A hoard of coins of the shadowy East Anglian King Beonna triggered off a project which revealed not only late Neolithic activity but also a Viking burial and a small part of a rural settlement of the 8th to 13th centuries AD. Saturation coverage by metal detector at all stages of the work produced a large assemblage of metal objects which suggests that the 'normal' quantity and range of finds collected from conventionally excavated sites may often fall short of the true population.