Excavations at Melford Meadows, Brettenham, 1994: Romano-British and Early Saxon Occupations

ISBN-13: 9780904220247 / Angielski / Miękka / 2002 / 125 str.

Andrew Mudd

Opis

In this volume, Mudd reports on the results of an archaeological excavation undertaken by the Oxford Archaeological unit during 1994, on an area of land at Melford Meadows, just outside Thetford. The excavation examined part of a Romano-British and early Saxon settlement occupying a low sandy ridge beside the River Thet. The Romano-British element of the site included buildings and enclosures which are thought to have belonged to a farmstead occupied from the end of the 1st century until the end of the 4th century. A small peripheral cemetery showed evidence of a range of burial practices characteristic of the late Roman period, including multiple burials and decapitations. The early Saxon occupation started in the 5th century and lasted for more than a century. The economies of both periods appear to have been based on mixed farming, although a significant collection of animal bones associated with the early Saxon occupation indicated a dominance of cattle and it is possible that there was an increased emphasis on pastoralism in the 5th century.