Selected projects
4.19.25 Flixborough Anglo-Saxon Settlement, Lincolnshire
Between 1989 and 1991, English Heritage funded excavations at Flixborough, in north Lincolnshire, uncovered the remains of an exceptionally wealthy Anglo-Saxon settlement, thought initially to date predominantly from the Middle Saxon period. Post-excavation analysis by Humber Archaeology, now in its second year, is currently changing earlier perceptions of the nature of the site and its importance for Anglo-Saxon rural settlement studies. Detailed stratigraphic analysis has shown that the excavated area was occupied or used for settlement-related activity continuously, from at least the early seventh century until the fourteenth century. Ten main phases have been identified within the occupation sequence, and the stratigraphic data, together with an extremely rich collection of artefacts and a vast quantity of animal bones, provide evidence of nearly all aspects of daily life on a high-status Anglo-Saxon settlement. These include the physical character of the settlement, animal husbandry practices, the exploitation of wild faunal resources, a wide range of craftworking and industrial activities, and the maintenance of long-distance exchange contacts with southern England and with continental Europe.
The heart of the excavated Anglo-Saxon settlement focus was situated on a windblown sand spur, overlooking the Trent floodplain south of the Humber estuary. Here 38 buildings have been identified, a significant number of which were superimposed on the foundations of earlier structures. The buildings were 9-20m long, and the largest were constructed during the tenth century. Periodically, parts of the settlement were used for large-scale refuse disposal associated with deliberate raising of the ground level for subsequent construction phases. This dumping was focused especially on a large hollow in the central area of the site, which was filled in between the early eighth and late tenth centuries. The cyclical use of this large hollow for housing and dumping has provided unprecedented stratified deposits from an Anglo-Saxon rural settlement.
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From the mid late tenth century, much of the excavated area was sealed by the accumulation of dark organic-rich deposits that contained the latest Anglo-Saxon pottery types on the site, together with animal bones, coins, and metalwork. This accumulation might have resulted from the levelling of middens on the periphery of the settlement. A major ditch, containing twelfth- and thirteenth-century pottery, an oven, and a series of pits all indicate that the excavated area remained on the edge of the settlement during the Anglo-Norman period, prior to being sealed by 2m of windblown sand from the fourteenth century onwards. The main focus of eleventh- to fourteenth-century occupation is likely to lie immediately above the excavated area to the east, around the now ruined thirteenth-century church of All Saints and the deserted medieval village of North Conesby (a name that might be more appropriate for the excavated settlement remains than the modern parish name of Flixborough, by which the site has become known).
The refuse, and levelling dumps in particular, were especially rich in artefacts and animal bones. All were well preserved, despite the acidic sand geology, owing to a high content of alkaline wood ash in the dumps, which produced neutral soil conditions. Consequently, thousands of artefacts were recovered, many of which have diagnostically datable features. The results of the East Midlands Anglo-Saxon Pottery project in particular, and the quantity of datable pottery found in all phases at Flixborough, have enabled the recognition of the length of the occupation sequence, in conjunction with the excellent stratigraphic data. The dump deposits also demonstrate a high degree of artefact residuality, especially of coins and small pieces of Middle Saxon decorated metalwork. The unrecognised extent of this residuality of Middle Saxon finds in later phases, prior to the detailed stratigraphic analysis and pottery work, was the main reason for the initial belief that the settlement was occupied only from the late seventh to the late ninth centuries.
The combination of the structural sequence, the nature of the large deposits, excellent preservation conditions, and the vast assemblages of artefact and biological remains is providing an extremely comprehensive view of the economy of the settlement. The inhabitants of Flixborough were sustained by the products of a mixed agricultural regime, supplemented by wildfowling, fishing, and hunting. Wild faunal resources were exploited from a range of habitats, including the Trent floodplain, woodland, and the riverine and estuarine waters of the Humber. Perhaps the most exceptional occurrence among the wild species is an unusually large number of cetacean bones (mainly porpoise/dolphin but also large whales, none of which have yet been identified to species). These could have been obtained directly by hunting or from beaching sites on the Humber estuary.
The products of the agricultural economy and the management of wild resources also provided many of the raw materials for the craftworking and industrial activities undertaken at the site. Well-preserved tools and industrial debris have been recovered, relating to textile manufacture, carpentry, leather working, iron working and non-ferrous metalworking. The collection of specialist iron tools is one of the most exceptional yet discovered from Anglo-Saxon England. The quality of the vertical stratigraphy on the site enables changes in the character of these activities to be observed throughout the history of the site. Significant patterns are emerging with regard to the exploitation of domestic and wild faunal resources, and to different craft and other specialist activities.
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