Bury Road, Thetford

Plant macrofossils
by Ruth Pelling

2015

Bury Road, Thetford

Plant macrofossils
by Ruth Pelling
Introduction
Eight bulk flotation samples (from late Saxon pits and overlying midden) were selected for
detailed analysis of plant macro-remains and charcoal. Full details of the methods, the
assessment and the results of the analysis are available in the archive (see Table 1).
Nomenclature for wild species follows Stace (1997).
The majority of plant macrofossils identified were charred and preservation tended to be
good to excellent. Occasional seeds preserved by mineral replacement were present, and
these may be indicative of sporadic or re-worked sewage deposits. Cereal grain and large
arable weed seeds dominated the plant assemblage with occasional chaff, non-cereal food
remains, heathland plants and charcoal.
Cereal crops
All the samples analysed produced charred cereal remains with substantial deposits of grain
and associated impurities (weed seeds and occasional chaff) present in some samples.
Hordeum vulgare (hulled barley), Secale cereale (rye), Avena sp. (oats) and Triticum
aestivum/turgidum (free-threshing bread/rivet wheat type) were identified on the basis of
grain and chaff. Barley and rye were particularly well-represented, both tolerant of the
nutrient poor, acidic breckland soils, whilst wheat was numerically rare in the samples and
may have been of minimal importance in the local economy. The grain of barley was
dominated by straight or indeterminate grain, with very few asymmetric grains characteristic
of the six-row variety. Several lemma bases remained attached to the grain and displayed the
horseshoe depression characteristic of two-row or lax eared (four-row) barley. The Triticum
species represented included hexaploid Triticum aestivum type (bread-type wheat) identified
on the basis of rachis fragments. The Avena grain included both cultivated (A.
sativa/strigosa) and wild species (A. fatua), as indicated by occasional floret bases.
A deposit of germinated grain of barley, oats, Bromus and Lolium recovered from pit fill
13125 was interpreted as a mixed crop of oats and barley (drage), which had been deliberated
germinated, probably for malt. Mixed oats and barley malt appears to have been quite
common in the early medieval period (10th to 12th century), with similar deposits recovered
from both local sites (eg, Murphy 2004, 100) and further afield. The inclusion of germinated
caryopses of Lolium temulentum (darnel) within the oats and barley has also been noted on
sites in Oxford (Pelling 2006) and Dover (Campbell 2006). While darnel has a toxic effect
which can cause vomiting and diarrhoea, documentary evidence indicates that it was
deliberated added to barley to produce a strong beer (Campbell 2006, 389; La Pense 1990,
137). Bromus caryopses are non-toxic and of similar size to oats and barley grain so were
probably a tolerated impurity.
Chaff was poorly represented compared to grain, which suggests that fully processed grain
was likely being brought to the town for storage and milling/malting or other culinary and/or
fodder purposes. In large part this reflects the free-threshing nature of the cereals represented;
the grain is readily released and separated from the chaff following threshing ready for
transport or storage. Context 11031 (part of 11036, one of the midden deposits) was an
exception in that it produced a large number of rye rachis fragments. Rye rachis is similarly
well represented in relation to grain at a number of other sites in Thetford, for example
2

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.

Rye, basal rachis

cf Rye rachis
Rye/Wheat grain
Oats, germinated grain
Oats, grain
cf Oats, grain
Common/Bristle Oat, grain and floret base
Common/Bristle Oat, floret base
Oats, indeterminate, floret base
Free-threshing bread/rivet type wheat grain
Hexaploid, bread type wheat rachis
Free-threshing bread/rivet type wheat rachis
Indeterminate grain
Cereal/Grass grain

Secale cereale L.

Secale cereale/Triticum sp.

Avena sp.

Avena sp.

cf. Avena sp.

Avena sativa/strigosa

Avena sativa/strigosa

Avena sp.

Triticum aestivum/turgidum grain

Tiriticum aestivum L. rachis

Triticum aestivum/turgidum rachis

Cerealia indet grain

Cerealia/Poaceae grain

Rye rachis

Secale cereale L.

cf. Secale cereale L.

cf Rye grain
cf Rye grain, germinated

cf. Secale cereale L.

Secale cereale L.

cf. Secale cereale L.

Barley/Rye rachis
Rye grain

Hordeum vulgare/Secale cereale

Barley rachis

cf. Hordeum vulgare L.

Hordeum vulgare L.
Barley grain, germinated

Barley, grain

Hordeum vulgare L.

Barley rachis

Barley, hulled grain germinated

Hordeum vulgare L.

Hordeum vulgare L.

Barley, hulled grain

Hordeum vulgare L.

Hordeum vulgare L.

Barley, hulled straight grain

Barley, hulled asymmetric grain

Hordeum vulgare L.

Common name

Cereals

22

22

18

100%

17

Volume flotated (litres)

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

Cereal sized sprouted embryo

Cereal sized detached embryo

Cerealia indet rachis

Cerealia/Poaceae sprouted embryo

Cerealia/Poaceae detached embryo

Broad/Celtic Bean
Bean/Pea
Bean/Vetch, detached hilum

Vicia faba var minor L.

Vicia/Pisum sp.

Vicia sp.

cf. Linum usitatissimum L.

Sambucus nigra L. uncharred

Goosefoot family, mineral replaced

Pink family
Common Chickweed
Annual Knawel
Corncockle
cf Corncockle
cf Corncockle, capsule tips
Campions
Redshank

Caryophyllaceae indet.

Stellaria media (L.) Vill.

Scleranthus annuus L.

Agrostemma githago L.

cf. Agrostemma githago L.

cf. Agrostemma githago L. capsule tips

Silene sp.

Persicaria maculosa Gray

Goosefoot family

Chenopodiaceae indet

Chenopodiaceae indet

Fat Hen
Oraches

Atriplex sp.

Fumaria sp. uncharred

Chenopodium album L.

Common Meadow-rue
Fumitory

Thalicturum flavum L.

Elder

Sambucus nigra L.

18

Elder

Prunus sp. mineralised

Sloe/Plum stone, mineral replaced

Prunus sp.

Sloe/Plum stone

Prunus spinosa L.

15

Sloe stone

Malus sp. mineralised

Herbaceous plants (arable/grassland)

Hazel nut shell fragments

Apple/Pear, mineral replaced seed

Corylus avellana L. fragments

Nutshells/fruitstones

Flax seed
cf Flax seed

Linum usitatissimum L.

Oil/fibre crops

cf Pea

cf. Pisum sativum L.

Pulses

Cereal sized culm node

Indeterminate rachis internode

Cerealia indet culm node

10

35

83

122

16

10

24

11

107

Borage family, silica

Borage family, mineral replaced
Dead-nettle family, small seeded
Dead-nettle family, mineral replaced
Selfheal
Ribwort/Hoary Plantain
Cleavers
Narrow-fruited Cornsalad
cf. Narrow-fruited Cornsalad

Boraginaceae indet.

Boraginaceae indet.

Lamiaceae indet.

Lamiaceae indet.

Prunella vulgaris L.

Plantago lanceolata/media

Galium aparine L.

Valerianella dentata (L.) Pollich

cf. Valerianella dentata (L.) Pollich

Sedges, trigonus nutlet, mineral replaced

Rye-grasses

Lolium type

Sedges, trigonus nutlet,

Carex sp. (trigonous, small)

Sedge family

Sedges, bifacial nutlet

Carex sp. (bifacial)

Cyperaceae indet.

cf. Common Spike-rush

cf. Eleocharis palustris (L.) Roem. & Schult

cf. Carex sp. (trigonus, large), mineralised

Common Spike-rush

Eleocharis palustris (L.) Roem. & Schult

Daisy family, small seeded

Daisy family, large seeded

Asteraceae indet.

Asteraceae indet.

Stinking Chamomile

Field Gromwell

Lithospermum arvense L.

Scentless Mayweed

Clovers/Trefoils

Trifolium/Lotus type

Tripleurospermum inodorum (L.) Sch. Bip

Vetches/Peas

Anthemis cotula L.

Mignonettes, mineral replaced

Vicia/Lathyrus sp.

Cabbages/Mustards

Brassica/Sinapis sp.

cf. Reseda 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

Fallopia convolvulus (L.) . Lve

Knotgrass

Polygonum aviculare L.

Fallopia convolvulus (L.) . Lve

Pale Persicaria

Persicaria lapathifolium (L.) Gray

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.

cf. Bromus sp.

Poaceae indet. (small)

Poaceae indet. (small) mineralised

Poaceae indet. (large)

Poaceae indet. (large) germinated

Rodent droppings

7
25
18
1
5

total chaff (rachis only)

total weeds

total fruits/nuts

total oil crops

total pulses

total grain

102

Mammal bone fragments

Summary totals

Coleoptera/Lepidoptera type pupare

Fish bone

Fly pupare (small) mineralised

Worm segment

Fly pupare (large) mineralised

+++

Indet. seeds mineralised

Charcoal

21

10

39

34

Ericaceae indet. Stems

Indet. seeds

Heather, seed capsule

Heather family

Calluna vulgaris (L.) Hull.

Other

Heather, flower/shoots

Calluna vulgaris (L.) Hull.

Wile oats, floret base

Avena fatua L. floret base

Heathland species

Rye-grasses, germinated
Wild oats, grain and floret base

Lolium type

Avena fatua L. grain and floret base

15

14

19

97

143

30

11

23

25

92

120

++

++

14

122

261

15

970

157

143

84

133

98

16