Sue Anderson, Finds Manager, Suffolk C.C. Archaeological Service, June 1999.

Table 1 presents the quantities of major artefact groups collected from each of the two areas. Detailed quantifications of finds are available in an Excel Spreadsheet

Table 1. Quantities of major find types from the fields and identified sites (weights in kg).

Other finds include a piece of mortar (North), nine fragments of ?building stone/slate (six from North, three from South), clay pipe stems (two from North, one from South), four pieces of glass (two from each area), seven fragments of oyster shell (all South) and four pieces of metalwork (iron from both areas and copper alloy from South).

A total of 96 sherds of pottery was collected, the majority from the Southern area. The abraded nature of this material made identification difficult, but all has been assigned to basic period divisions rather than to particular fabric groups. It was particularly difficult to distinguish types of medieval, late medieval and early post-medieval redwares due to the loss of most glaze. Table 2 shows the quantities (count only) of pottery by period from each of the areas. A catalogue by grid square is included in the appendix.

Table 2. Pottery quantification by period.

This shows that early medieval and medieval wares are proportionately more common in the Northern than the Southern area, and that the opposite is true of later material. Distribution plots of the medieval and earlier and late medieval and later pottery are shown in Figures 1 and 2.

Only one piece of Late Iron Age or Early Roman pottery was identified, a grog-tempered everted jar rim. Two tiny handmade sandy black sherds of possible Early Saxon date were also collected. Otherwise, all material can be dated between the 11th to 19th centuries.

Due to the abraded nature of the material it was rarely possible to identify the form of Ceramic Building Material (CBM) except for the most recent examples. The majority of fragments, however, were typical of red sandy peg tiles of probable late and post-medieval date. A few examples of other roof tiles, including one ridge tile and several pantiles, were also collected. Brick fragments were generally in a similar red sandy fabric, usually with a slightly coarser matrix. However, some fragments of heavily abraded soft salmon pink material identified as ‘fired clay’ may also be the remains of bricks or possibly floor tiles. A few fragments of Flemish floor tiles decorated with all-over white slip and yellow glaze were identified, all from rows 1 and 2 of the Northern area. It is likely that most of the ‘fired clay’ in the group was heavily abraded ceramic building material, although a few chalk-tempered pieces may have been daub. One piece of field drain (from C5) is also included in the CBM quantification.

A distribution plot of the CBM and fired clay (Figure 3) shows it to be concentrated in the Northern area. Most of the possible building stone (oolitic and coarse shelly limestones, Welsh roofing slate and ashlared fine ?limestone with sooting on the surfaces) was also from the Northern area.

Worked flint was not common in the assemblage, and some of the material identified as worked is borderline and possibly natural. Apart from one bifacially worked fragment which may have been a crude arrowhead (E. Martin pers. comm., square A1), and a possible core fragment (D1), all were waste flakes. A distribution plot (Figure 4) shows a slight concentration of material in the centre and south of the Southern area (Row C and Column 1). The few pieces of burnt flint were also found most commonly in the south of the Southern area, but also occurred in the south of the Northern area.

A small quantity of animal and human bone was recovered, the majority from the Northern area. One small unidentified fragment was found in the South, and a few fragments of animal bone and tooth were found in the centre of the Northern area, but most of the bone was human. It included a fragment of juvenile femur, a small piece of ulna or fibula shaft, fragments of an adult femur and a complete left first metatarsal.

A few fragments of oyster shell were found in the Southern area. Three clay pipe stems, two fine later types and one coarse early type, were collected. Fragments of glass from both areas were all fairly recent bottle sherds, including a mould-blown base. Two pieces of iron slag were found in the Northern area. Metalwork included two thick iron sheet fragments, a fragment of a plano-convex tapered iron object with a rounded end, and a bronze button, all probably of post-medieval date.

The artefactual evidence suggests a concentration of medieval activity in the Northern area. The presence of larger quantities of building material, together with fragments of human bone, in this area supports the suggestion that St. Olave’s church was located here rather than in the Southern area. Relatively large quantities of 16th-18th century pottery in the Southern area may suggest middening of this date, or could indicate the presence of a dwelling. However, the building material on this side of the track is almost indistinguishable from that on the other side, with the exception of floor tile which is only present in the Northern area, and it could represent a spread of demolition debris from the church rather than a house or other structure. There is little evidence of earlier activity other than small quantities of prehistoric and Early Saxon material.