posts archives exclude posts

Is it posible to exclude one category-posts from a list.
Listing the 5 new posts:
<?php $posts = get_posts(‘numberposts=5’);
foreach ($posts as $post) : start_wp(); ?>
” rel=”bookmark” title=”Permanent Link to <?php the_title(); ?>”>
<?php the_title(); ?>
<?php the_excerpt(); ?>
Thanks for your help.
maggie