Early Anglo-Saxon settlement, Maltings Lane (EHER 18505)

Archaeological investigations in the late 1990s and an excavation between 2000 and 2002 revealed significant Early Anglo-Saxon remains comprising a settlement and evidence for textile production and antler-working. Features included six sunken-featured buildings (grubenhauser) thought to have been ancillary buildings used for textile production and antler working, along with a larger rectangular post-built structure which may have provided domestic accommodation. Finds from the site include large quantities of handmade Early Anglo-Saxon pottery, a significant assemblage of worked bone relating to textile production, spindle whorls and a loomweight. This phase of activity appears not to follow on directly from late Roman activity at this location, and appears to fall out of use again by around 550AD.

1996. Trial trenching. Anglo-Saxon features were located mainly in Areas B (TL 8164 1333) and C (TL 8172 1330) and included ditches, gullies, post holes and rubbish pits. In Area B a single sunken featured building (grubenhaus) was recorded and finds from the building include ed two whetstones, a 4th century Roman coin and a spindle whorl made from part of a Roman pot. Associated with this building were a rubbish pit and a backfilled well (perhaps cut in the Roman period), which could not be fully excavated and may also have been a rubbish pit. In Area C a second sunken featured building was recorded and was found to contain Roman (3rd to 4th century) finds and pieces of Early Anglo-Saxon storage jars or cooking pots. In Area D a single cremation of possible Early Anglo-Saxon date was found at the southern end of Trench 18. This may suggest a cemetery associated with the settlement identified in Areas B and C. See EHER 17423 for further details. A total of 1.6kg (191 sherds) of Early Anglo-Saxon pottery was recovered from 22 contexts. Diagnostic forms include carinated bowls, predominantly 5th Century type. <1>. 1999. Trial trenching. This revealed a single isolated inhumation of uncertain date - it could be Roman, Anglo-Saxon or medieval. Some evidence for Anglo-Saxon activity in the form of pottery and pieces of antler, some of it worked, was also found in a ditch in trench K, in proximity to the 1996 evaluation. <2><3> 2000-2002. Excavation. Early Anglo-Saxon activity mainly consists of six sunken-featured buildings (SFBs), grouped in three pairs, a rectangular post-built structure and a scatter of pits and post-holes. The six sunken-featured buildings were considered to be ancillary work buildings rather than domestic dwellings. The one candidate for a dwelling at Maltings Lane is a rectangular post-built structure measuring 8.5m by 5.7m which did not contain any dating evidence but which is thought to be contemporary with the sunken-featured buildings, and which was similar in form to structures excavated at West Stow (Suffolk) and Orton Hall Farm (Peterborough). While it is doubted that the sunken-featured buildings functioned as dwellings, their pairing is pronounced and perhaps indicates single family groupings scattered across the land. It is possible that individual SFBs within a pair served different functions; this is partially supported by their artefactual content. At least two of the structures contain significant quantities of artefacts relating to the production of textiles and working of deer antler; presumably aspects of this subsistence economy. This apparent difference in the use of the SFBs in a pair was also noted at Heybridge and may be significant in seeking to understand the layout and activities of small Early Anglo-Saxon settlements. An increase in the amount of game animal bones and the lack of any formal field system suggest that any farming associated with the Early Anglo-Saxon settlement was not on any significant scale and was supplemented by hunting. While the Saxon remains are not particularly expansive, they have an importance as an indicator of early Saxon period occupation in the Witham area. The Anglo-Saxon features completely disregard the previous layouts and seem to be deliberately placed on top of several late Roman features. A large percentage of the artefacts dating to this period are associated with textile working and come from the sunken-featured buildings. The end of the Early Anglo-Saxon occupation, in around 550AD, sees a break in the geographical and temporal continuity of the site with the focus shifting northwards to along the road frontage and no further features or artefacts on site pre-dating around 1000AD. A total of 1336 sherds (1.89kg) of pottery was dated positively or tentatively to the Anglo-Saxon period, and the vast majority of this material was found within the fills of the sunken-featured buildings. None of the human remains detailed in the excavation report are thought to date from the Anglo-Saxon period. See <4> for further details. This excavation is due to be published in East Anglian Archaeology.