Where Eagles Dare: the Iron Age of Norfolk

Abstract

A survey is presented of the Iron Age in Norfolk, the area containing the heartland of the tribal territory of the Iceni during the Late Iron Age. It makes use of new information from prolific artefact finds from recent excavations and fieldwork, and employing unpublished data from the county Sites and Monuments Record. Settlement evidence and artefact distributions are analysed and used to construct a model for the development of settlement from the Early Iron Age to the Boudican rebellion of AD 60–61. The model emphasises a process of continuous change, showing the population expanding, moving from west to east and finally onto the central claylands. Evidence for field monuments is reviewed, revealing regional groupings and an association between hillfort-type and rectangular enclosures and linear earthworks with strategic locations on the boundaries of better soils. Three zones are thus defined. Artefact types including tores, coins, coin hoards, and horse equipment also reveal distinct regional patterning. Some larger sites are identified as serving more than simple agricultural functions, playing a key role within and between the three defined zones. The importance of ritual and religion within Iron Age society is emphasised and is considered to underlie the deposition of artefacts and hoards around Snettisham and in the vicinity of the south Norfolk border; a practice later revived in the Romano-British period.