A Bronze Age burial at Bowthorpe, near Norwich

 

In 1979, excavations took place of a recently discovered ring-ditch at Bowthorpe, near Norwich, just off Barnard Road.

It was ascertained that an early Bronze Age round barrow surrounded by two concentric ditches had been built by a tribe of beaker people, and this site had continued as a burial ground for several generations.

A central grave, in which the body had been placed in a foetal position inside a coffin, was surrounded by tn more satellite burials, each interred in a similar way. Radio-carbon dating indicates the mid-second millennium BC for the burials, and at one point in the barrow's history a number of pots, one of which contained a cremation, were placed around the mound.

Later Iron Age and Roman finds were also discovered around the outer ditch.

The site has now been developed, and contains light industrial factory units.