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Swan’s Nest, Swaffham, Norfolk

Excavating the Prehistory of the Breckland Clays

by Joshua White (Author)
©2022 Monographs XX, 142 Pages

Summary

This volume details the results of an excavation carried out prior to development at Swan’s Nest in the town of Swaffham, Norfolk, which recorded prehistoric activity spanning the Mesolithic to Iron Age.
Of greatest significance was the identification of an extensive Middle Bronze Age enclosure within which structures were once located and large-scale flint heating activities were carried out. Artefacts, animal bones and paleoenvironmental remains recovered from the enclosure have allowed for the partial reconstruction of the past environment and the human communities once present at the site.
Within this volume the fieldwork results are presented along with the finds, faunal, environmental and aerial imagery analyses that have been carried out as part of this project. The site is discussed within its broader regional context and in relation to the development of the local landscape across time.
The Swan’s Nest evidence has granted significant insights into the prehistoric communities that once occupied the environs of Swaffham and the wider Breckland region.

Table Of Contents

  • Cover
  • Title
  • Copyright
  • About the author
  • About the book
  • This eBook can be cited
  • Table of Contents
  • List of Figures
  • List of Plates
  • List of Tables
  • List of Contributors
  • Foreword
  • Summary
  • Acknowledgements
  • Chapter 1 Introduction
  • Chapter 2 Excavation Results
  • Chapter 3 Archaeological Finds
  • Chapter 4 Faunal and Environmental Evidence
  • Chapter 5 Swan’s Nest Environs: Aerial Imagery Assessment
  • Chapter 6 Discussion
  • Chapter 7 Conclusion
  • Appendices
  • Bibliography
  • Index
  • Series index

Figures

Figure 1.Site location. © Crown copyright and database rights 2021 Ordnance Survey 100019340.

Figure 2.Topographic map of Swan’s Nest and environs. © c/o NPS Archaeology.

Figure 3.Swan’s Nest geophysical survey results (after Marsh 2011) and selected nearby HER events/data. © Crown copyright and database rights 2021 Ordnance Survey 100019340.

Figure 4.Swan’s Nest: Plan of all features, all periods. © Crown copyright and database rights 2021 Ordnance Survey 100019340.

Figure 5.Harris Matrix of Early Neolithic Pit Cluster 1. © c/o NPS Archaeology.

Figure 6.Period 2: Early Neolithic features, plan and sections. © c/o NPS Archaeology.

Figure 7.Middle Bronze Age features: plan. © Crown copyright and database rights 2021 Ordnance Survey 100019340.

Figure 8.Examples of enclosure ditch sections. © c/o NPS Archaeology.

Figure 9.Sections of pit (265), post-hole (262), deposit (299) and ditch (361). © c/o NPS Archaeology.

Figure 10.Gate Structure 1: Plan and sections. © c/o NPS Archaeology.

Figure 11.Fence-line 1: Plan and sections. © c/o NPS Archaeology.

Figure 12.Structure 1: Plan and sections. © c/o NPS Archaeology.

Figure 13.Structure 2: Plan and sections. © c/o NPS Archaeology.

Figure 14.Fence-line 2: Plan and sections. © c/o NPS Archaeology.

Figure 15.Fence-line/Structure 3: Plan and sections. © c/o NPS Archaeology.

Figure 16.Period 3: Discrete features, sections. © c/o NPS Archaeology.

Figure 17.Period 5: Earlier Iron Age features, sections. © c/o NPS Archaeology.

Figure 18.Period 5: Plan of earlier Iron Age features. © c/o NPS Archaeology.

Figure 19.Ditch 6: Selected sections. © c/o NPS Archaeology.

Figure 20.Early Neolithic pottery, selected sample. © c/o NPS Archaeology.

Figure 21.Middle Bronze Age pottery, selected sample. © c/o NPS Archaeology.

Figure 22.Later Bronze Age to earlier Iron Age pottery, selected sample. © c/o NPS Archaeology.

Figure 23.Middle Bronze Age and Post Deverel-Rimbury pottery from the enclosure ditches by intervention. © c/o NPS Archaeology.

Figure 24.Comparative proportions of Mesolithic and Early Neolithic blades. © c/o NPS Archaeology.

Figure 25.Frequency of debitage flakes by shape and size. © c/o NPS Archaeology.

Figure 26.Struck flint from Swan’s Nest, selected sample. © c/o NPS Archaeology.←vii | viii→

Figure 27.Charcoal frequency by species in Early Neolithic features. © c/o NPS Archaeology.

Figure 28.Charcoal frequency by species in Middle Bronze Age features. © c/o NPS Archaeology.

Figure 29.Identified sites within the study area. © Air Photo Services.

Figure 30.Possible projection of the Swan’s Nest enclosure and enclosure 553 at land west of Brandon Road (after Blackbourn 2021). © Crown copyright and database rights 2021 Ordnance Survey 100019340.

Figure 31.Reconstruction illustration of the Swan’s Nest enclosure during the Middle Bronze Age (Period 3). © c/o NPS Archaeology.

Figure 32.Pollen sample <44>. © c/o NPS Archaeology.

Figure 33.Pollen sample <45>. © c/o NPS Archaeology.

Figure 34.Pollen sample <09>. © c/o NPS Archaeology.

Details

Pages
XX, 142
Year
2022
ISBN (PDF)
9781800791053
ISBN (ePUB)
9781800791060
ISBN (MOBI)
9781800791077
ISBN (Hardcover)
9781800791046
DOI
10.3726/b19672
Language
English
Publication date
2021 (December)
Keywords
Archaeology Norfolk Bronze Age Swan’s Nest, Swaffham, Norfolk Joshua C. White
Published
Oxford, Bern, Berlin, Bruxelles, New York, Wien, 2022. XX, 142 pp., 7 fig. col., 31 fig. b/w, 16 tables.

Biographical notes

Joshua White (Author)

Joshua C White is an archaeologist who has conducted excavations throughout East Anglia, publishing work on prehistoric and Roman Norfolk. His principal area of research is on animal husbandry regimes across later prehistory, with special focus on Bronze Age and Iron Age horse husbandry practices.

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164 pages