Excavations in Thetford, North of the River, 1989-90

With contributions from Sue Anderson, Justine Bayley, Mark Blackbum, John A. Davies, Val Fryer, David Gurney, Rachel Hutton MacDonald, Irena Lentowicz, Alexandra Little, Sue Margeson, Peter Murphy, Lucy Talbot and John Wymer. With illustrations by Steven Ashley, David Fox, Piers Millington-Wallace and Hoste Spalding. Three major excavations and other work in Thetford reveal settlement north of the river by AD 1000, within a semi-circular defensive enclosure which probably pre-dates that south of the river, but was initially little more than a bridgehead. Occupation peaked in the 11th and 12th centuries, with a shift of people to the north bank, followed by medieval decline. The bones represent a range of domestic animals, dominated by sheep kept for wool, cattle for meat and dairy products, and then pigs. Some stray Middle Saxon finds may hint at re-use of the Iron Age fort as an exchange/market centre.