Assessment of biological remains from excavations on land adjacent to the railway station, King's Lynn, Norfolk (site code: B2583A)

Summary Two samples of sediment and two boxes of hand-collected bone from excavations on land adjacent to the railway station, King’s Lynn, Norfolk, were submitted for an assessment of their bioarchaeological potential. Useful assemblages of plant and invertebrate macrofossils were recovered from each of the samples. There is no doubt from the plant and invertebrate remains that the contents of this pit were not waste from tanning, but rather two very different kinds of backfill. The lower deposit appeared to be largely stable manure, a partly composted mixture of hay and straw with a diversity of insects consistent with imported cut vegetation and with wooden buildings. The upper had a much lower organic content and had either undergone much stronger decay at or after burial or had a lower organic input as it formed. Here there are indications of household debris, including perhaps floors sweepings, with a component from fires (coal, cinders) and perhaps demolition debris (mortar/plaster) and plant litter perhaps also from floors. The deposits from King’s Lynn yielded a small well-preserved assemblage of bone of post-medieval date. The bulk of the material represented the main domestic species (cattle and caprovid), whilst small quantities of goose, chicken and fish bones were also present. The assemblage from a pit in Trench 5 included a discrete dump of caprovid metapodials, possibly representing waste from the processing of skins. A small collection of horncores, mainly cattle, was also recovered from the same pit. Preliminary observations suggest that the assemblage included material of mixed origin, representing waste from butchery, food consumption and craft activities. Fish remains were reasonably well preserved and included gadids, herring, eel and flatfish. Recovery and recording of additional remains from the remaining samples is recommended, and, for the bone, the production of a basic archive. Further study would provide useful comparanda for other material of this date and might help to elucidate aspects of diet and activity in this area of King’s Lynn.