Bronze Age settlement found in roadworks

[Blackleaf]

A "very unusual" Middle Bronze Age settlement has been found by archaeologists working along the route of Norwich's new northern bypass.

Evidence has been unearthed in Horsford including artefacts such as pottery, flint and a complete spindle wheel.

Oxford Archaeology East said the network of fields was separated by post holes rather than ditches, which makes it surprising.

Norwich bypass: Bronze Age settlement found in roadworks excavation

15 September 2016
BBC News

Archaeologists found a "large rectangular ditched enclosure" and about eight to ten roundhouses

A "very unusual" Middle Bronze Age settlement has been found by archaeologists working along the route of Norwich's new northern bypass.

Evidence has been unearthed in Horsford including artefacts such as pottery, flint and a complete spindle wheel.

Oxford Archaeology East said the network of fields was separated by post holes rather than ditches, which makes it surprising.

A spokesman said it was of "potentially national significance".

Project manager Tom Phillips said the settlement, dating from between 1500-1200 BC, was made up of a "large rectangular ditched enclosure" and about eight to ten roundhouses.

But there was also a network of post hole alignments - rows of closely spaced posts - dividing fields.

The settlement, dating from between 1500-1200 BC, was made up of a "large rectangular ditched enclosure"

The settlement is said to date from between 1500-1200 BC

Mr Phillips said: "This is very unusual. We have no parallels for how it looks."

He said that while much of southern England was divided into field systems at that time, they had ditched boundaries. Post hole boundaries were unusual because they were not as practical.

He said other experts would now be consulted to see if there were similar examples and to establish why they might have been used.

"It is possible that it was an important settlement where people met and they needed to make it look more visually impressive and show they could generate the labour needed to create such an environment," he said.

The new bypass will run from the A47 junction at Postwick to the Fakenham Road

The discovery was made close to where the Norwich Northern Distributor Road (NDR) will run.

Norfolk County Council's historic environment manager David Gurney said: "Such Bronze Age settlement evidence is always difficult to find so the NDR excavation results will be of regional and national significance."

The council said the excavation of the NDR route was programmed as part of the project so the find will not cause delays.

Norwich bypass: Bronze Age settlement found in roadworks excavation - BBC News

 

[Curious Cdn]

Are they going to pave it over or will they re-route the roadway around it?

 

[Danbones]

Being a supporter of the idea that the old folks were, as they are today, sharper then they are given credit for by the modern young whipper snappers...
I love it when they find more then they bargained for.

 

[Blackleaf]

Are they going to pave it over or will they re-route the roadway around it?

They'll build the road over the top of it, once they've done their study into it, if that's where the road is supposed to be going.

It might not be destroyed. It'll just be under the road,

 

[Curious Cdn]

They'll build the road over the top of it, once they've done their study into it, if that's where the road is supposed to be going.

It can't be so nationally significant if future archaeologists can't take a look using new techniques or armed with new informstion. I guess that if you can't put a spade in the ground without hitting something, you don't have a lot of choice.

 

[Blackleaf]

It can't be so nationally significant if future archaeologists can't take a look using new techniques or armed with new informstion. I guess that if you can't put a spade in the ground without hitting something, you don't have a lot of choice.

It's the same with Crossrail, the new railway line, tunnels and stations being built through London. They've come across plague pits, including at the sight of Crossrail's new Liverpool Street Station. But they're not building the new stations a few hundreds yards away instead. They're still building at the same sight, over the plague pit.

And there's a Shakespearean theatre - The Curtain - that's also been found by builders and archaeologists are doing a lot of study into it but they're still going to build the new buildings over the top of it.