Record Details

NHER Number:4106
Type of record:Find Spot
Name:Multi-period finds

Summary

Various objects found in 1949. Prehistoric worked flints included a Mesolithic microlith, two prehistoric core tools that were recorded as Neolithic but may be Mesolithic and an Early Neolithic flint laurel leaf. Other finds recovered included a Bronze Age copper alloy socketed axehead and copper alloy spearhead; Iron Age/Roman and Roman pottery sherds and a ?Saxon bead. It is possible that a Palaeolithic flint handaxe was also recovered in this field, although there is a degree of uncertainty as to whether it was from here or a pit to the north-east (NHER 4099).

Images - none

Location

Grid Reference:TF 8059 1200
Map Sheet:TF81SW
Parish:SOUTHACRE, BRECKLAND, NORFOLK

Full description

Various finds recovered from the field surrounding the formerly circular plantation known as Round Covert. Notes in the archive of R. Jacobi (who examined some of this material) suggest this field was once known as Ash Breck (S1).

1936. Stray Find.
Found by P. L. K. Schwabe, south of Fincham Drove at [1] (Context 7):
1 Neolithic polished axehead. Pale-white-blue colouration. Information from (S2).
Previously recorded as NHER 4110.

It is also noted by (S2) that Schwabe recovered a "surface industry including Palaeo flake" in the same field, with some of these flints subsequently donated to the Norwich Castle Museum (NWHCM : 1946.164.32). There does however appear to be a degree of confusion here as this accesssion number is also recorded by (S8) as being for Palaeolithic finds that were recovered by Schwabe at the Bartholomew's Hills pits to the north-east (NHER 4099). This collection includes a blue-white patinated, pointed Palaeolithic flint handaxe and it is possibly that this is actually the Neolithic axehead recorded by (S2) (particularly as the museum's records list this object as being from NHER 4110). This handaxe is illustrated in (S9) and currently recorded under NHER 4099. This collection also includes 2 large cortical blades of possible Late Upper Palaeolithic date. These pieces were probably identified as potentially Upper Palaeolithic by P. Robins (NCM) when he was ordering the NCM's collections.

Around 1949. Stray Finds.
Various objects recovered by [2]:

1 Mesolithic flint microlith. Jacobi Class 1b. Identified by R. Jacobi and recorded in (S1). No year given, though it is listed along with a number of other finds found in this field in that year. Not previously recorded in NHER.

Found at approximately [3] (Context 1):
1 "leaf-shaped flint blade". Findspot marked on a King's Lynn Museum (KLM) record map.
Information from (S2).
Examined by R. Jacobi and identified as a laurel leaf (S1).
Previously recorded as NHER 4153.

Found at approximately [4] (Context 2):
1 ?Neolithic flint adze. Seen by R. R. Clarke (NCM) and described as patinated and 4 3/4 inches [12cm] long. Information from (S2). Probably the same findspot as one marked in this location on KLM record map as "Neolithic axe".
This may actually be one of the Mesolithic tranchet axes/axes subsequently identified in the collection of [1] by R. Jacobi and listed in (S7).

Found at [5] (Context 3):
1 prehistoric flint axehead. Findspot marked in this location of KLM record map ("Flint axe 1949"). No finder is recorded, although it was almost certainly [1]. Information from (S2).
Previously recorded as NHER 4148.
This may be one of the Mesolithic tranchet axes/axes subsequently identified in the collection of [1] by R. Jacobi and listed in (S7).

Found at approximately [6] (Context 4):
1 Bronze Age copper alloy socketed axehead. Length 87mm, width of cutting edge 47mm. Information from (S3). See sketch attached to (S3). Also noted in (S1).
Previously recorded as NHER 4116.

Found at approximately [7] (Context 5):
1 Bronze Age copper alloy spearhead. Bronze spearhead with loops half way up socket. 14.3cm (5 1/2 inches) long, width of socket 20mm. Part of blade broken. Information from (S3). See sketch attached to (S3). Discovery reported in (S4). See also (S5).
Previously recorded as NHER 4117.

Found north-east of Round Covert at approximately [8] (Context 6):
1 Roman pottery rim sherd and 2 Iron Age/Roman pottery sherds. Donated to Norwich Castle Museum (NWHCM : 1998.497.1).
Information from (S6).
Previously recorded as NHER 4119.

Found at approximately [4] (Context 2):
1 ?Saxon bead. Findspot marked on KLM record map ("Saxon bead").
Possibly the bead mentioned in NHER 4147.

Amended by P. Watkins (HES), 13 November 2013 and 14 August 2014.

Monument Types

  • FINDSPOT (Lower Palaeolithic to Middle Palaeolithic - 1000000 BC? to 40001 BC?)
  • FINDSPOT (Mesolithic - 10000 BC to 4001 BC)
  • FINDSPOT (Early Neolithic - 4000 BC to 3001 BC)
  • FINDSPOT (Neolithic - 4000 BC to 2351 BC)
  • FINDSPOT (Bronze Age - 2350 BC to 701 BC)
  • FINDSPOT (Early Iron Age to Roman - 800 BC to 409 AD)
  • FINDSPOT (Roman - 43 AD to 409 AD)
  • FINDSPOT (Early Saxon - 410 AD to 650 AD)

Associated Finds

  • FLAKE (Lower Palaeolithic to Middle Palaeolithic - 500000 BC? to 40001 BC?)
  • LITHIC IMPLEMENT (Lower Palaeolithic to Late Iron Age - 500000 BC to 42 AD)
  • BLADE (Upper Palaeolithic - 40000 BC? to 10001 BC?)
  • MICROLITH (Mesolithic - 10000 BC to 4001 BC)
  • ADZE (Neolithic - 4000 BC to 2351 BC)
  • AXEHEAD (Neolithic - 4000 BC to 2351 BC)
  • LAUREL LEAF (Early Neolithic - 4000 BC to 3001 BC)
  • POLISHED AXEHEAD? (Neolithic - 4000 BC? to 2351 BC?)
  • SOCKETED AXEHEAD (Bronze Age - 2350 BC to 701 BC)
  • SPEARHEAD (Bronze Age - 2350 BC to 701 BC)
  • POT (Early Iron Age to Roman - 800 BC to 409 AD)
  • POT (Roman - 43 AD to 409 AD)
  • BEAD (Early Saxon - 411 AD? to 650 AD?)

Protected Status - none

Sources and further reading

---Record Card: Ordnance Survey Staff. 1933-1979?. Ordnance Survey Record Cards. TF 81 SW 11 [2]; TF 81 SW 12 [3]; TF 81 SW 13 [2]; TF 81 SW 17 [2].
---Record Card: NAU Staff. 1974-1988. Norfolk Archaeological Index Primary Record Card. NHERs 4106, 4110, 4117 and 4153.
<S1>Archive: R. Jacobi. -. Jacobi Archive. 10150.
<S2>Record Card: Clarke, R. R. and NCM Staff. 1933-1973. Norwich Castle Museum Record Card - Neolithic. South Acre.
<S3>Record Card: Clarke, R. R. and NCM Staff. 1933-1973. Norwich Castle Museum Record Card - Bronze Age. Southacre.
<S4>Article in Serial: Clarke, R. R. 1957. Archaeological Discoveries in Norfolk 1949-54. Norfolk Archaeology. Vol XXXI Pt IV pp 395-416. p 397.
<S5>Article in Serial: [unknown]. Archaeological Newsletter. Vol 3 No 2 p 39. p 39.
<S6>Record Card: Clarke, R. R. and NCM Staff. 1933-1973. Norwich Castle Museum Record Card - Roman. Southacre.
<S7>Monograph: Wymer, J. J. and Bonsall, C. J. (eds). 1977. Gazetteer of Mesolithic Sites in England and Wales with a Gazetteer of Upper Palaeolithic Sites in England and Wales. Council for British Archaeology Research Report. No. 20. pp 212-213.
<S8>Record Card: Clarke, R. R. and NCM Staff. 1933-1973. Norwich Castle Museum Record Card - Palaeolithic.
<S9>Publication: Wymer, J. J. 1985. Palaeolithic Sites of East Anglia. p 47; Fig 14.2.

Related records - none

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