Prehistoric occupation on the hill top, dating from the Mesolithic to the Early Bronze Age.
    The Earlier Neolithic was represented by pits and other subsoil features, many of them in groups, rich in pottery and lithic material. Post-built structures were associated with two of these groups and successive, brief periods of occupation are indicated.
    The later Neolithic and Early Bronze Age were represented by isolated subsoil features, with pottery, but little or no lithic material. Concentrations of lithic material and sherds lay away from the features. To the north of the excavated area are two ring-ditches and a barrow, probably of Bronze Age date.
    The artefacts are analysed in detail, and microwear analysis on flint from one pit group provides interesting information for its original use. The results are interpreted with great thoroughness and there is useful discussion of post-depositional issues, especially the impact of ploughing and erosion on prehistoric pits.
    The conclusions describe the environment, economy and land use and place the site in its local and regional context. They also assess the importance of the information retrieved from Spong Hill, which has provided a useful sample of prehistoric occupation in central Norfolk.

No.40, 1988: Burgh: The Iron Age and Roman Enclosure, by Edward Martin
81pp, 62figs, 4pl., microfiche. £8.00£4.40

Burgh is the largest Iron Age fortification in Suffolk, still visible at ground level. Only two other sites in the county are broadly comparable, Barnham and Clare Camp, but the latter is not definitely Iron Age.
    This report brings together the results of three periods of excavation, 1900–1901, 1947–1957, and 1975. The enclosure is bivallate, roughly rectangular and encloses 7 hectares. It was probably built in the 1st century BC as a minor oppidum — the regional centre and seat of a local chieftain with market, administrative and religious functions. It was destroyed about 15–25 AD. An inner enclosure of 1 hectare, was built in the north-west corner, probably just before the Conquest. This was occupied, either by an official or a noble until it was partly flattened about 60 AD. However, the enclosure was used well into the 4th century, as the centre of a villa estate.
    The excavations discovered a selection of important finds, which included a good sequence of pottery, from the hand-made Iron Age wares to the Belgic wheel thrown wares, along with many Gallo-Belgic imports. These reflect the high status of the enclosure.
    The conclusions place Burgh into context within Iron Age Suffolk, and discuss later settlement history based on the supposition that it became the centre of a Saxon estate.

No.43, 1988; Excavation at the North Ring, Mucking, Essex, by Dermot Bond
59pp, 38figs, 4pl. £6.00£3.40

The excavation of the eastern side of this Late Bronze Age enclosure revealed two periods of construction, with associated structures including three circular buildings. Salvage excavations to the east produced evidence for a range of contemporary activities.
The assemblage of Late Bronze Age material included pottery, metalwork, industrial debris with sickle moulds and equipment for salt production.
The discussion and conclusions place the enclosure in context within the contemporary landscape, examining its relationship to the South Rings on the same gravel terrace, and to the earlier Middle Bronze Age pattern. Comparable sites, locally and regionally, are also discussed.
This report provides valuable information on the Bronze Age economy, environment and settlement layout on the north side of the Thames Valley.

No.48, 1990: West Stow, Suffolk: The Prehistoric and Romano-British Occupation, by Stanley West
117pp, 69figs, 7pls. £11.00£5.90

In this, the third and final West Stow report (the others, EAA 24 and 47, are now out of print) evidence for occupation of the site before the Anglo-Saxon village will be described and discussed. Mesolithic occupation is attested by a series of flint concentrations and Late Neolithic activity by a ring-ditch, presumably representing a barrow, which contained a central burial pit and over 40 un-urned cremations. A series of small enclosures, a large number of pits, an extensive pottery assemblage and quantities of animal bone represent a considerable Iron Age occupation. Romano-British activity seems to have been largely confined to pottery production and associated occupation material. Five kilns have been excavated, of generally 2nd–early 3rd-century date, producing a wide range of forms.

No.53, 1991: Excavations in Thetford 1980–82, Fison Way, (2 vols)
by Tony Gregory
ISBN 0 905594 05 3; 160figs, 61pls, microfiche. £26.65£14.00

The discovery of the Thetford treasure (a spectacular hoard of late Roman gold and silver jewellery), a mass of late Roman finds from metal detecting and a striking multiple enclosure cropmark led to the decision to excavate 5ha of this site in advance of development.
    The principal use of the site belongs to the Iron Age and Early Roman period, ending in the mid 60s AD. A series of hilltop enclosures dating back to the Middle Iron Age is replaced, at about the time of the Roman conquest, by a single substantial circular building within a double-ditched enclosure, surrounded by smaller peripheral enclosures containing possible graves. A rapid period of expansion follows as the main enclosure is massively enlarged, further circular buildings appear and the space between the inner and outer ditches is packed with rows of upright timbers. Most, if not all, of the extra-mural features are swept away. By the mid 60s AD the site had been dismantled — perhaps demolished in the aftermath of the Boudiccan revolt.
    The major investment of resources over a relatively short time indicates the importance of this grand and unusual site. Evidence for agricultural production and domestic occupation is scarce, compared to metal-working debris, including coin moulds. The author argues that this exceptional site — in its final form a two-storied Romano-Celtic temple within an extensive 'artificial oak grove' — was a uniquely important religious, tribal and ceremonial centre for the Iceni.

review

No.54, 1992: The Iron Age Forts of Norfolk, by John Davies, Tony Gregory, Andrew Lawson, Robert Rickett and Andrew Rogerson
ISBN 0 905594 06 1; 88pp, 51figs, 22pls. OUT OF PRINT

The six defended earthwork enclosures described in this report are the known Iron Age forts in Norfolk. R.R.Clarke examined some of these defended sites to ascertain their dates, and his excavation at Thetford Castle is published here alongside further work by Norfolk Archaeological Unit.
    Excavations at Tasburgh and surveys of Warham, South Creake, Holkham and Narborough make this a comprehensive review of a highly distinctive and unusual group of forts.

review

No.57, 1993: Excavations at Redgate Hill, Hunstanton, Norfolk; and at Tattershall Thorpe, Lincolnshire, by P.Chowne, F.Healy, R.Bradley, R.Cleal and I.Kinnes
ISBN 0 905594 10 X; 144pp, 59figs, 25pls, microfiche. £22.65£13.00

Current research in the prehistory of the East Anglian Fens, centred on the Fenland Project, attaches new significance to complementary work on the upland surrounding the basin. This volume brings together the very different results of two area excavations, at Tattershall Thorpe in Lincolnshire on the north-western edge of the Fens, and at Hunstanton in Norfolk, on the north-eastern edge. Both sites are the cumulative result of intermittent activity spread over hundreds of years, and both provide examples of apparently structured Later Neolithic pit deposits. Hunstanton fills out an already extensive picture of clearance, enclosure and land division in prehistory; and the largest structure uncovered there, a so far unparalleled trapezoid enclosure, is a reminder that whole classes of monument may yet remain unrecognised, even in relatively well-explored regions such as East Anglia.

No.61, 1993:The Fenland Project Number 7: Excavations in Peterborough and the Lower Welland Valley 1960–69, by W.G.Simpson, D.Gurney, J.Neve, F.Pryor
ISBN 0 9520616 1 9; 166pp, 79figs, 35pls, microfiche. £18.50£11.00

This volume brings together reports on four excavations in the Welland valley arising as a result of the Royal Commission's assessment of gravel cropmark sites in 1960. They are: a late Neolithic settlement at Barholm, and a double pit alignment at Tallington (Lincs); a pit-alignment and an Iron Age enclosure at Maxey (Cambs); and Romano-British aisled buildings at Barnack (Cambs). A Neolithic rectangular ditched enclosure and Bronze Age settlement remains at Fengate, Peterborough, are also reported. The information from this group of sites has added considerably to our understanding of prehistoric and Roman land-use and boundary systems in the Welland valley region.

No.65, 1993: Settlements on Hill-tops: Seven Prehistoric Sites in Suffolk, by E.Martin
ISBN 0 86055 214 4; 75pp, 43figs, 8pls. £12.35£8.00

This volume contains excavation reports for seven sites that all share the characteristic of a hill-top location. Although the hill-tops never exceed 50m OD in height and on average are only 30–40m higher than the adjoining valley bottoms, their elevated position was clearly a significant factor in the siting of these prehistoric settlements. The sites include a double-ditched Iron Age enclosure at Barnham that is possibly religious in function, analogous to the viereckschanzen of the Continent; first millennium BC open settlements at Barham and Framlingham; and multi-period (Neolithic to Iron Age) occupation at Martlesham and Great and Little Bealings. The dating and typology of first millennium BC pottery in East Anglia is also discussed in the light of the material from these sites.

No.71, 1995: Archaeology of the Essex Coast, Volume I: The Hullbridge Survey, by T.Wilkinson and P.Murphy
ISBN 1 85281 119 6; 252pp, 135figs, 30pls, microfiche. £26.50 £20.00

During the late 19th and early 20th centuries, a number of archaeologists and naturalists showed that numerous archaeological sites were present within the intertidal zone in Essex, and that it presented considerable potential for integrating archaeological research within a firm environmental framework. The County Archaeological Service undertook a detailed survey of the Hullbridge area which produced such promising results that the project was extended to cover the major estuaries in Essex, plus the Clacton and Dovercourt areas.
    This report contains an introductory stratigraphic and environmental framework. The period-by-period site descriptions which follow reflect the changing nature of the archaeology during the transgression. Hence, dryland Mesolithic and Neolithic sites that existed when sea-levels were considerably lower are followed by Bronze and Iron Age sites where waterlogged wood was common. The importance of Red Hills to the late Iron Age and Roman economies is shown, and the major drainage projects and sea-wall construction of the medieval and post-medieval periods are also covered.

No.73, 1995: The Anglo-Saxon Cemetery at Spong Hill, Part VII: Iron Age, Roman and Early Saxon Settlement, by R.Rickett
ISBN 0 905594 16 9; 182pp, 146figs, 14pls, microfiche. £22.80 £17.00

Excavation of the Anglo-Saxon cemetery also revealed  extensive occupation evidence: late Iron Age and Roman enclosures and field boundaries, an early Roman kiln, and a small settlement of 'sunken huts' and post-hole buildings possibly contemporary with the cemetery. Full reports on the structural data, artefacts (including Iron Age and Romano-British pottery) and environmental evidence illustrate the different phases of activity.
    The lengthy settlement sequence, covering two 'periods of transition' — Iron Age/Roman and Roman/ Anglo-Saxon — lends the results importance, and the report makes a useful contribution to the study of rural settlement and economy in East Anglia.
For earlier prehistoric occupation (7th to 2nd millennia BC) see EAA 39, Spong Hill Part VI.

No.75, 1995: North Shoebury: Settlement and Economy in South-East Essex 1500BC–AD1500, by J. Wymer and N. Brown
ISBN 1 85281 130 7; 208pp, 104figs, 26pls, microfiche. £22.00 £15.00

Excavation at North Shoebury in the 1970s and 80s spread across about 18 hectares, an area only exceeded in southern Essex by the excavations at Mucking. Occupation was continuous, though shifting, from the Bronze Age through to the Saxon period. An Early Medieval manorial enclosure close to the church formed the focus of a dispersed settlement set originally in open fields. Foundations of a Tudor brick built house were also investigated. This volume provides the first major account of the archaeology of south-east Essex.

No.77, 1996: Barrow Excavations in Norfolk, 1984–8, by J. Wymer
ISBN 0 905594 19 3; 94pp, 46figs, 30pls. £11.00

A number of sites excavated in advance of mineral extraction during the 1980s are described in this report.
    The Early Bronze Age round barrow with an outer bank and ditch at Bawsey, near King's Lynn, contained traces of a tree-trunk bier but no evidence of the body, plus a satellite burial and seven secondary cremations, one of which was buried beneath a complete, inverted collared urn.
    A mound and a possible ring-ditch in the parishes of Longham and Beeston with Bittering were found to be of periglacial origin, but the range and quantity of prehistoric material recovered indicates settlement from the Neolithic to the Iron Age in an area where little has been recorded before. A prehistoric origin seems likely for the single ring-ditch at Lyng Easthaugh, seen as a cropmark on aerial photographs, although the results of excavation were inconclusive.
    At South Acre, a ring-ditch identified on aerial photographs was found to be the levelled remains of a large, possibly prehistoric, round barrow. Later on, more than one hundred shallow graves were dug around the mound. These contained the remains of men, women and children, some apparently decapitated, which may be the remains of criminals executed during Saxon times.

No.78, 1996: The Fenland Project Number 11: The Wissey Embayment: Evidence for pre-Iron Age Occupation, by Frances Healy
ISBN 0 905594 20 7; 194pp, 113figs, 12pls, microfiche. £17.50

This volume documents and synthesises the overwhelming and intractable mass of evidence for pre-Iron Age activity accumulated over the decades preceding the Fenland Project, from the Norfolk fen edge between the rivers Wissey and Ouse. Excavations during the 1960s are published here, together with a gazetteer of contemporary stray finds from museums and private collections.
    The report complements the two Norfolk Fenland survey volumes by R.J.Silvester, and together the three reports provide an opportunity to compare the results of two centuries of accidental discovery and acquisitive collecting with those of a few years of systematic field survey.

No.82, 1998: Archaeology and the Landscape in the Lower Blackwater Valley, by S.Wallis and M.Waughman
ISBN 1 85281 160 9; 246pp, 136 figs, 12pls. £17.00 £12.00

This report presents the results from three excavations in the lower Blackwater valley. The sites were identified as cropmarks on aerial photographs and were excavated in advance of large-scale gravel extraction. All three sites revealed evidence of changing landscape use. The cropmarks belong to an extensive series running along much of the north side of the Blackwater estuary, and results from other sites and recent excavations are included in the discussion which forms the final chapter of the report.
    The main discoveries at Slough House Farm were a Neolithic enclosure, Iron Age settlement, Saxon timber-lined wells and a Saxon pit containing metalworking debris. At Chigborough Farm, a putative Neolithic building, enclosures and field systems of Late Bronze Age and Iron Age date, and a probable Saxon 'boat-shaped' building were of particular significance. The much smaller site at Howell's Farm revealed a Bronze Age structure and part of an Iron Age settlement.

No.90, 1999: The Archaeology of Ardleigh, Essex, Excavations 1955–1980, by N.R. Brown
ISBN 1 85281 164 1; 195pp, 114figs, 30pls. £17.00

When mechanical ploughing was introduced on Felix Erith’s farm in the 1950s, fragments of Bronze Age pottery were brought to the surface. Wherever this occurred, Erith excavated, and in 1960 he published an account of his discoveries which clearly established the importance of the Ardleigh cemetery. The pottery, with its flamboyant decoration, became the classic Deverel-Rimbury ceramic of southern East Anglia.
    A prolonged campaign of aerial photography revealed an extensive cropmark landscape of ring-ditches, trackways and enclosures. Further excavations in the 1960s by Erith with the Colchester Archaeological Trust revealed an Iron Age round-house, 'Belgic’ burials and Roman kilns.  In the 1970s investigations by the Central Excavation Unit were designed to examine the nature of the cropmark complex and to place the earlier work in context.
    This book describes the results of both these campaigns. It provides an illustrated corpus of Ardleigh style Deverel-Rimbury ceramics, and an account of the evidence for a rural Roman pottery production centre in the hinterland of Colchester. The nature of the cropmark landscape, and the present condition and potential of the archaeology of Ardleigh are considered.

review

No.91, 2000: Excavations on the Norwich Southern Bypass, 1989–91 Part I: Excavations at Bixley, Caistor St Edmund, Trowse, Cringleford and Little Melton, by Trevor Ashwin and Sarah Bates
ISBN 0 905594 29 0; 253pp, 181figs, 53pls. £27.50

A synthesis of the results of a major series of excavations and watching briefs is offered in this volume, in which a series of six discrete excavation reports is followed by single chapters presenting environmental information and a concluding discussion.
    A series of three cropmark ring-ditches dating to the 3rd/2nd millennia BC were excavated at Bixley. At Harford Farm, Caistor St Edmund, five more ring-ditches were excavated, along with evidence of Middle Iron Age occupation, an intriguing series of square-ditched enclosures probably of Late Iron Age date, and an important Middle Saxon cemetery (published separately as EAA 92, see below).
    Prehistoric occupation sites were excavated at Valley Belt, Trowse; at the Frettenham Lime Co. Quarry and at Markshall, Caistor St Edmund — that at Trowse comprising Early/Middle Iron Age pits, four-post structures and enclosure boundaries, and an important pottery assemblage. Outstanding prehistoric finds from the watching briefs included a dump of later Bronze Age pottery possibly representing kiln waste, and a hoard of three socketed axes dating to the earlier 1st millennium BC.
    The concluding discussion assesses the results in the context of previous research nearby, notably at the Arminghall Henge and at Roman Venta Icenorum (Caistor St Edmund).  For Part II see ANGLO-SAXON.

No.94, 2001: Excavations at Billingborough, Lincolnshire, 1975–8: a Bronze–Iron Age Settlement and Salt-working Site, by Peter Chowne, Rosamund Cleal and A.P. Fitzpatrick with Phil Andrews
ISBN 1 874350 32 9; 112pp, 15pls, 47figs £11.50

Extensive excavations on the fen margin at Billingborough revealed archaeological remains of considerable regional importance — a  Middle Bronze Age enclosure which remains the most extensively and completely excavated enclosure of its type in the area;  Late Bronze Age/Early Iron Age salt-making debris which remains one of the earliest and most substantial assemblages of such material in the area; and a pottery sequence for the Bronze Age and Iron Age periods in the region.
The pottery sequence has been extensively used by the Fenland Survey Project, and it is of considerable importance to prehistoric studies in the East Midlands.

No.97, 2001: Monument 97, Orton Longueville Cambridgeshire: a Late pre-Roman Iron Age and Early Roman Farmstead, by D.F.Mackreth
ISBN 0 9528105 1 4; 89pp, 47figs, 13pls, fiche. £10.50

Identified from cropmarks and excavated in 1974, the site consisted of three enclosures belonging to a small farmstead lasting from at least the later 1st century BC to the middle of the 2nd century AD. The evidence of the houses is that the site had been inhabited by a single family group at all times and had developed in tandem with the growing complexity of landscape division, and almost certainly was closed down in favour of another site nearby. After it was abandoned, its earthworks were incorporated into the Roman field system and, eventually, the corner of an enclosure was used for a small cemetery of nine burials.

No.103, 2003: Power and Island Communities: Excavations at the Wardy Hill Ringwork, Coveney, Ely, by Christopher Evans
ISBN 0 9544824 0 9; 308pp, 145figs, 17pls; £23.00

Excavations by Cambridge Archaeological Unit at this complex site in the Wash fenlands revealed an Iron Age ringwork which fell out of use in the first century AD. The research has produced results of great significance on archaic communities and the processes of Romanisation, the anatomy of defence and the command of labour and territories, total artefact populations and sampling methodology; island identities and the sense of place.

  review

No.109, 2005: Archaeology and Environment of the Etton Landscape, by Charles French and Francis Pryor
ISBN 0 9520616 2 7; 220pp, 29pls, 80figs; £22.00

A long-term, low-cost rescue project was undertaken in response to gravel quarrying at Maxey between 1983 and 1990. Throughout, the archaeological focus was the more or less concurrent excavation taking place at the Etton causewayed enclosure, a site which was effectively a central point within this part of the lower Welland valley.

The Etton Landscape consists of the relict river systems, former floodplain and lowermost parts of the Welland First Terrace gravels between the modern villages of Maxey, Etton and Northborough. Situated on the fringe of this seasonally wet landscape was a series of later Neolithic and Bronze Age monuments and more enigmatic areas of occupation. The principal monuments, other than the Etton causewayed enclosure, were three small henges which exhibited several phases of re-modelling, a C-shaped enclosure, the Etton Woodgate contour ditched ‘enclosure’ and associated settlement, and four barrows (out of many more that are in the vicinity). The occupation areas were relatively few and ephemeral, often only consisting of a ‘spread’ of occupation or midden material within the buried soil, a few post-holes and/or pits in no apparent pattern or structure. There is also evidence of field demarcation on the floodplain edge in the later Neolithic.

All of these sites straddled the period of later use of the causewayed enclosure, in the third millennium and early second millennium BC. There seems to have been at this time a mosaic of ‘old’ and ‘new’ environments, ranging from old woodland to pasture and small zones of scrubby, fen-like carr, with the stream zones being affected by seasonal freshwater flooding and the minor deposition of silty clay alluvium.

By the middle part of the second millennium BC, field systems laid out at right angles to the contemporary streams were in use, with successive versions of the same general layout continuing on into the Roman period. Throughout the last two millennia BC there was a gradual opening up of the landscape, on the face of it largely pasture, but probably with some arable cultivation on the higher and better drained ground. By the later Roman period, it appears that the area was more and more affected by the seasonal deposition of alluvium and overbank flooding, which led to the establishment of a loose and scattered layout of farmsteads and associated field systems on the higher parts of the first terrace.

By medieval times, the higher parts of the terrace were completely given over to ridge and furrow cultivation, with villages established to the north and south, and the lowest zones occupied by infilled stream courses still remaining seasonally wet and possibly used as seasonal, unenclosed pasture. This more or less remained the case until 1953, when the enlargement of the Maxey Cut effectively drained the lowest parts of the terrace and permitted an expansion of arable agriculture onto the most thickly alluviated parts of the lower Welland valley between Maxey and the fen-edge.

  review

No.113, 2006: Excavations at Kilverstone, Norfolk, 2000–02, by Duncan Garrow, Sam Lucy and David Gibson
ISBN-10: 0 9544824 2 5 / ISBN-13: 978 0 9544824 2 8; 250pp, 26pls, 136figs; £20.00

Excavations by the Cambridge Archaeological Unit near Kilverstone revealed an occupation sequence spanning the Neolithic to the post-medieval periods. Extensive Early Neolithic activity was evidenced by 236 clustered pits containing quantities of pottery, worked and burnt flint, charred hazelnuts and seeds and other material. The site is of national importance, with the number of pits discovered placing it alongside the type-sites of Hurst Fen and Broome Heath. A smaller number of Late Neolithic/Early Bronze Age pits, along with six cremations and a Middle Iron Age structure, attests to intermittent further activity. In the mid 1st century BC a settlement was established which was occupied until the 4th century AD.

Initially, the later Iron Age/Roman settlement is evidenced by boundary and enclosure ditches, and a number of pits, but the area then saw construction of a series of square and rectangular structures. In the later 2nd century AD, activity appears to have been focused around a large aisled building. In the 3rd and 4th centuries, these buildings were replaced by three circular buildings, one of which is tentatively interpreted as a metallurgical workshop (with a double-acting force pump associated). Outside was a series of pits containing a ‘blacksmith’s hoard’: a stack of pewter plates and a selection of metalworking and agricultural tools.

Activity at the site was again intermittent until perhaps the 6th century, when a small Anglo-Saxon settlement, consisting of at least ten buildings associated with sunken features and four post-built halls, was established. This was probably associated with a small number of burials to the south, four of which were furnished with weapons (though, unusually, none with jewellery), and there was a further urned cremation. No subsequent activity was recorded at the site except for medieval and later field ditches and a ‘Suffolk-type’ brick kiln probably associated with the nearby village of Kilverstone.

Reviewed online by Alistair Barclay for the Prehistoric Society, September 2007.

Reviewed online by Duncan Garrow for the Prehistoric Society, October 2007
and reviewed for Essex Archaeology and History (2008) by Peter Drewett, who commends it to readers with the words ‘If you are interested in the later prehistory of Britain or the archaeology of east Essex this volume is essential reading’.

Reviewed online by Matt Lievers for the Prehistoric Society, November 2008.