key to catalogues.

introduction.

Note! I have changed the catalogue's time periods. They now match those of the Norfolk Heritage Explorer. This is a major change to the catalogue.

I apologise for the length and wordiness of these rules. But they have to be precise. So this page falls short of what I would hope for in accessibility. I include these rules in case you find them helpful despite this.

The catalogued entries are indexed among these page classes:-

general catalogue.

The General Catalogue contains a summary of:-

• The catalogue number.
• The entry's period and type.
• The parish where the site or find is found.

The catalogue number acts as a link to the main entry in the associated Parish Catalogue page. The entry's status is shown in the relevant entry in the Parish Catalogue.

parish catalogue.

This is now the most important catalogue. The Parish Catalogue has entries for each parish, even if no sites or finds have been catalogued in there. Each entry contains information on:-

• The origin of the parish's name.
• Other interesting place names in the parish.
• Detailed summaries of any sites or finds found in the parish. These are organised in chronological and then catalogue number order.
• A list of standardised primary, secondary and tertiary sources is included. Standardisation is explained below.

Each Parish Catalogue site or find entry contains:-

• Either: A link to the entry in the Norfolk Heritage Explorer catalogue; or:-
• The entry in the Ancient Norfolk catalogue. Each of these has:-
  • The catalogue number.
  • Any dates of catalogued excavations.
  • Ordnance Survey® grid references.
  • The standardised status of the catalogue entry.
  • A detailed, standardised summary of the site or find. Standardisation is explained below.

grid reference catalogue.

The Grid Reference Catalogue contains:-

• A summary of the catalogue number.
• The entry's period and type.
• The parish where the site or find is found.

The catalogue number acts as a link to the main entry in the associated Parish Catalogue page. The entries are organised in alphanumeric order of OS Explorer™ series grid references. The entry's status is shown in the relevant entry in the Parish Catalogue.

site type catalogue.

The Site Type Catalogue are organised first in chronological order. These catalogue the standardised types of site. Standardisation is explained below.

Each entry contains, organised in alphabetical order of parishes and then catalogue number order:-

• The catalogue number.
• Any dates of catalogued excavations.
• Grid references.
• The standardised status of the catalogue entry.
• A brief, standardised summary of the site or find. Standardisation is explained below.

At the end of each entry is a link to the detailed summary in the relevant Parish Catalogue page. The detailed summary of the site or find can be found there.

standardisation.

I am working on standardising the phrases used in the catalogue entries. I do this, in order to avoid ambiguity. These standards are used throughout.

general catalogue, grid reference catalogue and site type catalogue.

Most catalogue entries will be of more general dates. Periods are classified as follows:

• Stone Age. General time span, where specific period is uncatalogued. 150,000 bce to 2,351 bce.
• Middle Palaeolithic. "Middle Old Stone Age". 150,000 bce to 40,001 bce.
• Upper Palaeolithic. "Upper Old Stone Age". 40,000 bce to 10,001 bce.
• Mesolithic. "Middle Stone Age". General time span, where specific period is uncatalogued. 10,000 bce to 4,001 bce.
• Early Mesolithic. "Early Middle Stone Age". 10,000 bce to 7,001 bce.
• Late Mesolithic. "Late Middle Stone Age". 7,000 bce to 4,001 bce.
• Neolithic. "New Stone Age". 4,000 bce to 2,351 bce.
• Early Neolithic. "Early New Stone Age". 4,000 bce to 3,001 bce.
• Middle Neolithic. "Middle New Stone Age". 3,000 bce to 2,701 bce.
• Late Neolithic. "Late New Stone Age". 2,700 bce to 2,351 bce. (This mismatch in dates is in the original catalogue.)
• Bronze Age. General time span, where specific period is uncatalogued. 2,350 bce to 701 bce.
• Early Bronze Age. 2,350 bce to 1,501 bce.
• Beaker. 2,350 bce to 1,700 bce. Refers to a specific culture of this period.
• Middle Bronze Age. 1,600 bce to 1,001 bce. (This mismatch in dates is in the original catalogue.)
• Late Bronze Age. 1,000 bce to 701 bce.
• Iron Age. General time span, where specific period is uncatalogued. 800 bce to 42 ce.
• Early Iron Age. 800 bce to 401 bce. (This mismatch in dates is in the original catalogue.)
• Middle Iron Age. 400 bce to 101 bce.
• Late Iron Age. 100 bce to 42 ce.
• Roman. 43 ce to 409 ce.
• Post Roman. General time span, where specific period is uncatalogued. 410 ce to 1900 ce.
• Saxon. General time span, where specific period is uncatalogued. 410 ce to 1065 ce.
• Early Saxon. 411 ce to 650 ce.
• Middle Saxon. 651 ce to 850 ce.
• Late Saxon. 850 ce to 1965 ce.
• Medieval. 1066 ce to 1539 ce.
• Post Medieval. 1540 ce to 1900 ce.
• Modern. General time span. 1901 ce to present.
• World War One (1914 - 1918).
• World War Two (1939 - 1945).
• Cold War (1945 - 1992).
• Uncatalogued. This shows a site or find whose date is uncatalogued. It is possible the catalogue entry is later than the Pre-Norman period.

Site or find types are classified as follows, according to their identification by sources. Many entries in the Ancient Norfolk catalogues mayl be unidentified:

• Single item. A site on which only a single item has been found. These are expected to be found mostly by hikers, field walkers, or metal detectorists. These finds I consider insufficient to show settlement or activity.
• Few items. A site on which only a few items have been found. These include finds from hikers, field walkers, metal detectorists, or archaeological excavations. These finds I consider probably insufficient to show settlement or activity; or precise location of these.
• Barrow. A site identified as a large pre-Roman burial site.
• Building. A site containing a building, but whose function is uncatalogued.
• Cemetary. A site identified as a Roman or Romano-British burial site.
• Church. A Roman or Romano-British Christian church or other Christian site.
• Ditch. A site identified as a ditch, which may or may not have been defensive.
• Dyke. A site identified as a dyke, which may or may not have been defensive.
• Earthwork. A site whose function is uncatalogued.
• Farm. A site identified as a farm.
• Fort. A site identified as a fort.
• Hoard. A site identified as containing or having contained a hoard.
• Kiln. A site identified as a being used for pottery manufacturing.
• Marching camp. A site identified as a Roman marching camp.
• Mine. A site identified with mining activity of some type.
• Miscellaneous. A site, though it may have been dated, whose exact nature is uncatalogued.
• Road. A site identified as a Roman paved road.
• Settlement. A site identified as a settlement, but whose exact nature is uncatalogued.
• Temple. A site identified as of pre-Christian religious significance.
• Town. A site identified as a town.
• Trackway. A site identified as an unpaved land route.
• Tumulus. A site identified as a small pre-Roman burial site.
• Villa. A site identified as a Roman, or Romano-British, villa.
• Village. A site identified as a village.
• Wooden circle. A site identified as a wooden circle.

The Parish Catalogue entry may also include an extra item. This is for sites which have a known, conventionally associated, or otherwise catalogued name. These sites may include towns, roads and trackways.

With unnamed Roman roads, I name the road after the northern-most, then western-most, place name associated with the road ending in "Street".

parish catalogue.

Because the Parish Catalogue contains the detailed summaries, it is here that more items of standardisation are found. The standardised phrases are also used in the Parish Catalogue. Also, the standardised phrases below are in use in the Parish Catalogue:-

When talking about either a point of interest that may cause confusion, or to clarify a point of confusion, the term disambiguation is in general use. For example:-

• Disambiguation: the detailed text would go here. See also "criticism" below.
• Discussion: when talking about a point on which there is some disagreement, or on which I have personal research, I use the term "discussion".
• None catalogued, or uncatalogued, are both used to show one of three possibilities:-
  • I am not aware of some type or precise entry; or
  • I am aware of some type or precise entry but have not yet got to cataloguing it; or
  • The type or precise entry does not exist; though this should not be assumed.

Sources are classified as follows:-

• Primary sources. These are either:-
  • original, or directly transcribed, archaeological reports from excavation, surveying, or organised field walks; or
  • from original, or directly transcribed, historical documents verified as authentic by reputable scholars. I include online sources if they are listed as whole. Note: I count sources translated directly from a primary source, as secondary sources.
• Secondary sources. These are reputable publications, generally citing many sources. If I gain access to a primary source and verify the entry from this, I will add the primary source. I maintain a list of these sources. Web: secondarysources.shtml
• Tertiary sources. These are publications citing a secondary source, or publications without citations, or anecdotal. If I gain access to a cited secondary source and verify the entry from this, I will add the secondary source.

Note: on 30th July 2007, I tightened the rules for source classification. Web: cataloguingrules.shtml

I also try to validate the sources, and so validate the confidence level in the entry. From this, each entry is given a status. The statuses are classified as follows:-

• Disproven. You should ignore these, except as disambiguation.
• Speculative. You should accept these only with a high degree of scepticism
• Conjectural. You should accept these only with a moderate degree of scepticism.
• Hypothetical. You should accept these with an equal degree of certainty and scepticism.
• Unverified. You should accept these with a moderate degree of certainty.
• Verified. You should accept these with a high degree of certainty.

Note: on 30th July 2007, I tightened the rules for entry statuses and added the "speculative" status. Web: cataloguingrules.shtml

Statuses are also given a star rating from 0 to 5 that match the above list, for reference. This ranges from zero stars for disproven entries, to five stars for verified entries.

I also include a criticism entry in those cases:-

• where there has been a suggestion that a status should be downgraded. For example where the suggestion is it should be downgraded from hypothetical to conjectural; but
• where this downgrading violates the grading process.

That concludes the key to the catalogues. sources.