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Ongoing excavations on the site of the planned Sizewell C nuclear power station in Suffolk have uncovered an early medieval barrow cemetery with evidence of high-status activity, including a double burial accompanied by elite grave goods, as well as the remains of a horse.
Oxford Cotswold Archaeology (OCA, a partnership between Oxford Archaeology and Cotswold Archaeology) have been excavating sites in and around the area of development since the autumn of 2022. During this time, the project has revealed a wealth of discoveries spanning the Palaeolithic to the Second World War, including an Iron Age axle (see CA 397) and a hoard of more than 300 11th-century coins that was dubbed ‘the pasty’ because its lead and cloth wrappings made it resemble the Cornish delicacy (CA 420).
The most recent addition to this rich archaeological landscape was discovered while excavating a section of the Sizewell Link Road near Theberton. There, the team uncovered the remains of at least 11 barrows, probably dating to the 6th and 7th centuries, and containing both cremations and inhumations. The mounds had been carefully arranged in the landscape, with the adjacent settlement area looking down the gentle slope and on to the cemetery. Additionally, while the acidic nature of the local sandy soil meant that few skeletal remains survived in the inhumation burials, these conditions had created sand silhouettes that captured the varying outlines of bodies (below), a phenomenon known from other sites including Sutton Hoo and, over in Lincolnshire, Sheffield’s Hill (see CA 175, CA 180, and CA 331).
One barrow was particularly notable: it contained the sand ‘bodies’ of possibly two people who had been buried with an array of weapons and personal items, which speak to them having been of high social status. The grave goods were all block-lifted for painstaking laboratory excavation, with the assemblage found to include, so far, two shields, one or two spears, a sword, a large iron-bound bucket, and a bronze bowl, inside which was a cup or drinking horn with silver rim decoration. OCA also found the remains of a horse in a pit beside the human grave. Horse burials are a rare and elite rite seen across Europe in this period. Overall, this discovery adds to a number of extravagant burials that have been identified in the region, including at Sutton Hoo, Snape, and Prittlewell (CA 190 and CA 352), adding further details to our knowledge of elite culture in eastern England.
OCA have carried out recent excavations at Goose Hill, too, along the coastline north of Sizewell C, which revealed extensive Bronze Age material, particularly relating to the Bell Beaker culture. Multiple clusters of pits of this period were found to be filled with domestic waste, such as worked flints and pottery. The team discovered a flattened mound of discarded burnt flints as well, adjacent to a spring and a wood-lined water trough. It has been suggested that the flints might have been used to heat water, possibly for the processing of cattle hides.
We will bring you a fuller feature about these excavations in a future issue of CA – watch this space!
Text: Kathryn Krakowka / Photo: Oxford Cotswold Archaeology
