British

A rare decorated Anglo-Saxon bone spoon is the finest object from major excavations in Winchester that ended in March. Development of the public lending library by Hampshire county council into a cultural centre with galleries, performance spaces, heritage services and, still, books, also revealed a significant collection of further Saxon artefacts, a subterranean Roman aqueduct and world war two graffiti.

Ben Ford, who directed the project for Oxford Archaeology, says the spoon is one of 12 from the city dated to the late 10th or earlier 11th centuries. All have the same narrow form, perhaps for use in the Eucharist, and may have come from a single workshop. The bird and fleur de lis-like engravings, also seen on two other spoons that may have been created by the same artist, represent the classical Winchester Style, with European Carolingian origins.

The spoon was found in a pit on one of the five medieval properties on the eastern side of Staple Gardens. The area was used for cloth dyeing in the Anglo-Saxon period, with traces of madder identified inside reused ceramic cooking pots, and two circular wells constructed of ashlar chalk blocks. Several weighing scales and items relating to security such as locks suggest trade in specialist goods, and further add to the significance of the Saxon finds.

The library site had been terraced, probably in 1838 when the original corn exchange was built, removing shallower historic deposits. Anatural hollow in one area, however, had resulted in the preservation of a Roman road leading to the Northgate and a 2m wide stone structure, first thought to be the front of a large building. Further excavation showed this cut across the road, following the contour. Well-laid flint foundations had been heavily robbed in antiquity, and large quantities of Roman brick were in the backfill. Ford and Steve Teague, who has worked in the city for 20 years and ran the excavations, now think this was a bricklined underground water culvert. Finds suggest it was built in the 1st or early 2nd centuries, and was in use for some 300 years.

World War Two underground concrete shelters that survived outside the library beneath a car park, were found to be rich with contemporary graffiti, which were fully recorded and photographed. At the excavation open day one of the 500 visitors recognised a drawing he had done over 60 years ago. The excavations were assisted by up to 40 local volunteers, including the Winchester Archaeological Research Group who processed the huge quantities of finds at the Winchester Museums Resource Centre.

Unique axe handle found on Welsh shore

A wooden handle fragment from Peterstone, South Glamorgan is of a design not seen before, thought to have been made for a type of bronze axe blade in use around 1500BC. It was found on the foreshore amongst the earliest wooden structures in the Severn Estuary, with other items suggesting the site of a prehistoric wetland settlement, an important discovery with high potential for more excavation.

The stumps of around 20 pegs and one substantial post rose from a palaeochannel, an old water course since filled with silt and peat, on the shore east of Cardiff. The axe handle head was amongst the pegs, and had been hacked from the shaft, perhaps following a split that may have ended its useful life. The double prongs are interpreted as having held a copper or bronze flanged flat axe, or more probably a palstave, but no exact parallels are known. Axes hafted in this way are thought to have been used to fashion the Dover boat (1550BC). Handles from the bronze age platform and post alignments at Flag Fen, Cambridgeshire have a single prong to fit a socketed blade.

Martin Bell and Alex Brown, who directed the fieldwork for Reading University, think the axe may have been "ritually killed", comparable to the bronze age bending and breaking of metal objects consigned to rivers.

Palaeochannels had first been noted at Peterstone in 1996 during the Severn Estuary Intertidal Survey. Last December to February, archaeologists followed up these discoveries with a more detailed survey and excavation over seven days funded by Cadw and others.

The silty clays are crossed by animal tracks, including ox footprints almost twice the size of modern cattle's, assumed to have been left by wild aurochsen. Other finds include further posts, a polished roe deer antler, decorated pottery sherds, wood chips, an eroded hurdle or basket, and an ox skull with four oval or diamond-shaped holes c6–12mm across that might be from a spear that killed the animal. A possible boat paddle was found in 1997.

There were no islands in the area, so the settlement that must have been nearby would have been sited on the wetland. Artefacts are fresh, not rolled and eroded, perhaps swept into the channels when the settlement was flooded and washed away. The posts were likely landing and tying-up places for logboats or plank-built craft, with some perhaps parts of fishing structures.

Timbers on Lancaster river bed may be Roman ford

A bridge opened for the new millennium at Lancaster has led to the discovery of what may be the river Lune's oldest crossing, a unique Roman ford.

The steel Lune Millennium Bridge, designed by architects Whitby Bird to fit into the National Cycle Network, opened in 2001 after construction delays. Soon Peter Iles, specialist advisor (archaeology) at Lancashire County Council, was told of four parallel lines of wooden plank ends protruding from the river bed and seen directly below the new bridge. At first it was thought they might have been medieval bridge foundations or the base of a ford, or possibly shoring connected with a disused sewer pipe; there are no records of any 19th century structure.

However in early June this year Iles was able to have a closer look at the feature, when he took the photo reproduced here. After river bed erosion and floods that had scoured high tide silts leaving clear water, it was possible to see cross bracing between the two pairs of plank rows. Where the planks disappear under a boulder field – thought to represent the demolished remains of the town's medieval bridge – a clear linear disturbance could be seen running across the river. Aligned within this and with distinct straight edges is an area which strongly suggests a flat paved surface existed between the inner rows of planks.

The quality of the work, its continuation under debris from the late 18th century demolition of the medieval bridge and this paved area, says Iles, "draws me to the conclusion that this is probably a ford, that it predates the medieval bridge, and is most likely of Roman origin". Oxford Archaeology North are conducting a rapid survey, and will sample for radiocarbon dating. Confirmed Roman fords are simple pavements; nothing similar to this wooden structure is known.

The site is downhill from the Roman fort at Lancaster. An altarstone found 5km upstream refers to the soldiers of the company of bargemen. "Lancaster" derives from a name meaning the Roman fort on the Lune, the river name itself likely being Celtic.

Archaeologists drive double eagle on Dirleton dunes

They call it the Golf Coast of North Berwick, a string of sports facilities east of Edinburgh taking advantage of ancient coastal sand dunes. Development on the Archerfield Estate, Dirleton has shown that as well as being good for another two golf courses, the dunes have preserved the remains of an abandoned medieval village, offering rare insights into a historic Scottish rural community.

One of the new courses is planned by the Renaissance Club At Archerfield. AOC Archaeology Group has just completed advance field investigation, defining the lost village's extent after it was identified in archaeological evaluation in February. John Gooder, AOC Archaeology senior project officer, says settlements abandoned during the highland clearances of the 18th and 19th centuries are common, but earlier deserted villages are very rare in Scotland. The oldest pottery found on the site is of 13th century date. It is thought that as the light soils deteriorated under cultivation, the location known from maps as Eldbotle was given up by the 17th century and covered by wind-blown sand.

The floors and foundations of rectangular clay-bonded stone buildings were exposed over an area of some 1.5ha, with walls standing up to 1m high. Some houses are very large, often with one end laid out as an animal byre.

Advised by East Lothian council Archaeology Service, the Renaissance Club plans to landscape the fairways to safeguard archaeology and highlight the historical interest of the site – in contrast to the approach of a former owner who in 1962 put a grain dryer inside Archerfield House, previously distinguished by its Robert Adam interior.

AOC Archaeology left excavated buildings in situ, but further east earlier investigations into deeper deposits in advance of a development with another golf course, revealed well-preserved stone-walled structures with radiocarbon dates from the sixth to 14th centuries.

In brief

Detecting policy

To accompany a voluntary code for metal detecting issued by landowning and heritage groups (In brief, Jul/Aug), in June English Heritage published its own policy on portable antiquities, recommending others follow suit. The policy applies to sites and projects for which English Heritage has responsibility, or projects it funds or undertakes directly. It extends established values of archaeological fieldwork to metal detector use, advocating desk assessment, integration with other techniques such as geophysical survey, and project designs that favour preservation in situ. The policy also sets out conditions under which eh might allow metal detectors to be used on designated land. Our Portable Past can be obtained from English Heritage (0870 3331181) or www.english-heritage.org.uk.

Engaging battle

While in England and Wales the Treasure Act applies to a limited range of artefacts, Scotland has Treasure Trove law which demands the reporting of any find where the original owner cannot be traced. Tony Pollard, director of the Centre for Battlefield Archaeology at Glasgow University, is concerned that this is not always happening and that detectorists are damaging battlefields. The spread of items such as musket balls or arrowheads across a field can offer crucial information about the course of a battle, but these are being sold on eBay without proper record. Or, as the Daily Record put it (June 27), "Gangs with metal detectors are plundering the nation's heritage and flogging their finds".

Silbury decision

After research and consultation (Jan/Feb 2005), English Heritage has appointed Skanska to repair Silbury Hill, Wilts where old archaeological works are collapsing. The 1969–70 tunnel will be reexcavated, studied and properly repacked.

New knight

Congratulations to Barry Cunliffe, cited in the Queen's birthday honours list as a Knights Bachelor for services to archaeology. Sir Barrington joins a select group of archaeologists that includes John Boardman and David Wilson, and going back a bit, Arthur Evans, Flinders Petrie, Aurel Stein and Leonard Woolley. Grand company.

Phase 2

Without doubt the most significant development on a recent British Archaeology story concerns the Heritage Lottery Fund. On June 21 Tessa Jowell, secretary of state for Culture, Media and Sport, announced that the government has decided not to reduce the heritage's share of good causes income after 2009, and that this state will continue until 2019 (see Kate Clark, Jan/Feb). This followed public consultation about the spending of lottery proceeds, and given the demands of the imminent Olympics (sport being another "good cause") is a real achievement for the HLF and anyone who responded positively to the discussion (which drew a record number of replies). And thank you, on this, Tessa Jowell.

Jowell had more news on July 13, that UNESCO had designated the Cornwall and West Devon mining landscape a world heritage site. Sara Bowler, who wrote about her Caithness project "excavate overlay" (Sep/Oct 2005), is one of 11 artists who explored the site and history of a former tin mine near Redruth, Cornwall just two weeks after the UNESCO announcement. We hope to hear more from that in a future issue.

Congratulations to Wessex Archaeology, whose efforts in maintaining one of the UK's best archaeology web presences (Jan/Feb) were rewarded with a plug by Sunday Times Doors on May 28: it listed events.wessexarch.co.uk amongst "20 intriguing podcasts". And also to Simon Esterson, for his (and Stephen Coates's) terrific redesign of the New Statesman. Esterson created the look of your very own British Archaeology on its re-launch in 2000, under editor Simon Denison, and continued magazine production until we moved the base out to Wiltshire last year.

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Issue 90

September/October 2006

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