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Archaeological Test Pit Excavations in Longstanton, Cambridgeshire

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Archaeological Test Pit Excavations in Longstanton, Cambridgeshire ArchaeologicalArchaeological Test Pit Excavations Test Pit Excavations in Blythburgh, in Longstanton, CambridgeshireSuffolk, 2015 2017 &- 20192017 Catherine Collins 1 2 Archaeological Test Pit Excavations in Blythburgh, Suffolk in 2017, 2018 and 2019 Catherine Collins 2019 Access Cambridge Archaeology Department of Archaeology University of Cambridge Pembroke Street Cambridge CB2 3QG 01223 761519 [email protected] http://www.access.arch.cam.ac.uk/ (Front cover images. Left: BLY/17/12 working shot. Right: BLY/18/2 group shot. Copyright ACA) 3 4 Contents 1 SUMMARY ................................................................................................................................... 11 2 INTRODUCTION ......................................................................................................................... 13 2.1 ACCESS CAMBRIDGE ARCHAEOLOGY .................................................................................... 13 2.2 THE INDEPENDENT LEARNING ARCHAEOLOGY FIELD SCHOOL (ILAFS) ............................... 13 2.3 TEST-PIT EXCAVATION AND RURAL SETTLEMENT STUDIES .................................................. 14 3 AIMS, OBJECTIVES AND DESIRED OUTCOMES ............................................................. 15 3.1 AIMS ...................................................................................................................................... 15 3.2 OBJECTIVES ........................................................................................................................... 15 3.3 OUTCOMES ............................................................................................................................ 15 4 METHODOLOGY ........................................................................................................................ 16 5 BLYTHBURGH ........................................................................................................................... 17 5.1 THE SETTLEMENT TODAY ....................................................................................................... 17 5.2 GEOLOGY AND TOPOGRAPHY ................................................................................................ 19 6 ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL BACKGROUND ................................................ 20 6.1 HISTORICAL BACKGROUND ................................................................................................... 20 6.2 ARCHAEOLOGICAL BACKGROUND ......................................................................................... 25 6.2.1 Prehistoric .......................................................................................... 25 6.2.2 Romano-British .................................................................................. 26 6.2.3 Anglo-Saxon ...................................................................................... 26 6.2.4 Medieval ............................................................................................ 27 6.2.5 Post medieval and later ...................................................................... 29 6.2.6 Undated ............................................................................................. 31 7 RESULTS OF THE TEST PIT EXCAVATIONS IN BLYTHBURGH ................................... 33 7.1 THE 2017 EXCAVATIONS ........................................................................................................ 34 7.2 THE 2018 EXCAVATIONS ........................................................................................................ 50 7.3 THE 2019 EXCAVATIONS ........................................................................................................ 67 8 DISCUSSION .............................................................................................................................. 83 8.1 PREHISTORIC ......................................................................................................................... 83 8.2 ROMANO-BRITISH.................................................................................................................. 85 8.3 ANGLO SAXON....................................................................................................................... 86 8.4 MEDIEVAL ............................................................................................................................. 86 8.5 POST MEDIEVAL AND LATER ................................................................................................. 88 9 CONCLUSION ............................................................................................................................ 90 10 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ..................................................................................................... 92 11 REFERENCES ........................................................................................................................ 94 12 APPENDICES ......................................................................................................................... 98 12.1 POTTERY REPORTS – PAUL BLINKHORN AND JOHN NEWMAN .................................................. 98 12.1.1 2017 Pottery Report (Paul Blinkhorn) ................................................100 12.1.2 2018 Pottery Report (Paul Blinkhorn) ................................................104 12.1.3 2019 Pottery Report (John Newman) ................................................108 12.2 OTHER FINDS – CATHERINE COLLINS AND JOHN NEWMAN .................................................... 112 12.2.1 2017 test pit finds (Catherine Collins) ................................................112 5 12.2.2 2018 test pit finds (Catherine Collins) ................................................120 12.2.3 2019 test pit finds (John Newman) ....................................................128 12.3 MAPS ................................................................................................................................... 134 List of Figures Figure 1: Map of England with close-up insert of East Anglia and the approximate location of Blythburgh highlighted in red .................................................................. 17 Figure 2: The extent of Blythburgh parish © Crown Copyright/database right 2019. An Ordnance Survey/EDINA supplied service, 1: 250,000 ............................................ 18 Figure 3: Modern OS map of Blythburgh village with the Conservation Area highlighted in blue © Crown Copyright/database right 2019. An Ordnance Survey/EDINA supplied service, 1: 5,000 ...................................................................................................... 18 Figure 4: 1880’s OS map of Blythburgh © Crown Copyright and Database rights/Ordnance Survey 2019, 1: 5,000 ................................................................... 24 Figure 5: The Blythburgh whale bone writing tablet © British Museum .................... 27 Figure 6: The Blythburgh chess piece © John Newman .......................................... 29 Figure 7: The locations of the three years of test pitting in Blythburgh. Yellow for 2017, purple for 2018 and turquoise for 2019 (NB test pits not to scale) © Crown Copyright/database right 2019. An Ordnance Survey/EDINA supplied service, 1: 5,000 ................................................................................................................................ 33 Figure 8: Blythburgh 2017 test pit location map (NB test pits not to scale) © Crown Copyright/database right 2019. An Ordnance Survey/EDINA supplied service 1: 5,000 ................................................................................................................................ 34 Figure 9: Location map of BLY/17/1 ........................................................................ 35 Figure 10: Location map of BLY/17/2 ...................................................................... 36 Figure 11: Location map of BLY/17/3 ...................................................................... 37 Figure 12: Location map of BLY/17/4 ...................................................................... 38 Figure 13: Location map of BLY/17/5 ...................................................................... 39 Figure 14: Location map of BLY/17/6 ...................................................................... 40 Figure 15: Location map of BLY/17/7 ...................................................................... 41 Figure 16: Location map of BLY/17/8 ...................................................................... 42 Figure 17: Location map of BLY/17/9 ...................................................................... 43 Figure 18: Location map of BLY/17/10 .................................................................... 44 Figure 19: The possible whet stone fragment excavated from BLY/17/10, context 5 © ACA ........................................................................................................................ 45 Figure 20: Location map of BLY/17/11 .................................................................... 46 Figure 21: Location map of BLY/17/12 .................................................................... 47 Figure 22: The small metal link excavated from BLY/17/12, context 2 (scale in cm) © ACA ........................................................................................................................ 48 Figure 23: Location map of BLY/17/13 ...................................................................
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