One… two… three crouched burials in Lower Chalkpit

WARNING: the following article contains images and text related to human remains

Antler pick

What is a crouched burial?

They are ‘crouched’ in that the deceased person is buried lying on their side with their knees drawn up. Crouched burials are found of men and women, adults and children. They might or might not have grave goods with them, and they may or may not originally have had a structure, like a mound, visible in the landscape above the burial. When dated, crouched burials are usually found to be prehistoric - most often Bronze Age, but with some Neolithic and Iron Age examples known.

Bronze Age crouch burial

We know of three crouched burials in Lower Chalkpit field. The first to be discovered, in 2009, a mature adult female (S8001), was radiocarbon dated to 2458-2200 cal BC: the Late Neolithic or Early Bronze Age. A second such burial (S8002), uncovered about 35 metres further east in 2010, surprised us with a Middle Iron Age radiocarbon determination (373–203 cal BC). This individual was a young adult of indeterminate sex. In 2024, a third burial (S8003) of the same type was uncovered in the Car Park trench about 26 metres east of the Iron Age skeleton, but not excavated. This will be investigated in the summer of 2025.

Crouch burial locations at SHARP

Crouched burials in Norfolk

A search of the Norfolk Historic Environment Record (hereafter NHER) for crouched burials returns a surprisingly low number of results, considering that there are three (two of which are separated by two millennia) from a fairly small part of a single field in Sedgeford. There are only nine – but given that these, like all HER records, are records of those which have been documented and reported, this probably represents a tiny percentage of what may be out there.

Of the nine NHER records, one, from Brandon Road, Thetford (NHER 37158), has an Early Saxon radiocarbon date and another was associated with probable Roman pottery. The latter individual, an adult male, was found seven metres from a Bronze Age barrow at RAF Watton (NHER 42674), but he had been buried on his right side with his knees bent, rather than in a classic prehistoric-looking tightly crouched position.

Of the remaining seven crouched burials recorded on the NHER, three are antiquarian finds or poorly recorded. They were located at:

-     Hopton House, Little Cressingham

-     West of Sunderland Farm, Docking

-     Station Road, Heacham

The first to be discovered, in 1849 near Hopton House (NHER 5051), is of considerable interest, being “The only known example of a rich Wessex Culture burial in East Anglia.” The Early Bronze Age crouched skeleton, thought to have belonged to an adult male, was found during the excavation of a round barrow which formed part of a barrow cemetery. This individual was accompanied by a bronze dagger and spearhead, a gold breast plate, amber beads and a gold bracelet. All traces of an earthwork have subsequently disappeared.

The poorly recorded discoveries are both close to Sedgeford, at Docking and Heacham. There is very little information about the example found in 1942/3 north of Docking (NHER 1640). The Heacham burial (NHER 14065) was uncovered in 1973 by builders digging foundations. It was inspected by staff from King’s Lynn Museum, who identified it as a female aged between 35-45, and suggested a late Neolithic date. Photographs show a jumble of human bones sitting on freshly disturbed earth. Unfortunately, the circumstances of the discovery and lack of controlled excavation or recording, mean that we cannot be entirely certain whether this really was a crouched burial.

Five other crouched burials have been found, on four sites, during modern development control-archaeology. These are at:

-     Feltwell Anchor, Feltwell

-     3 Minstergate, Thetford

-     Norton Subcourse Quarry, Heckingham

-     Fersfield, Bressingham

All of these burials are believed to be Early or Middle Bronze Age, although only two sites have radiocarbon dates.

At Feltwell Anchor (NHER 23650) a grave containing a crouched inhumation had been cut into a burnt mound. This individual, a female aged 25-30, had been buried in a wooden structure of some sort, either a timber coffin or hollowed out log, or perhaps a mortuary structure. The skeleton was radiocarbon dated to the Early Bronze Age: 2140-1880 cal BC. A flint scraper was found at the west end of the possible coffin, 0.4 m from the skull.

Two Middle Bronze Age radiocarbon dates (1430-1210 and 1410-1130 cal BC) were obtained for the pair of skeletons at Norton Subcourse Quarry (NHER 40918). The two tightly crouched burials had been buried one above the other, in a shallow grave. The lower skeleton was an adult female and two jet studs found in association were probably originally worn through the earlobes.

Lorraine and Martin excavate a Bronze Age crouch burial at SHARP

The Minstergate crouched burial (NHER 37356), a child aged around 11 years, was associated with a few later prehistoric worked flints. The grave was orientated north-south and the skeleton was preserved mainly as a sand body.

At Fersfield, trial trenching revealed an isolated crouched burial (NHER 55435) in association with a beaker pot, suggesting a date between 2600-1800 BC. The final report is awaited.

Although the sample size is small, the majority of the known crouched burials recorded on the NHER are therefore Late Neolithic/Early Bronze Age or Middle Bronze Age in date.

Context

What might this all tell us about the little cluster of crouched burials in Lower Chalkpit? As one of the burials is known to be Late Neolithic/Early Bronze Age, might there have once been at least one round barrow here? As an upstanding earthwork, this might have acted as a focus for the Middle Iron Age burial. Although the burial uncovered in 2024 is yet to be dated, it was found close to a small deposit of burnt bone, which could conceivably be a satellite cremation burial of Bronze Age date. The dating will become clear as we investigate further this summer.

Excavation of Iron Age crouch burial

Iron Age crouch burial at SHARP

Plan of Iron Age burial pit

Around 23 round barrows and ring ditches in Sedgeford parish, presumed to be Bronze Age in date, are recorded on the NHER. None of these are preserved as earthworks today, and over half were identified from aerial photographs by the National Mapping Programme in 2006. There are none in Chalkpit Field, the nearest cluster being about 700m to the south-west, close to the Snettisham Road. There is also a barrow cemetery comprising 14 such features on the north side of the Sedgeford to Docking road. Once again, this is likely to be a smaller number than were originally present.

Bill Armitage, a former SHARP treasurer who worked for the Sedgeford Hall estate for many years, reported that after the Second World War, the estate purchased a new deep plough. Bill was tasked with ploughing out the remaining round barrows on the estate, which were seen as an inconvenience. In 2000, Bill marked up a map with the locations of barrows he remembered, and, while there are none shown in Chalkpit Field, it highlights that there were once many round barrows in the area. Geophysical surveys in Lower Chalkpit have not revealed any clear indications of a barrow or barrows, but it is not impossible that we will find the deeply buried base of a truncated ring ditch as we continue to excavate in the Car Park trench.

Written by Naomi Payne