Introduction
Between 1979 and 1988
the Suffolk County Council Archaeological Unit undertook eight
seasons of excavations on the Middle Saxon settlement site at
Staunch Meadow, Brandon. The essential features and
significance of the site are:
it is a complete settlement with buildings, industrial areas,
church and attendant cemeteries all concentrated within a readily
defined island;
the occupation of the bulk of the site is restricted to the
Middle-Saxon period – this not only eases the problems of artefact
dating, but also removes the complication of damage by subsequent
occupation;
the high quality and quantity of artefacts indicate a site of
high social status with strong ecclesiastical ties.
Site summary
The excavated area was
c.13,000 square metres. Pre-Saxon activity on the site result
ed in an important assemblage of Mesolithic flintwork and
features belonging to an Iron Age settlement. No Roman
occupation was identified, but there is a significant
assemblage of Roman artefacts, particularly ceramic building
material (CBM), which is related to the Middle Saxon use of
the site.
Because the site had not been ploughed, the Middle Saxon settlement
was partially covered with a layer of ‘dark earth’ or occupation
soil which varied in thickness, and the majority of finds were
collected from gridded excavation of this layer, enabling
identification of areas of middening and rubbish disposal.
In the excavated part of the settlement there were 34 posthole
buildings, at least 20 fence lines, 35 ditches, several pits,
hearths and ovens, a complete cemetery, a stake-lined causeway and
a timber bridge, including preserved timbers.
An area of industrial and craft activity was identified around the
waterfront to the north of the island. Contemporary finds included
seventeen coins, over 500 iron objects, 408 copper alloy and silver
objects, 956 lead fragments, 97 bone/antler objects, c.180
fragments of window glass and c.300 fragments of other glass
objects, 626kg of pottery, 414kg of metalworking debris, 184 human
skeletons, a large assemblage of animal bone, samples of timber
from the causeway and buildings, and a few fragments of wooden
objects.
A medieval chapel and related cemetery was present on the site,
although gravel-digging in the 19th century removed several hundred
skeletons; only a small group of the remaining burials was
excavated, and radiocarbon dating of two of these places the start
of this cemetery in the 8th-11th centuries, with interment
continuing into the late 13th-15th centuries. Adjacent sites,
particularly BRD 071, have produced evidence for a shift of
settlement away from the island in the Late Saxon period.
Current state of the project
An interim site report was published in Antiquity at the end of
the excavations (Carr et al. 1988). Work on post-excavation study
of the site stopped in 1993 due to financial constraints and
staffing difficulties. Funding for a pre-assessment and subsequent
Assessment and Updated Project Design was provided by English
Heritage from 1998 to 2003. Funding has now been granted for a
three-year project to take the site to publication.
Aims of the project
The aims and objectives included in the pre-assessment report
were formulated halfway through the project to give a focus to the
remaining work. In brief, they are:
to assess the structure and changing morphology of the Middle
Saxon settlement - including origins, use of space, development,
significance and pattern of buildings, reasons for abandonment;
to establish the Middle Saxon economy and environmental context
of the site - including evidence for flora and fauna, the economy
of the waterfront, exploitation of local Roman sites, and evidence
for craft and industry;
to study the physical nature of the human population of the site
- including demographic structure, physical type, genetic
affinities and pathology;
to consider the character and status of the site - including
evidence for religious life and socio-economic groupings;
to place the site in its local, regional and national context -
including the development of Saxon/medieval Brandon, regional and
national comparisons, and the social and political context of the
community; and
to add to the current knowledge concerning Middle Saxon artefact
assemblages - including cataloguing, and comparison of the
assemblages with contemporary sites.
Completing the project
The following is a brief summary of the main tasks required to
complete the project and bring it to publication:
- structural analysis;
- editing of database, final phasing revision, digitisation of
plans and finds plots;
- stratigraphic and finds work for BRD 071;
- conservation of small finds;
- finds analysis / report revision;
- small finds: Saxon coins, metalwork, bone and antler, textile
working objects, glass;
- bulk finds: post-Roman pottery, CBM, slag, fired clay, lava
quern
- biological material: plant macrofossils, pollen, human bone,
animal bone, fish bone, coprolites, timber and wooden objects;
- dating evidence: dendrochronology, radiocarbon dating of
skeletons
- documentary research;
- checking and completion of drawings, photography;
- writing, compilation and editing of reports;
- publication to an agreed format as a monograph in the East
Anglian Archaeology series;
- preparation of the archive for long-term curation, including
digital dissemination.
Contact details:
Andrew Tester
Senior Project Officer
Suffolk County Council Archaeological Service
Shire Hall
Bury St Edmunds
Suffolk
IP33 2AR
Telephone: 01284 352446
Email:
andrew.tester@et.suffolkcc.gov.uk