Total posts:
187
11/23/2007
Thought i’d share this little gem with you all recently found in the County – a silver hammered penny of King Cnut (1016-1035). This is a ‘pointed helmet’ type, for obvious reasons, and so can be dated a little narrower to AD1024-30. The obverse reads ‘CNUT REX ANG’.
The reverse is very interesting because this penny is from the mint at Lincoln., and the moneyer is none other than ‘Grimcetel’ (inspiration if any of you are trying to choose baby names at the moment). Usually Cnut pennies from Lincoln have a trefoil of pellets after CNUT, however if you look closely, this one doesn’t.
11/23/2007
…well, Greater Manchester, Merseyside and Cheshire really. Nick Herepath, my predecessor did a study on this topic in the past and I am hoping to continue this with plans for expansion and diversification. To this end I thought I would let people know what I am doing and then you can all help!
Firstly I want to collate the data for all the Roman brooches in the aforementioned area, recorded on the PAS, or as stray finds through the SMR/HERs. This will enable me to look at patterns of brooch types in this area compared with the South and the rest of England. So if anyone out there has a Roman brooch from my area which is unrecorded, please come forward and see me to record it.
Secondly I want to carry out some work on Wirral type brooches. This is a type named/discovered by Rob Philpott in 1997. I will put up pictures and descriptions of them in the next post. Basically I want to prove Rob’s theory that this type of bow brooch was produced on the Wirral and then distributed out. Or at the very least that it originated from this are. I will be doing this by taking very very small samples of the brooch and analysing it to find out it’s alloy composition. Matt Ponting at the University of Liverpool has very kindly agreed to do most of the analysis using his machines in the uni. Once we know the composition of the alloys we can compare them all and see if they are the same/not.
There are very few of these brooches known about/recorded. This is another plea to all those detectorists/members of the public who may have one hidden at home, not realising what it is or how much you could help with an interesting study to prove that the Wirral made something pretty amazing. So if you think (after reading my next post) that you may have one of these brooches, the please get in touch with me.
I will try to keep people updated with my research on this topic. I have already done a little spotlight on a Kraftig profilierte type which will fit nicely into the catalogue (in the distant future!)
11/22/2007
Mr Lawrence Moulsdale found a lead figurine of a woman in Higher Kinnerton, Flintshire, whilst out detecting early in 2007. He brought it to his local FLO, Frances McIntosh for further identication, dating and recording onto the PAS database. Frances recognised it as being most-likely Post-Medieval but could not see any parallels in the relevant literature. She passed the photograph onto Geoff Egan, Finds Advisor for Medieval and Post-Medieval Finds for the PAS. He has a keen interest in lead figurines and got very excited about Mr. Moulsdale’s woman. He suggested it as rural version of the more detailed hollow cast lead toys which Elizabethan London children played with dating to the late 16th century. Mr. Moulsdale’s example is solid and has been cast fairly crudely, although it does have some detail on the dress and the hair.
PAS record number: LVPL-834150
Object type: Figurine
Broadperiod: Post Medieval
County of discovery: Flintshire
Stable url: https://finds.org.uk/database/artefacts/record/id/189193
This find is the first of its type to be known and as such is a very important find even though it perhaps doesn’t look that exciting. Several versions of London’s more sophisticated toys have been found and Geoff had long harboured suspicions that there must have been similar playthings over the rest of the country. It seems unlikely that only London children would have had these types of toys and visiting people would have seen these and perhaps copied them. Metal Detecting is a way to get an idea of what was going in the large rural areas in the past. By recording their finds metal detectorists are helping to fill in the large gaps of our knowledge to give a more rounded picture of our country’s history.
11/22/2007
Kraftig Profilierte Brooch- What is it doing in Atherton?
Mr Jackson was metal detecting one day in March, near Atherton, Wigan when he found a Roman bow brooch. He brought it to show to his local Finds Liaison Officer, Frances McIntosh at the Bolton Museum. She identified it as a Kraftig-profilierte type and was quite excited about the find, specifically its location.
It has been recorded on the database as LVPL-1B0623. Mr. Jackson has kindly donated it to be used as part of the handling collection. Kraftig-profilierte means ‘strongly profiled’. This type of brooch is defined as a one piece brooch with a spring of c.8 turns. It has a superior chord held by a rearward facing hook above a wide crossbar. The upper bow expands towards a narrower neck at the head and the profile is highly arched and angular above a central encircling moulding. The foot is narrower and curves upwards towards a terminal knob (Bayley and Butcher; 2004; 59). Hattatt gives them a date of around the first half of the first century AD (1982; 104) This type of brooch is fairly unusual in Britain with only c.30 being known.
PAS record number: LVPL-1B0623
Object type: Brooch
Broadperiod: Roman
County of discovery: Greater Manchester
Stable url: https://finds.org.uk/database/artefacts/record/id/189956
Their origin is thought to be Pannonia, an area around the Danube and Rhine. The 9th Legion had been recruited from this area and then came over to England with the invasion of Britain, bringing the Kraftig-profilierte with them (Simpson; 1979; 330). The known examples from archaeological excavations are mostly from the East and South East of England (e.g. Colchester and Richborough). This has been thought to be because this is where the 9th Legion were based/passed through. They are known to have been at Longthorpe (45-66 AD), Lincoln (66-71 AD) and York, reaching there by 71 and staying until c.120. Five of these brooches have been recorded on the PAS database prior to Mr. Jackson’s, all from places in the South East such as Kent, Ditchling and Essex. Due to the small number of this type found it was thought that this style/type was never actually made in Britain. The ones being found came from soldiers who brought the brooch over to this country from Pannonia
However this view is starting to change. An example of a Pannonian brooch has been found during recent excavations at Wroxeter (2002; 103-4 fig 4.7 no 28). The authors of this report say-
“the basic message is that the Pannonian arrived early in small numbers and failed to travel as far as Hod HillÀ¦ Wroxeter is one of the few assured finds in advance of the Fosse Way “.
Mr. Jackson’s example, along with the one from Wroxeter, starts to put into question the idea that the Pannonian type was not made in Britain. It is thought that the Kraftig type is the precursor of the British Trumpet brooch (Hattatt; 1982; 104-7) and alloy compositional studies have also suggested that some of the British examples could have been made here as copies of this style (Bayley and Butcher; 2004; 148). Variations would have occurred as the British brooch makers created their own versions of the Kraftig type and enough similarities can be seen between the trumpet and the Kraftig to see the transition to this new form took place.
This is a case which shows how important it is to be recording find spots and also highlights how individual finds can really change our ideas about certain things. There are different possibilities about how this brooch ended up so far West compared to all previous examples. Possibly it was exchanged or given as a gift to someone who then travelled over to this part of the country. It could be that one of the 9th came over this way for some reason. Or it could be that this type of brooch was made in Britain and that the NW brooch makers were starting to copy this Continental style. Just because more haven’t been found does not mean there are not more there. What we find is only a small proportion of the material culture which existed in the past. The locality of this brooch supports the Wroxeter example and the alloy studies in changing previous views about this brooch type.
Bibliography
Hattatt, R. 1982. Ancient and Romano-British Brooches. Dorset Publishing Company
Bayley, J and Butcher, S. 2004. Roman Brooches in Britain: A technological and typological study based on the Richborough Collection. The Society of Antiquaries London.
Simpson, G. 1979. Some British and Iberian pennanular brooches and other early types in the Rhineland and the Decumates Agri. Antiquaries Journal, 59. 319-42. English Heritage. 2002. The Legionary Fortress at Wroxeter. English Heritage Report 19.
11/22/2007
During September and October a 4 week community excavation took place around Leasowe Lighthouse, Wirral. It was very popular with members of the public and here I’ve written up short pieces about the 3 main groups who got involved:
Adult learners/volunteers
The community excavation on the Wirral at Leasowe Lighthouse was very popular with the local people wanting to learn more about archaeology. 140 people signed up to volunteer over the 4 weeks and we had to turn some people away due to over-subscription. No experience was necessary, people just had to be prepared to get muddy and possibly wet! On site there was the opportunity to learn the skills needed to be a field archaeologist. These include digging, planning and the post-excavation tasks of washing and sorting the finds. We had our base and finds processing room inside the lighthouse itself and so volunteers had a dry place to escape in case of rain. There were 2 trenches on the side of the lighthouse which were placed to uncover the outbuildings from the lighthouse when it was occupied. On one side was a stable and coach house, the other set of buildings included the water cistern, washroom and toilet.
These structures were demolished sometime in the late 1930s and it is thought were built around 1800. Some volunteers were slightly disappointed that we weren’t digging Roman remains but for a training excavation this sort of archaeology is perfect. There were lots of walls and clearly defined layers which meant that the volunteers could understand the basics of archaeology. When the archaeologists explained about different contexts and differences in soil colour they could see easily these features. It also meant that people could get on with things without worrying too much about going through a layer (as is sometimes the case on prehistoric sites) as the soil colour/texture was markedly different. The excavation produced lots of finds which, although again not very old or perhaps exciting, were just what we needed to show people the entire process from excavation through to preparing finds for a report. Volunteers were shown how to wash and sort finds and the importance of their provenance (i.e. context number) was stressed again. We discussed how archaeology is really destruction of a site, layer by layer, and because of this we must ensure that we record what we destroy. They also learnt that sometimes archaeology can be monotonous as you wash your 100th piece of glass for the day!
Overall the excavation has been a success and has allowed a large number of people to experience first hand. We had a broad range of people volunteering and often had some lively debates at lunchtimes about other archaeological issues/ new discoveries in the area. This type of interaction and debate further opens archaeology to the members of the public and allows them to understand how archaeologists make the interpretations they do, from the evidence they have. Hopefully there will be opportunities to carry out more of these projects in the future as this one has shown there is definitely an interest for it in the public!
Metal Detecting Survey
For one week of the community excavation members of the West Kirby Metal Detecting Club were invited to come and detect on and around the site at Leasowe. This allowed us to build up a picture of the wider area around the lighthouse and would, we hoped, uncover some more finds from the more distant past of the Wirral.
Over the week around 30 metal detectorists (individuals as well as club members) took part in the survey. Every find was logged with a GPS to an 8 or 10 figure grid reference and bagged individually. Unfortunately nothing of significance was found, the oldest object being an 1860s silver penny. However it was still a very useful and interesting project. It allowed the volunteers on site to see how metal detecting can be used to aid archaeologists. This provoked a few discussions about how metal detecting can help to fill in gaps in our knowledge of an areas past. The metal detectorists also got a chance to see the excavation and look how archaeologists work. I feel this gave them an insight into why archaeologists are sometimes so appalled at the way metal detectorists dig their finds out. They saw how painstaking excavation can be and understood the contrast in the 2 groups’ methods. Understanding how the À˜other side’ works can only be beneficial in improving the working relationships between archaeologists and metal detectorists.
School groups
Throughout the 4 weeks of the community excavation we had 7 groups of school children from the local primary schools come to learn more about archaeology and see the site. They came for 2 hours and did a variety of activities which involved them ‘being archaeologists’ for their time with us. Some of them had been to the lighthouse before, some had watched Time Team and others knew very little about history, local or not. We started at the basics and asked them what archaeology was. We had some varied answers but encouragingly some of the children already understood that archaeology is not rocks and dinosaurs! During their visit the children were shown the site and looked at some of the finds which had been found there. They saw how we were excavating and looked at the plans compared to what was left in the ground. Rob Philpott talked to them about the wider history of the area and how people had lived here from prehistoric times. They then had a chance to wash some pottery which had been excavated from the Manchester Dock at Liverpool. We explained the significance of having them clean so we could match the fragments up. Next they sorted the pottery they had washed into different types by colour and pattern. Lastly they had the chance to record small finds on their own. We gave them an object from the handling collection and they had to answer a series of questions and then measure and draw their object. This was a good activity as it made them use their questioning skills as well as writing and some maths. Working out how old something is from when it was made is quite taxing! They took these sheets home with them as a souvenir of their time as an archaeologist. I feel these sessions were very enjoyable for the children involved and that they learnt a lot about the history of their local area and archaeological processes.
11/21/2007
Metal detectorist Tom Redmayne has had his fair share of finds over the years, including the typical array of hammerds, grots, mounts and strap ends. Last year he was out on one of his Roman sites and, not suprisingly, he found some lead. Now, most of you will know that i don’t tend to get very excited about lead, but these particular itemswere somewhat rather special. Click on the link above to look at the article written by our very own PAS Roman coin advisor Sam Moorhead. Sam is doing some amazing research into Roman coins based on the grots that you are all finding, so please keep bringing them in – they are literally telling us a new story. Sam is always happy to answer your Roman coin questions – you can email him SMOORHEAD@thebritishmuseum.ac.uk
Back to the curse tablets. Tom and the Landowner have generously donated them to the British Museum, where they will go on display in the near future. A big big thanks to Tom & T. Landowner!
