Proceedings of the Cambridge Antiquarian Society 66

TL 451931; 460934. Limited excavations at two sites are reported. The barrow yielded a varied collection of Late Neolithic pottery, overlain by a layer with Beaker sherds and then by the mound in which two cremations were uncovered; one contained fusiform beads of a jet and amber necklace of Wessex type, the other an inverted shapeless urn. At the Golden Lion Inn partial excavation of a rectangular enclosure revealed useful economic information, samian and coarse wares, and confirmation that Roman Fenland houses were flimsy. Occupation was for about a century from first half of 2nd century.

[TL 585676]. Description, with technological details, of a hoard of eighteen bronzes found during field-levelling. There are eight bowls of Irchester type, three one-piece carinated cauldrons, a carinated bowl, a handled skillet, a hemispherical fluted bowl, two penannular rings and two fragmentary vessels. Excavations conducted on the site by D M Browne (81-91) threw no light on the circumstances of deposition.

?near TM 294995. Forty objects in the British Museum are here published for the first time as a cemetery group. There were probably not more than twenty graves with objects, mostly inhumations, dating to the latter part of 6th century. Thirteen brooches and other bronzes, bead necklaces, spearheads, knives, shield bosses and two pots are illustrated. The presumed cemetery is discussed in the light of other mainly inhumation cemeteries in Norfolk, otherwise a predominantly cremation area.

The first author summarizes evidence obtained from a section of the Devil's Dyke in 1973: a coin sealed by the bank gave a tpq of AD 350, but earthworms and moles had sabotaged much of the stratification. Much information was nevertheless obtained on the engineering of the dyke. The second author argues that the Bran Ditch burials represent a cwealmstow or Anglo-Saxon execution site rather than a massacre.

Early antiquaries fell into the trap of relying on historical evidence to date Saxon buildings, and Thomas Rickman in the 1810s was the first to see the value of 'unconscious' or structural evidence. The over-enthusiasm of mid-19th century workers in finding 'Saxon' buildings was usefully corrected by J H Parker's extreme scepticism. The last thirty years have seen great strides towards a detailed relative chronology, though some uncertainties will inevitably remain and must be recognized as such.