West Heslerton: The Anglian Settlement, Publication

LRC Project EH3182 funded by English Heritage Archaeology Commissions

The Anglian settlement in West Heslerton was fully excavated between 1987 and 1996, it represents the only settlement of its kind to be excavated in its entirety using modern techniques. The settlement, occupied between the fifth and ninth centuries, appears to have been well organised with separate areas devoted to craft and industry, living space and agricultural processing. The evidence from this site demands a radical re-interpretation of settlement in Early Anglo-Saxon England. The analytical programme for this project is almost complete and work on the publication has resumed following a temporary suspension whilst we awaited the return of an important set of radio-carbon dates. The final report is expected to be completed during 2009.

Important discoveries made during projects 2804 and 3409 call for further re-evaluation of our interpretation of Early Anglo-Saxon settlement in the area and indicate that the excavated settlement was one of a number of similarly sized settlements in the area. The plan below shows the layout of the settlement and its relationship to the associated cemetery, excavated between 1977 and 1986, the report being published in 1999/2000. The first volume of the report relating to the excavated settlement regarding the Grubenhäuser, cavity-floor buildings that are characteristic of sites of this period, was published in 2004. The plan below shows the relationship between the excavated cemetery, which ceased to be used during the mid-seventh century, and the settlement.