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Issue 68December 2002ContentsnewsScatness dates push back history of brochs 'Londoners' stone sheds light on city's cosmopolitan ways Ivory plane from Roman settlement in the North East Wealthy trading suburb excavated near Roman fort History from pig fields, beaches and back gardens featuresRoman Britons after 410 Bear pit to zoo Great sites lettersRoman roads, talismans, animal bones and Tolkien (again) issuesGeorge Lambrick on the pillage of the warship 'Sussex' Peter EllisbooksCBA updatefavourite findsBill Putnam on a World War II fork in a 'prehistoric' ditch
ISSN 1357-4442 Editor Simon Denison |
newsScatness dates push back history of brochsPressure on land possibly led to the building of fortified tower houses about 400-200 BC The accepted history of brochs in Scotland may have to be revised following the discovery of new dating evidence at Scatness in Shetland, which suggests that brochs developed centuries earlier than archaeologists had previously thought. The remains of brochs - massive, defended tower houses - can be found all over North and North-West Scotland. Their origins have traditionally been placed at around 100 BC-100 AD, although good dating evidence has rarely been found. At Scatness, however, charred barley grains from the broch's construction levels were radiocarbon dated this summer to between about 400-200 BC. Similar dates were established for the broch's stone-revetted defensive ditch, which appears to have been first dug about 400 BC. Quartz grains were dated by the technique of optically-stimulated luminescence, which measures their last exposure to light. The new dates imply that Scatness was one of the earliest true brochs - that is, multi-storey stone tower houses with a staircase running between the inner and outer walls. Substantial roundhouses, the precursors of brochs, were still being constructed in the mid-1st millennium BC at sites such as Bu in Orkney, shortly before Scatness Broch was first built. According to site director Steve Dockrill of Bradford University, the construction of brochs from about 400 BC suggests the rise of an elite, and the growth of inter-community tensions from an earlier date than was previously thought. 'Agricultural intensification, as seen at Old Scatness, may have led to population growth, pressure on land, raiding and a new need for defence,' he said. Brochs served not only as defensive towers but also as store houses, Mr Dockrill added. Recent excavations at Scalloway Broch on Shetland revealed huge quantities of burned grain, possibly representing tribute payments and underlining the need that broch communities felt to protect their food stocks. Raiding appears to have stopped between about 200-500 AD, when the Scatness Broch ditches were filled in, suggesting perhaps the integration of Shetland into the mainland Pictish state. Among the more unusual finds from Scatness this year was a Pictish carving of a bear, incised on a slab of stone found face-down on the floor of a wheelhouse close to the broch, and dating to about 600-800 AD. According to Val Turner, Shetland's archaeologist, it is perhaps the 'finest' known Pictish carving of a bear. The artist had without doubt seen real bears, she said - presumably on the Scottish mainland. Other finds included a whalebone weaving comb, and the earliest black-painted Pictish pebbles yet found, dating to about 100 BC. These enigmatic objects are usually found in domestic environments of the mid-1st millennium AD, although whether they were merely ornaments or had some other purpose remains unclear. Archaeology awards 2002Defence of Britain project wins 'Silver Trowel' award for greatest initiative in archaeology 'British Archaeology' wins press award The CBA, publishers of British Archaeology, scooped a number of awards at the biennial British Archaeological Awards ceremony held last month. The Defence of Britain project, launched by the CBA seven years ago, won both the IFA Award for the best archaeological project, and the Spear & Jackson Silver Trowel Award - the most prestigious award - for the greatest initiative in archaeology. The judges said that the project, a 'unique combination of professional and amateur activities' involving about 600 volunteer recorders, has 'revolutionised our understanding' of Britain's wartime defences (BA, June). It was a 'truly national landscape project', which provides an overview of how nearly 20,000 sites fitted into Britain's overall defence structure, offering huge potential for future research. See www.britarch.ac.uk/projects/dob. British Archaeology itself won the Transco Press Award, given for the best reporting of archaeology in a newspaper, magazine or on the radio. The judges drew attention to the recent transformation of the magazine, noting that each issue 'offers a wide range of articles' and that reading it 'is a must for every archaeologist in Britain'. The magazine's editor won the award in competition with journalists writing in publications such as The Times and The Guardian. The Archaeological Book Award was won by Mark Redknap for Vikings in Wales (BA, April), and the Channel Four Award for best archaeological film went to The Chariot Queen, a Meet the Ancestors programme on the Iron Age chariot burial from Wetwang in Yorkshire. The Virgin Holidays Award for best presentation of a project to the public was won by the Shetland Amenity Trust for Scatness Broch (see News, above). The AIA Ironbridge Award for best adaptive reuse of a historic building was given to BAA Lynton for the reinvigoration of the Beehive at Gatwick Airport, the world's first purpose-designed air passenger terminal built in 1936. The Heritage in Britain Award, for the best project securing the long-term preservation of a site, was won by Perth and Kinross Council for the restoration of Greyfriars Cemetery in Perth. The Tarmac Finders Award, given for the prompt reporting of a discovery by a non-archaeologist, was given to digger driver George Caton and farmer Nigel Osborne for their actions following the discovery of a Roman mosaic at Lopen in Somerset. The Young Archaeologist of the Year Award, given this year for designing a menu fit for a king or queen, was won by Sián Rigby of Whitington, Shropshire (age 9-12) and Clemency Cooper of Spalding, Lincs (age 13-16). In a separate development, the European Archaeological Heritage Prize was given this year to Henry Cleere, former Director of the CBA, for his role in the development of cultural heritage resource management in Europe, both during his time at the CBA and at ICOMOS. 'Londoners' stone sheds light on city's cosmopolitan waysThe Roman inscription mentioning 'Londoners' that was found recently in London, receiving wide press coverage, provides a glimpse of the survival of Celtic language - and perhaps of pre-Roman trading practices - in Roman society in the north of the Empire in the later 2nd century AD, according to experts at the Museum of London. It was erected by Tiberinius Celerianus, a citizen of the Bellovaci tribe from northern France. Although written in formal Latin and including a dedication to the Emperors, Celerianus describes himself as a 'moritix', a word of Celtic origin thought to mean a maritime trader. The monument is jointly dedicated to Mars Camulus, a form of the classical god Mars popular in northern France. According to Francis Grew at the Museum of London, the use of the term 'moritix' instead of a typical Latin word - 'negotiator' or 'nauta', perhaps - suggests not only a man proud of his regional identity but also perhaps someone engaged in a particular type of trade or exchange, possibly even of pre-Roman character. By commissioning the monument, Celerianus was demonstrating his acceptance into Roman society, Mr Grew said. 'By pairing the god of his homeland with the city where he made his money, it may be that he was trying to demonstrate what could be achieved by a successful entrepreneur in the Roman empire.' The inscription, found by excavators from Pre-Construct Archaeology on a possible temple site in Southwark, is one of the earliest pieces of physical evidence for the name of London. The lettering style suggests 1st or 2nd century, but the dedication to 'the Emperors' is thought to place it during the joint reign of Marcus Aurelius and Lucius Verus (AD 161 onwards) at the earliest. A 1st century AD flagon bearing the name of London was found in Southwark in 1912. The inscription reads: NVM(inibus) AVG(ustorum) 'To the spirits of the Emperors and to the god Mars Camulus, Tiberinius Celerianus, a citizen of the Bellovaci, merchant, first [...] of the people of London ... [set up this monument]' Ivory plane from Roman settlement in the North EastA unique Roman ivory-handled woodworking plane and a pair of possible murder victims from the end of the Roman period are among the more intriguing finds from excavations on a 96-mile pipeline route from north of Middlesbrough to near Hull. More than a dozen previously unknown Iron Age or Romano-British settlements and three possible Roman villa estates were found. However, the long, narrow pipeline trenches allowed only glimpses of most of the sites, leaving many questions unanswered. The elephant ivory plane was found in the boundary ditch of a 'low status' timber house in a Romano-British settlement at Goodmanham in East Yorkshire, where evidence of iron and bronze recycling was also found. The ditch had been filled in the 4th century. The well-preserved, iron-bladed plane - the only complete example of its type known from the period - is thought to have been made in Italy or North Africa some time in the 2nd-4th centuries, and brought to Britain by a craftsman. According to Ken Steedman of Humber Field Archaeology, it may have reached this site by salvage or scavenging from a more wealthy estate nearby which had been abandoned. The murder victims were found at a settlement that survived from the Iron Age to the 5th century AD at Newton Bewley in the Lower Tees Valley. Dating from near the end of the settlement's life, the two male skeletons were found in a single pit. One had experienced a particularly savage assault, suffering a projectile blow to the front of the head, followed by a series of stabbing and slicing wounds to his back. Finally his neck was severed. Excavators from Tees Archaeology found that both skeletons were shorter, with broader skulls, than early Anglo-Saxons in the area, raising the possibility that the pair may have died in ethnic conflict with Anglo-Saxon immigrants to the area. A large stone building of Romano-British date was found at Crayke in the Vale of York, along with a cluster of roundhouses, signs of metalworking and a kiln. The building, measuring over 30 metres by 10 metres, included a portico. It lies near a spring and could perhaps have been a native temple. Elsewhere in the Vale of York, at Carberry Hall Farm in East Yorkshire, a villa was represented by hypocaust remains, with evidence of jet-working as well as iron slag. A gemstone bearing the image of Bacchus was also found, dating from the 1st century BC. Wealthy trading suburb excavated near Roman fortNew excavations on the site of the vicus, or civilian settlement, outside Arbeia Roman fort in South Shields have added to the existing picture of a large, wealthy trading settlement close to the port and military supply base at the mouth of the Tyne. The picture first emerged from finds made by chance when the land was built over in the late 19th century. Victorian planners recorded burials, sculpture, inscriptions, pottery, road surfaces and several magnificent tombstones. Then in the 1980s and 90s, excavations by Tyne and Wear Museums recovered buildings and part of a cemetery rich in grave goods. This year's excavation by museum archaeologists led by Margaret Snape focused on a stone-lined well in the courtyard of a large timber building. The courtyard had become extremely muddy with use, and trapped in the mud were numerous sherds of pottery and other small finds. These included a bronze brooch with panels of blue enamel with white dots in each corner, and a gemstone from a signet ring bearing the image of a stork with a small animal in its beak, thought to be a good-luck charm. Also in the mud was a square piece of wall inlay, the size of a modern quarry tile, made of a pale green marble-like stone. This was particularly intriguing as it suggests the presence nearby of a large and richly decorated stone building - a great rarity for a vicus. Among the pottery sherds, one piece decorated with a human face stood out. The settlement was abandoned by the end of the 3rd century - like other vici on the northern frontier - and was then cultivated as fields or allotments, presumably by the garrison. For the next 1,500 years the land was used as pasture, and as a result the vicus remains are unusually well-preserved. History from pig fields, beaches and back gardensAnglo-Saxon cemeteries in East Anglia, a possible Roman temple in Northamptonshire, a deserted medieval village in Somerset, and a place of Bronze Age ritual deposition in Pembrokeshire - these and many other sites, either previously unknown or poorly understood, have come under archaeological scrutiny as a result of the Government-backed Portable Antiquities Scheme. The report of the fourth year of the scheme, published last month, underlines the major contribution to archaeology now made by objects found by members of the public. New research, using finds reported under the scheme, is now being carried out into such diverse subjects as trading links between Anglo-Saxon Kent and the Continent, the distribution of Iron Age coinage in the South Midlands, and the extent of Scandinavian influence in early medieval Suffolk. The report, covering the year to September 2001, follows hard on the heels of the latest Treasure Annual Report (BA, October), which told a similar story of the growing importance of metal detecting for archaeology. A total of 37,518 objects were recorded, an 18 per cent increase on the scheme's third year, despite access restrictions on farmland as a result of the foot-and-mouth epidemic. Nearly two-thirds of the finds were made, as ever, in Norfolk and Suffolk. Intriguing individual finds include a Neolithic or Bronze Age cup from Northamptonshire consisting of a cone-shaped hollow bored into a block of chalk. Similar cups have been found at Grimes Graves flint mines in Norfolk. A rare early Anglo-Saxon copper-alloy hanging bowl was found in Lincolnshire, with an enamelled decorated mount on its base. Two early 7th century figurines possibly representing Woden were found in Suffolk. The only known close parallels to these figurines were found in northern Russia and Sweden, suggesting perhaps that they were made in England and exported to Scandinavia and the Baltic, rather than the other way round. Unusual coins include a previously unrecorded type of silver denarius of the British usurper Carausius (AD 287-93) found in Somerset, and a well-preserved late 8th century silver penny of Cynethrith, wife of Offa, King of Mercia, found in Kent. On the obverse is a stylised 'm' with the surrounding legend showing the queen's name. The moneyer's name, Eoba, is on the reverse, each letter in a petal of a quatrefoil. Among the later finds was a highly polished jet cross-shaped pendant showing the crucified Christ in high relief, found in a pig field near Byland Abbey in North Yorkshire. It is thought to date from the 14th or 15th century. Next year, the scheme will be expanded to cover all of England and Wales, with Lottery support, and officers are now being recruited to fill some of the new posts. Further information is available online at www.finds.org.uk. |
CBA web:British ArchaeologyFebruary 2001 CBA BriefingFieldwork CBA homepage |
