Sedgeford Historical and Archaeological Research Project
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sedgefordarch.bsky.social
Sedgeford Historical and Archaeological Research Project
@sedgefordarch.bsky.social
730 followers 290 following 48 posts
SHARP is a long-term, independently run archaeological research project investigating the range of human settlement and activity in Sedgeford, Norfolk.

https://www.sharp.org.uk/
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sedgefordarch.bsky.social
The bookings for the 2026 season are now open!

The 2026 season will be a special one for us as we will be celebrating our 30th anniversary, so there has never been a better time to join us!

Just visit www.sharp.org.uk for more details!
Poster for the course booking. The season is between the 12th of July to the 7th of August, with excavation and human remains courses now available to be booked. More courses will also be advertised soon.
November 8, 2025 at 12:39 PM
sedgefordarch.bsky.social
Another fascinating talk this week from Ray Baldry on the work of our volunteers in assessing the palaeopathology of the population excavated by us at Sedgeford.
View toward a lecture screen. The title is 'Life was not all Beer & Skittles', with an image of skittles and balls with a stylised skeleton drawing falling over.
July 15, 2025 at 8:00 PM
sedgefordarch.bsky.social
Tuesday night was the lecture in the Sedgeford church, and a moonlit trip home from the village pub afterwards....

Today was mostly spent cleaning Trench 25 prior to a drone shot to help plan out the work for the coming weeks, but we did get to dig out a trench from 2007 and found this 6 inch nail!
A row of archaeologisys work backwards, carefully trowelling to clean up the loose. Gareth stands at the lecturn speaking about the content of our new book. A nearly full moon shines brightly over the fields and trees. A rusty six inch nail sits on top of historic backfill.
July 9, 2025 at 7:07 PM
sedgefordarch.bsky.social
Matilda, one of our BERTs, even found this lovely bone pin!

This beat out our volunteers by some way, as they'd spent the day rechecking our TBMs across site to refresh their skills.
A bone pin in a finds bag. It has a cylindrical head which is bulbous, narrowing to a neck from which a long thin spine forms the main body of the pin. A smiling girl sits in the trench holding out the pin she has just found. Two people stand next to a tripod, on which a bright orange dumpy level sits. They are laughing at the fact that it isn't getting level at all.
July 9, 2025 at 7:02 PM
sedgefordarch.bsky.social
We had 'Dig for the Days' on Tuesday, who excavated sondages through a colluvial deposit which contained Saxon pottery, bone and oystershell.

We also have BERTs (Basic Excavation & Recording Techniques) who started their own sondage into a different colluvium and found large animal bone.
The 'Dig for the Days' working hard on finding early medieval artefacts from a thick layer of hill wash. The BERTs' sondage, with a large bone just under the surface.
July 9, 2025 at 6:57 PM
sedgefordarch.bsky.social
Monday saw us hiding from the rain in the morning, but by the afternoon we were all out cleaning the trenches and started finding things, including this lovely piece of Samien ware, dating to the mid 1st C.

Our daub project was also in full swing, assessing our collection for 3d scanning next week.
A small sherd of Samien pottery, woth decorated incisions and grooves, as well part of the main decorated scene. The sun shines down on a group of archaeologists working hard to tidy up Trench 25. Daub fragments laid out on a table. The fragments have the remnants of the wattle which had been woven to create a frame.
July 9, 2025 at 6:51 PM
sedgefordarch.bsky.social
Mid week update!

Sunday proved very wet, and thunderstorms threatened, so we managed to open up Trench 24 and clean Trench 25 after machining it last week. The rest hid and cleaned the last of the daub from last year, whilst others voyaged into King's Lynn to see put hoard and Sea Henge on display.
Detail of the Sedgeford Hoard. Many many gold coins dating to the Iron Age are arranged next to the broken end of a cow bone, which they had been put inside. Large central stump from the Sea Henge monument. It is upside down, with the root bole protruding outwards. Arrangement of timbers from Sea Henge, in a big circle. They are roughly a metre high.
July 9, 2025 at 6:41 PM
sedgefordarch.bsky.social
Thanks to @drgarethdavies.bsky.social for launching our book of our conference the Anglo-Saxon Agricultural Revolution in. Norfolk.

You can buy the book at the link below, but it is also available open access as an ebook.

www.archaeopress.com/Archaeopress... www.archaeopress.com/Archaeopress...
Gareth stands at the lecturn in a church, in front of a slide showing the front and back covers of the book.
July 8, 2025 at 7:50 PM
sedgefordarch.bsky.social
Impromptu talk by @lucyjkoster.bsky.social on determining animal versus human bone on trench, following up on yesterday's training our volunteers had with our reference collection.
A group of volunteers stand rapt in attention as Lucy examines some charred bone recovered from a deposit.
July 8, 2025 at 12:48 PM
sedgefordarch.bsky.social
After a rainy few days, we're finally getting into the nitty gritty and delving into the silty sand.
Screenshot of an Instagram story. The camera looks out over a trench with a hive of activity hoeing and toweling to bring up features. A caption above in the beautiful blue sky says 'sun's out, trowels out'
July 8, 2025 at 9:01 AM
sedgefordarch.bsky.social
We've reopened Trench 25 from last year and already have a contender for find of the week with this lovely bit of Samien found by Alison!
A tiny fragment of highly decorated Romanpottery held out by a yellow glove. The sherd is bright red, and has a row of ridges and grooves with the partial remnants of a decorated scene visible, but as it is barely 2cm wide not much can be identified.
July 7, 2025 at 2:50 PM
sedgefordarch.bsky.social
A few of us took the opportunity given the wet weather today (sadly on our first day of the season) to see the hoard found during our previous excavations on display at Lynn Museum.
A museum display is visible. A board of text is present on the left with the detail of the hoard, dated to the Iron Age. 32 Gallo-Belgic gold 'E' starters were hidden in a cow bone, which was found at Sedgeford. The bone is displayed with a selection of the coins to the right of the label. The bone is not complete, with only one end present and the long section clearly broken.
July 6, 2025 at 4:45 PM
sedgefordarch.bsky.social
SHARP is pleased to announce that our publication 'The Anglo-Saxon Agricultural Revolution in Norfolk' based on the 25th Anniversary conference held in 2020 is off to the printers!

We are aiming for a book launch on the first Tuesday lecture, and it will be available to purchase during the season.
Dust jacket of 'The Anglo-Saxon Agricultural Revolution in Norfolk', edited by Richard Hogget and Neil Faulkner. The front page shows a drone shot of our early medieval complex trench, with the modern village of Sedgeford in the background. The back page contains a photo of a complete pot, with the blurb discussing the contributions made in the book towards the topic.
June 16, 2025 at 6:51 PM
sedgefordarch.bsky.social
Following recent media coverage on archaeological reproductions, we wanted to clarify that SHARP is more than happy for people to make replicas of our objects! We are funded by the public, so we are strong believers in public access to archaeology, and that archaeology belongs to everyone.
A small, metal model of a horse. A scale is located at the bottom, indicating that it is 2cm long, 2cm high and 1cm wide. The tail is looped, perhaps to allow it to be hung as a decoration. The horse is detailed enough that a mane and eyes are clearly visible, as are stylistic elements on the legs. It probably dates to the Roman period, although this is unknown.
April 11, 2025 at 5:37 PM
sedgefordarch.bsky.social
The SHARP committee and wider team would like to wish everyone a Merry Christmas!
A virtual Christmas card, wishing the reader a Merry Christmas from the Sedgeford Historical and Archaeological Research Project team. A cut out of a snowflake reveals an image of people digging and recording in a trench.
December 25, 2024 at 12:20 PM
sedgefordarch.bsky.social
Did you know that we also have an ancient craft course?

For those interested in having a go at experimental archaeology, we do pottery making, weaving, bone/antler carving, and even metalworking!

We provide everything needed (including lunch!) and you'll get to take your creations home with you.
Poster for the course. Images include groups of people crafting pottery, melting pewter, and carving needles from bone.
December 22, 2024 at 12:58 PM
sedgefordarch.bsky.social
Want to have a go at archaeology? Don't know what to get an archaeology-mad person for Christmas?

SHARP runs 'dig for the day' taster sessions. These include getting to dig on a real archaeological site, as well as taking part in processing finds and enviro samples.
Flyer for the Dig for the Day. It includes images of people excavating on site, along with a qr code to the website (given in the next post below).
December 13, 2024 at 8:18 PM
sedgefordarch.bsky.social
Did you know that you can see one of our amazing finds on display at the British Museum?

The Sedgeford Torc was first found when ploughing in the the 1960s, and we found the missing terminus during our own excavations 40 years later!
Info panel from the British Museum. The Torc has 64 wires coiled around a former, with 25 metres in total used. The termini were cast in a mould and are similar to the Snettisham Great Torc. It dates to 100-50 BC. The Torc was found broken, with it first discovered in 1965, and the missing terminal found in 2005. The Sedgeford Torc. The larger fragment is made of coiled gold wire, curved but broken as the strands have been moved from their original position. The surviving terminal is supported on a stand, as it as twisted up from the original shape. The other terminal, found by SHARP, sites adjacent to the end it would have originally attached to.
November 19, 2024 at 5:15 PM