Archaeological Test Pit Excavations in Paston, Norfolk, 2012 Carenza Lewis, Catherine Ranson and Alex Pryor Archaeological test pit excavations in Paston, Norfolk, 2012 Carenza Lewis, Catherine Ranson and Alex Pryor Access Cambridge Archaeology McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research University of Cambridge Downing Street Cambridge CB2 3ER 01223 761518 [email protected] http://www.arch.cam.ac.uk/aca/ 2 Contents 1 SUMMARY............................................................................................................................................... 6 2 INTRODUCTION .................................................................................................................................... 7 2.1 ON LANGUARD POINT ................................................................................................................... 7 2.2 ACCESS CAMBRIDGE ARCHAEOLOGY ........................................................................................... 7 2.3 TEST PIT EXCAVATION AND RURAL SETTLEMENT STUDIES ............................................................ 8 3 AIMS, OBJECTIVES AND DESIRED OUTCOMES .......................................................................... 9 3.1 AIMS ............................................................................................................................................. 9 3.2 OBJECTIVES .................................................................................................................................. 9 3.3 OUTCOMES .................................................................................................................................... 9 4 METHODOLOGY ................................................................................................................................. 10 4.1 EXCAVATION STRATEGY ............................................................................................................. 10 4.2 EXCAVATION METHODS .............................................................................................................. 10 4.3 ON-SITE ARCHAEOLOGICAL SUPERVISION ................................................................................... 11 4.4 ON-SITE FINDS IDENTIFICATION AND RETENTION ........................................................................ 11 4.5 TEST PIT CLOSING AND BACKFILLING .......................................................................................... 11 4.6 RECORDING ................................................................................................................................. 12 4.7 FINDS PROCESSING AND RECORDING ........................................................................................... 12 4.7.1 Finds appropriate for recording, analysis, reporting, retention and curation........................... 12 4.7.2 Finds appropriate for disposal after recording and reporting................................................... 12 4.7.3 Legal ownership of finds ............................................................................................................ 13 4.7.4 Curation of Archaeological Finds.............................................................................................. 13 5 LOCATION ............................................................................................................................................ 14 6 GEOLOGY AND TOPOGRAPHY....................................................................................................... 16 7 ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL BACKGROUND......................................................... 17 7.1 PREHISTORIC ACTIVITY ............................................................................................................... 20 7.2 ROMAN ACTIVITY ........................................................................................................................ 20 7.3 SAXON SETTLEMENT ................................................................................................................... 20 7.4 HIGH AND LATER MEDIEVAL PERIOD .......................................................................................... 20 7.5 POST -MEDIEVAL PERIOD ............................................................................................................. 21 8 RESULTS OF THE TEST PIT EXCAVATIONS IN PASTON......................................................... 22 8.1 TEST PIT ONE (PAS/12/1)............................................................................................................ 23 8.2 TEST PIT TWO (PAS/12/2)........................................................................................................... 24 8.3 TEST PIT THREE (PAS/12/3)........................................................................................................ 25 8.4 TEST PIT FOUR (PAS/12/4).......................................................................................................... 26 8.5 TEST PIT FIVE (PAS/12/5)........................................................................................................... 27 8.6 TEST PIT SIX (PAS/12/6)............................................................................................................. 28 8.7 TEST PIT SEVEN (PAS/12/7)........................................................................................................ 29 8.8 TEST PIT EIGHT (PAS/12/8)......................................................................................................... 30 8.9 TEST PIT NINE (PAS/12/9) .......................................................................................................... 31 8.10 TEST PIT 10 (PAS/12/10) ............................................................................................................ 32 8.11 TEST PIT 11 (PAS/12/11) ............................................................................................................ 33 8.12 TEST PIT 12 (PAS/12/12) ............................................................................................................ 34 8.13 TEST PIT 14 (PAS/12/14) ............................................................................................................ 35 8.14 TEST PIT 16 (PAS/12/16) ............................................................................................................ 36 8.15 TEST PIT 17 (PAS/12/17) ............................................................................................................ 37 3 8.16 TEST PIT 19 (PAS/12/19) ............................................................................................................ 38 8.17 TEST PIT 20 (PAS/12/20) ............................................................................................................ 39 8.18 TEST PIT 21 (PAS/12/21) ............................................................................................................ 40 8.19 TEST PIT 22 (PAS/12/22) ............................................................................................................ 41 8.20 TEST PIT 23 (PAS/12/23) ............................................................................................................ 42 8.21 TEST PIT 24 (PAS/12/24) ............................................................................................................ 43 8.22 TEST PIT 26 (PAS/12/26) ............................................................................................................ 44 8.23 TEST PIT 28 (PAS/12/28) ............................................................................................................ 45 8.24 TEST PIT 29 (PAS/12/29) ............................................................................................................ 46 9 DISCUSSION.......................................................................................................................................... 47 9.1 PREHISTORIC ............................................................................................................................... 47 9.2 ROMAN ....................................................................................................................................... 47 9.3 ANGLO -SAXON ........................................................................................................................... 48 9.4 MEDIEVAL .................................................................................................................................. 48 9.5 POST MEDIEVAL AND LATER ....................................................................................................... 48 10 CONCLUSION ....................................................................................................................................... 49 11 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ................................................................................................................... 49 12 REFERENCES: ...................................................................................................................................... 50 13 APPENDICES......................................................................................................................................... 52 13.1 LISTED BUILDINGS IN PASTON ..................................................................................................... 52 13.2 POTTERY REPORT - PAUL BLINKHORN .......................................................................................... 55 13.3 FAUNAL REMAINS – VIDA RAJKOVACA