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Bury Road - Specialist Report Plants
Bury Road - Specialist Report Plants
Bury Road - Specialist Report Plants
Plant macrofossils
by Ruth Pelling
2015
Brandon Road where rye straw appears to be represented (Murphy 1993) and Mill Lane
where it occurs in similar numbers to the grain (Murphy 2004). Rye produces a long and
strong straw which is particularly suitable for thatching and appears to have been widely used
as such in the medieval period, particularly in the south-west of England (Letts 1999, 2122,
38). Being widely cultivated in the Breckland region from the mid-Saxon period onwards
(Murphy 1983; 1994; Carruthers and Hunter forth), its tolerance of the acidic sandy soils
making it more suitable than wheat, rye straw and chaff would have been readily available.
Non-cereal food plants
A number of non-cereal food crops and wild food plants were identified. Pulses included
possible Pisum sativum (pea) and Vicia faba var minor (broad bean). Occasional seed of
Linum usitatissimum (flax) would presumably have been intended for culinary or oil use,
although fibre processing may also have been taking place by the river.
Wild and possibly cultivated fruits and nuts were represented by nut shell fragments of
Corylus avellana (hazel), fruit stones of Prunus spinosa (sloe) and a single mineral replaced
seed of Malus sp. (apple/crab-apple).
Wild flora
A range of wild herbaceous plants were represented by their seeds, including occasional
mineral replaced examples, and broadly mirrors the contemporary flora recovered elsewhere
in the town, particularly north of the river (Fryer and Murphy 1999). Large-seeded taxa,
notably large grass caryopses, Agrostemma githago and Lithospermum arvense, tend to
dominate the assemblages and are likely contaminants of grain, their separation from cereal
grain by sieving difficult due to similarity of size. Agrostemma githago was probably
particularly associated with autumn sown rye, and is most numerous in the samples
containing greatest quantities of rye grain. The wild flora includes species of well-drained,
acidic, sandy arable soils such as Raphanus raphanistrum (wild radish), Valerianella dentata
(narrow-fruited cornsalad), Scleranthus annuus (annual knawel) and Rumex acetosella
(sheeps sorrel). Eleocharis palustris (common spikerush), a species of damp, riverside
habitats, may derive from cultivation of floodplain soils, or may have entered the assemblage
with the dung of animals, or collected riverside vegetation. The majority of taxa are common
and persistent annual arable weeds including Agrostemma githago (corn cockle), Anthemis
cotula (stinking chamomile) and Lithospermum arvense (corn gromwell) or derive from more
catholic weed and grassland floras.
In addition to the arable weeds, evidence for the exploitation of heathland resources is
represented by numerous seed capsules and occasional flowers and shoots of Calluna
vulgaris (heather/ling). Heather would have been readily available in the Breckland and may
have been collected for fodder, bedding, thatch or fuel, the latter use well-documented in Late
Saxon Thetford (e.g. Fryer and Murphy 1999, 61; Murphy 1995, 1324). Sedges (Carex sp.)
may have been collected from heathland with the heather. Evidence for the burning of
heather as a fuel was derived from pit fill 18004, which produced several seed capsules as
well as flowers/shoots and indeterminate ericaceous stems in association with charcoal, but
with little evidence for arable weeds or crops.
Bibliography
Andrews, P. 1995. Excavations at Redcastle Furze, Thetford, 19889, E. Anglian Archaeol.
72, Gressenhall.
Campbell, G. 2006. Plant remains in Parfitt, K, Corke, B, Cotter, J Townwall Street, Dover
Excavations 1996 CAT: The Archaeology of Canterbury New Series vol III, 378390.
Carruthers, W.J. and Hunter, K.L. forthcoming A Review of Macroscopic Plant Remains from
the Midland Counties, Historic England Research Report.
Dallas, C. 1993. Excavations in Thetford by B.K. Davison between 1964 and 1970, E.
Anglian Archaeol. 62, Gressenhall.
Fryer, V. and Murphy, P. 1999. Plant macrofossils and molluscs, in Andrews and Penn
2004, 603.
La Pense. C. 1990. The Historical Companion to House-Brewing. Montag Publications.
Beverly.
Letts, J.B. 1999. Smoke Blackened Thatch: A uniquie source of late medieval plant remains
from Southern England, London and Reading: English Heritage and The University of
Reading.
Murphy, P. 1983. 'Iron Age to Late Saxon Land Use in the Breckland', in Jones, M. (ed.),
Integrating the subsistence economy, Brit. Archaeol. Rep. Int. Series 181, Oxford,
177209.
Murphy, P. 1993. Plant remains, in Dallas 1993, 1923.
Murphy, P. 1994. The Anglo-Saxon landscape and rural economy: some results from sites in
East Anglia and Essex, in Rackham, J. (ed.), Environment and Economy in AngloSaxon England: a Review of Recent Work on the Environmental Archaeology of Rural
and Urban Anglo-Saxon Settlements in England: Proceedings of a Conference Held
at the Museum of London, 910 April 1990, York, 2339.
Murphy, P. 1995. Plant macrofossils, in Andrews 1995, 1315.
Murphy, P. 2004. Plant macrofossils and molluscs, in Wallis 2004, 100-4.
Pelling, R. 2006. Charred and waterlogged plant remains in Poore, D., Score, D. and Dodd,
A Excavation at No. 4A Merton St., Merton College, Oxford: The Evolution of a
Medieval stone house and tenement and an early college property, Oxoniensia 71,
211341.
Stace, C 1997 New Flora of the British Isles (2nd ed) Cambridge: Cambridge University
Press.
The report on the excavations at Bury Road will be published in Norfolk Archaeology.
Secale cereale L.
Avena sp.
Avena sp.
Avena sativa/strigosa
Avena sativa/strigosa
Avena sp.
Cerealia/Poaceae grain
Rye rachis
Secale cereale L.
cf Rye grain
cf Rye grain, germinated
Secale cereale L.
Barley/Rye rachis
Rye grain
Barley rachis
Hordeum vulgare L.
Barley grain, germinated
Barley, grain
Hordeum vulgare L.
Barley rachis
Hordeum vulgare L.
Hordeum vulgare L.
Hordeum vulgare L.
Hordeum vulgare L.
Hordeum vulgare L.
Common name
Cereals
22
22
18
100%
17
Fraction sorted
Pit
11005
45
Feature type
Context
Sample Number
100%
16
Pit
18007
Table 1: Plant remains recovered from Bury Road, Thetford. Item give is seed, nutlet, fruit etc unless otherwise stated.
100%
Pit
16
GP
12050
15
69
10
34
100%
Pit
13127
28
10
100%
9.5
Pit
12043
29
20
35
20
16
26
100%
20
Pit
16030
18
126
10
51
15
68
324
38
237
11
100
1/8
17
Pit
14005
11
40
11
113
20
100%
Midden
11036
30
Broad/Celtic Bean
Bean/Pea
Bean/Vetch, detached hilum
Vicia/Pisum sp.
Vicia sp.
Caryophyllaceae indet.
Scleranthus annuus L.
Agrostemma githago L.
Silene sp.
Goosefoot family
Chenopodiaceae indet
Chenopodiaceae indet
Fat Hen
Oraches
Atriplex sp.
Chenopodium album L.
Common Meadow-rue
Fumitory
Thalicturum flavum L.
Elder
Sambucus nigra L.
18
Elder
Prunus sp.
Sloe/Plum stone
Prunus spinosa L.
15
Sloe stone
Nutshells/fruitstones
Flax seed
cf Flax seed
Linum usitatissimum L.
Oil/fibre crops
cf Pea
Pulses
10
35
83
122
16
10
24
11
107
Boraginaceae indet.
Boraginaceae indet.
Lamiaceae indet.
Lamiaceae indet.
Prunella vulgaris L.
Plantago lanceolata/media
Galium aparine L.
Lolium type
Cyperaceae indet.
Common Spike-rush
Asteraceae indet.
Asteraceae indet.
Stinking Chamomile
Field Gromwell
Lithospermum arvense L.
Scentless Mayweed
Clovers/Trefoils
Trifolium/Lotus type
Vetches/Peas
Anthemis cotula L.
Vicia/Lathyrus sp.
Cabbages/Mustards
Brassica/Sinapis sp.
Mallows, mineralised
Malva sp.
Radish, capsule
Knotweed family
Polygonaceae indet.
Mignonettes
Docks
Rumex sp.
Reseda sp.
Sheep's Sorrel
Rumex acetosella L.
Raphanus raphanistrum L.
Black Bindweed
Black Bindweed, mineralised
Knotgrass
Polygonum aviculare L.
Pale Persicaria
28
10
12
Brome grass
Brome grass, germinated
cf. Brome grass
Grass family, small seeded
Grass family, small seeded, mineral replaced
Grass family, large seeded
Grass family, large seeded, germinated
Bromus sp.
Bromus sp.
Rodent droppings
7
25
18
1
5
total weeds
total fruits/nuts
total pulses
total grain
102
Summary totals
Fish bone
Worm segment
+++
Charcoal
21
10
39
34
Indet. seeds
Other
Heather, flower/shoots
Heathland species
Rye-grasses, germinated
Wild oats, grain and floret base
Lolium type
15
14
19
97
143
30
11
23
25
92
120
++
++
14
122
261
15
970
157
143
84
133
98
16