NHER 44609 (Monument record) - Bronze Age cremation cemetery, Iron Age pit cluster, and Early Saxon inhumations

May 2006. Systematic Fieldwalking and Metal-detecting Survey.
Field survey of proposed aggregate extraction area.
Post-medieval material including pottery, ceramic building material and glass was found, as well as one small piece of abraded Roman tegula.
See report (S1) for further details.
J. Allen (NLA), 5 February 2007.

November-December 2006. Strip Map and Sample Excavation.
Excavation of aggregate extraction area.
The excavation at Earsham Quarry ahead of proposals to extend the extraction of sand and gravel revealed a two middle Bronze Age ring ditches, previously located by aerial photography, with one including a cremation cemetery in the centre and the other containing internal features; a cluster of Iron Age pits; nine Roman or Saxon inhumation burials aligned east to west suggesting a Christian burial rite inserted into an earlier ring ditch and a final phase of features relating to the parliamentary enclosure of the area including pits and field boundaries shown on the 1816 Enclosure Map.
See interim report (S2) and assessment report (S3) for further details. The results of this work are also summarised in (S4) and (S5).
S. Howard (NLA), 18 November 2009.

January-March 2009. Strip Map and Sample Excavation.
Excavation of second area ahead of mineral extraction (Phase 2).
A second phase of excavation examined two Neolithic pits, a group of early Iron Age pits, at least nine Early Saxon graves containing inhumations, an Early Saxon penannular ring ditch and possible cremation, and a post-medieval field system. Early Iron Age activity comprised three small pit and post-hole clusters, one of which included two cremations with human bone and pottery. Another appears to represent the footprint of a building with six pits and post-holes in a circular arrangement. Within the pits and post-holes were relatively large amounts of pottery, burnt flint, animal bone and also a dump of probable hearth waste.
The Early Saxon features consisted of nine, possibly eleven graves located around the focal point of a penannular ditch and a possible cremation. The graves were orientated east-west, but with relatively rich grave-good assemblages including spears, blades, brooches (one of which is a particularly rare annular bone example), a latch-lifter, a shield boss, bead necklaces and pottery. Only one of the grave features contained human bone due to the highly acidic nature of the sandy soil.
When combined with the first phase of excavations (see (S1)-(S3)) at Earlsham,which revealed a Middle Bronze Age cremation cemetery and a barrow, a cluster of Iron Age pits and nine Saxo-Norman inhumation burials, possibly indicative of an execution cemetery, these remains present a very full picture of land use, reuse and continuation from the Neolithic to the medieval period.
Details awaited. The results of this work are summarised in (S6).
D. Holburn (HES), 13 September 2011.

A combined archive presumed to comprise material from the two main phases of archaeological work at this site has now been deposited with the Norwich Castle Museum (NWHCM : 2010.69).
P. Watkins (HES), 21 July 2019.