Archaeologists Found the Remains of a Medieval Village During Highway Renovations

Here’s what you’ll learn when you read this story:

Archeologists just discovered remains from a medieval village while renovating a major highway in England.
Finds at the site include spearheads, decorative buckles, a bone flute, pottery, metal work, stone carvings, and animal remains.
Other construction on the A47 revealed even more of the county’s rich history, with artifacts from the Roman period, Iron Age, Saxon period, and even prehistoric times.

Throughout its long existence, Norfolk has become a mosaic of British history. Many rulers, including Celtic Queens, Roman Empires, Vikings, and Saxons, have shaped the county into a rich blend of heritage, and our knowledge surrounding the area is constantly growing with new discoveries. Archeologists just made another one—and it was totally by accident. While doing construction on the A47, a major highway in England, the team discovered remains from a medieval village.

The team from National Highways, the company tasked with renovating the A47 and other major roadways in England, told Popular Mechanics about the exciting finds in an email.

“Our works are primarily about improving safety on the roads,” National Highways’ A47 project leader Chris Griffin said in the email, “but they also present a great opportunity, through the archaeology, to find out more about the wonderfully rich cultural heritage in Norfolk.”

Excavations took place between the villages of North Tuddenham and Easton. There, archaeologists from Headland Archeology used heavy equipment and hand tools to uncover artifacts such as both battle and hunting spearheads, pottery, metal work, stone carvings, decorative buckles, and animal remains. By the end of the excavation, the team used more than 600 sample buckets and recovered over 65 pounds (30 kilograms) of material.

Norfolk was once a prosperous civilization during medieval times. People were farming, technology was advancing, and the population was growing quickly. But it wasn’t all smooth sailing—some of the finds, including a bone flute, revealed a deeply traumatic part of Norfolk’s history.

“Unfortunately, [Norfolk] coincided with a climate change event called the ‘medieval warm period’ where it started to get warmer and wetter and those crops started to fail which exposed the population to famine and disease,” Kate Bane, Project Manager at Headland Archaeology, explained. “Then came the Black Death which wiped out 60% of the population. So, these villages, which would have been recognisable all the way through the landscape like little hamlets, disappeared as people fled to urban settlements, leaving them behind.”

Other work along the A47 has revealed just how rich the region’s history is—archaeologists also made notable finds from the Roman period, Iron Age, Saxon period, and even prehistoric times. The discoveries from the North Tuddenham-Easton section of the A47 were presented at the Norfolk Show on June 25 and 26. There, attendees were able to view the artifacts and meet the archeological team.

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