Total posts:
187
07/22/2010
On Wednesday (21/7/10) as part of the Festival of British Archaeology, Peter Reavill (Finds Liaison Officer for the PAS) went to Bitterley C of E Primary School to look at some of the children’s finds. Bitterley School have an active out of hours archaeology club called BATs (Bitterley Archaeology Team) run by June Buckard. The BATs are made up of children from both years 5 and 6. They have been studying their village and looking at its rich medieval history, especially a deserted medieval village close by. The children had found a large selection of medieval pottery and with some help from local metal detectorists some metal finds, including a Key and a 14th century box mount. Peter led a session with the class using an archaeological handling collection from nearby Ludlow Museum Resource Centre. The children looked at lots of medieval pottery, as well as some comparable Roman and Modern pot sherds. The BATs also showed off their new found skills by sorting three big bags of pottery into Roman, Medieval and Modern piles. The thing they liked best was the fact that they could put their fingers into the thumb impressions made by potters hundreds of years ago.
It is hoped that a wider project to look at the medieval landscape history of the village of Bitterley can be organised for next year, the BATs will be at the centre of this keeping professionals like Peter on their toes.
The contacts for the school are:
Bitterley CE Primary School
admin@bitterley.shropshire.sch.uk
Bitterley CE Primary School,
Nr Ludlow
Shropshire
SY8 3HF
07/22/2010
Hi, I’m Peter Reavill, Finds Liaison Officer with the PAS covering Shropshire and Herefordshire
Like many FLOs I will be trying to keep people up to date with some news stories from my part of the world, whether it is interesting new finds recently reported or events that I take part in. I’ll also try and post finds days and other things that I think people might be interested in. Anyway I’m new to all this technology so please excuse any mistakes as things get started. I’ll try and keep this relatively well updated but as I get more and more swamped with finds my good intentions may slip.
Will be writing again soon
Peter
07/21/2010
Dr Geoff Egan (AMA, FSA), Medieval and Later National Finds Advisor, has recently moved location from the Museum of London to the British Museum, where he has taken up the mantle of Early and Post-Medieval Treasure Co-ordinator. Geoff’s office is located in the Dept of Prehistory and Europe, so he will have easier access to the objects arriving into the museum for examination.
As most people are aware, the number of Treasure cases reported each year has risen from 201 in 1998 (the first full year under the Treasure Act 1996) to 747 in 2007; a roughly 300% increase. Over the same period, the curatorial staff at the British Museum, whose responsibility it is to provide reports on items of potential treasure to the coroner, has been reduced in numbers. The result has been an increasing demand on curatorial time, and has naturally led to longer lead times for the production of these reports.
Geoff’s presence comes at an important time, as the Early Medieval curators are heavily involved in gallery refurbishment and design and the Post-Medieval curators are responsible for a major upcoming exhibition. His role as a Treasure Co-ordinator will be to lend his expertise to the Treasure cases that are reported for those periods, hopefully allowing for them to have reports written quickly and for a decision to be made as to whether a case should be disclaimed or acquired.
Geoff will continue with his duties and research as a Finds Advisor, and his new location will enable staff in PA&T to consult with him more easily and take advantage of his wealth of knowledge for all of the other activities coming out of this office; annual report production, conference and event organisation, database management, etc. Geoff is much welcomed!
07/15/2010
First of all, welcome to the Wiltshire blog on the *new* PAS database! I hope to post a ‘find of the moment’ every few weeks or so.
Today I am handing back this rather unusual Middle Bronze Age (1400-1150 BC) socketed axehead, found in the Marlborough area by a RSPB warden checking birds. It was just lying on the surface of the field!
PAS record number: WILT-C4C954
Object type: Socketed axehead
Broadperiod: Bronze Age
County of discovery: Wiltshire
Stable url: https://www.finds.org.uk/database/artefacts/record/id/398522
At first, I felt sure that the narrow dimensions of the axehead suggested it was a chisel. But it was quite an unusual chisel if so, and I could find no parallel among my printed material or on the PAS database. A plea for help on the PAS FLO forum lead to Frank Basford (Isle of Wight FLO) suggesting I contact Bronze Age metalwork specialist Brendan O’Connor.
I asked Brendan if there was anything particularly interesting I could say about the chisel – and Brendan replied that yes indeed there was! For this object was not a chisel but an unusual Middle Bronze Age socketed axehead (socketed axeheads being more usually associated with the Late Bronze Age) of rather slender proportions. Besides an example being discovered in the enormous Salisbury hoard in the 1990s, a group of this type had been found in East Dorset (A Group of Middle Bronze Age Socketed Axes from East Dorset, Brendan O’Connor and Peter J. Woodward, PDNHAS 125, 2003, 144-6). Then shortly after this was published, Frank Basford recorded one from the Isle of Wight in a hoard of Taunton phase palstaves (Treasure Annual Report 2003, p. 197), which confirmed the Middle Bronze Age date and southern distribution (O’Connor pers.comm.) Brendan comments that perhaps Marlborough is a little far north of the area, but says it is of no matter – there seems to be an interesting southern distribution here! The Taunton phase dates to 1400-1150 BC.
The axehead is incomplete, missing part of one side (old damage). It measures 120.40x(max)26.14x(max)27.16mm and weighs 183.55g. The entire surface of the chisel is pitted and a small patch of original patina survives around the loop.
Hopefully more of this type of axehead might start to creep out of the woodwork – if you think you may have found an axehead like this it would be great to get it recorded! You can track down your local FLO at www.finds.org.uk/contacts
07/15/2010
A small selection of the 52,503 coins from the recently discovered Frome Hoard are now on display in the British Museum. These can be found in the central case of Gallery 68. They will be on display from today until August 31st. Sam Moorhead will be giving a talk on Roman coin finds from Britain at 1:15pm on the the 23rd July, starting in Gallery 49. This will end by the Frome Hoard, where Sam will talk about the contents and context. No booking required and entirely free!
07/14/2010
Found in the Wickham area of Berkshire by Jim Calow, this (probable) Iron Age brooch is unusual – only one other has been recorded on the DB that bears any resemblance.
PAS record number: BERK-4EFFC6
Object type: Brooch
Broadperiod: Iron Age
County of discovery: Berkshire
Stable url: https://www.finds.org.uk/database/artefacts/record/id/397880