NHER 44715 (Monument) - Multi-period prehistoric remains and Late Saxon/early medieval iron production site, Laurel Farm (Phase II)

April 2001. Desk-based Assessment.
The site was identified as being potentially sensitive, with the possibility of encountering archaeological remains from the prehistoric to the post medieval periods.
See report (S1) for further details.
A. Cattermole (NLA), 24 September 2007.

May 2006. Desk-based Assessment.
Supplement to assessment carried out in 2001.
The archaeological potential of the site was adjudged to be as follows:
Palaeolithic - low
Mesolithic - low
Neolithic - moderate
Bronze Age - moderate
Iron Age - low
Roman - high
Saxon - moderate
Medieval - low to moderate
Post medieval - low to moderate.
See report (S2) for further details.
A. Cattermole (NLA), 24 September 2007.

May 2006. Geophysical Survey and Systematic Fieldwalking and Metal-detecting Survey.
Evaluation of proposed development area (Laurel Farm Phase II).
The magnetometry survey identified a number of potentially archaeologically significant anomalies. See report (S3) for further details.
The results of the fieldwalking survey appear to have been largely negative, being compromised by differential vegetation growth.
Amended by P. Watkins (HES), 22 July 2015.

May 2006. Trial Trenching.
Further evaluation of proposed development area (Laurel Farm Phase II). Excavation of 188 trenches.
See interim reports (S4) and (S5) for further details.
Amended by P. Watkins (HES), 22 July 2015.

July-October 2006. Excavation.
Excavation of four separate areas of archaeological interest identified by the preceding trial trenching.
This work revealed a wide range of finds and features dating from the Palaeolithic to the post medieval period.

Palaeolithic:

A Lower Palaeolithic flint handaxe was the oldest object recovered. This handaxe had lost it tip and was found in a pit that produced predominantly Neolithic material. Its condition suggests that it spent some time within alluvial gravel deposits.

A tree throw hollow in the main excavation area (Area B) was found to contain an assemblage of worked flints that was distinct from the later industries recovered elsewhere. Although no truly chronologically diagnostic pieces are present the assemblage is nevertheless technologically homogenous and has elements that are consistent with the 'long blade' industries of the Late Glacial/Early Post-glacial period (what would generally now be referred to as the Terminal Upper Palaeolithic). The flint was concentrated in the primary fill of the feature suggesting that it had probably been deliberately dumped. This is the first Norfolk site where material of this date has been recovered from a closed context. The assemblage comprises:
2 ?burins and 1 retouched flake.
2 blade cores, 2 core rejuvenation flakes, 2 crested blades, 28 blades (including several with evidence for utilisation), 39 flakes, 1 conchoidal chunk and 1 hammerstone.
1 burnt flint.
Although the small size of some of the debitage indicates that core reduction occurred in the vicinity, this material is not as numerous as would be expected if the knapping had taken place within the feature itself. This is supported by the fact that two pieces are burnt, suggesting the flintworking occurred near a hearth (which would also explain the presence of a burnt flint fragment in the assemblage). The flintworking was clearly focused on the production of blades and there are several features of the assemblage that point to a Late Glacial/Early Post-glacial date, including the size of the blades, the form and treatments of the large cores and the presence of crested blades. All elements in the reduction sequence are present, from decortification flakes through to utilised blades and blades with secondary modification. It does however appear that the cores had probably been dressed elsewhere, presumably closer to the raw material source. It is therefore possible that the crested flakes were actually brought to the site to be used as implements and one has a small area of possible use damage consistent with that seen on 'bruised blades' (a common element of long blade assemblages).

Radiocarbon dating of oak charcoal recovered from the tree-throw hollow produced a calibrated age of 19,550 to 18,750 BC. This date is problematic, not least as it is inconsistent with the technological characteristics of the flint. It also falls within the Last Glacial Maximum and therefore predates the earliest undisputed date for a subsequent human presence by several thousand years.

Early Neolithic:

A number of tree-throw hollows and pits scattered across Area B produced Early Neolithic cultural material, including worked flints and pottery. The most notable features were a pair of adjacent tree-throw hollows, into which large quantities of artefactual material had been dumped (possibly after modification of the features). The fills of these features were dark, suggesting the presence of charcoal and potentially other organic matter. Conjoining sherds suggest that both features were open at the same time and material clearly continued to be added after they had been filled, resulting in the formation of a continuous midden-like layer. The deposits associated with these features produced 3994 worked flints, almost 6kg of burnt flint and 488 pottery sherds. A broken polished flint axehead was also recovered that had been deposited in an upright position, with its cutting edge facing upwards.

A range of other features produced small quantities of Early Neolithic pottery sherds and worked flints. These included a diffuse group of features at the northern edge of Area B, comprising two pairs of pits and a cluster of pits or post-holes that may have formed part of a circular structure. Several further groups of Early Neolithic features were present in the southern part of Area B. These included pits, probable tree-throw hollows and at least one post-hole. In at least one location Early Neolithic activity appears to have generated a surface spread of material, the presence of which was evidenced by the number of finds of this date in later features. Several shallow features with charcoal rich fills and evidence for in situ burning were interpreted as probable hearths. Further Early Neolithic material was also recovered from colluvial hillwash deposits that were identified in patches across several of the excavation areas.

The radiocarbon determinations obtained for Early Neolithic features include calibrated dates of 3970-3790 BC and 3500-3100 BC, suggesting at least episodic activity throughout the earlier Neolithic. This is consistent with the pottery assemblage which contains classic 'early' material as well as some more 'developed' forms and several possible Peterborough ware sherds. As on other Early Neolithic sites in the county the cultural material recovered from the features is of variable condition suggesting a complex history between initial discard and final deposition. That this curated cultural material was primarily deposited within natural hollows rather than pits is however significantly different to the patterns observed at other sites in Norfolk.

Late Neolithic/Early Bronze Age:

The most notable feature attributable to this period of activity was a ring-ditch in the central part of Area B. This feature was 16.5m wide and had sterile fills that produced little in the way of dating evidence (other than a small assemblage of mostly residual worked flints). No contemporary internal features were identified, although the degree of plough truncation seen in this part of the site means that any such remains would almost certainly have been lost. The ring-ditch was most likely the ploughed-out remains of Bronze Age barrow, albeit falling at the smaller end of the size range for these monuments. Its topographic position, on the brow of a hill, overlooking a now dry valley, is certainly consistent with this interpretation. There was also some evidence that an associated mound may have still existed when an Iron Age boundary was dug.

Activity on the site during this period is also evidenced by several pits that produced small quantities of Late Neolithic/Early Bronze Age cultural material. Finds of this date were also present in unstratified contexts and apparently intrusive in several earlier features. The small Late Neolithic/Early Bronze pottery assemblage includes 16 Beaker sherds and a single possible Grooved ware sherd. The diagnostic worked flints include a Late Neolithic chisel arrowhead, a possible Late Neolithic/Early Bronze Age plano-convex knife and a barbed and tanged arrowhead.

Middle to Late Bronze Age:

A group of Middle to Late Bronze Age features were identified in the south-western corner of the development area during the trial trenching and as a result this area was one locations selected for further excavation (Area A). A somewhat enigmatic group of features was revealed comprising a hearth, several post-holes and a tree-throw hollow. Finds were relatively scarce, although one of the post-holes produced a small assemblage of Middle-Late Bronze Age Deverel-Rimbury pottery and crudely-produced worked flints of Bronze Age or later character. This group of features lay adjacent to a large, circular, shaft-like feature that was 3.32m deep with near vertical sides and a flat base. A dark charcoal-rich deposit was present approximately halfway down that contained many burnt sandstone fragments as well as large quantities of burnt flint and burnt clay/daub. Worked flints and a small assemblage of Deverel-Rimbury pottery were also recovered (including a sherd from one of the vessels that was also represented in the post-hole). Although potentially a deliberately excavated ‘ritual shaft’ it is also possible that this feature was actually natural in origin, being similar in form to the solution holes that has now been excavated at several Norfolk sites.

Iron Age activity includes a fairly large roundhouse (which may be earlier in date), two lines of postholes, a pair of ditches and several pits. See NHER 51006 for further details.

Most of the evidence for activity in the Roman period consisted of an eroded layer perhaps indicating a roadside cremation cemetery. See NHER 51007 for further details.

Saxon to medieval activity on the site suggests small-scale industrial activity including ironworking. In the later medieval and post medieval period several large pits were excavated to extract the natural sand. See NHER 51008 for further details of Saxon, medieval and post medieval activity.

See published monograph (S6) and assessment report (S7) for further details. The results of this work are also summarised in (S8).
Amended by P. Watkins (HES), 22 July 2015.

January 2017. Watching Brief.
Monitoring of excavation of engineering trial pits in proposed development area (Trial Pits 1-3, 3A,4-5, 5A, 5B, 6 and 8).
No archaeologically significant features or deposits observed.
See report (S9) for further details.
P. Watkins (HES), 25 April 2017.