Author Archives: Natasha Powers

Find of the Month: An Iron Age loom weight

Our find of the month for May enables us to have a look at textile production during the Iron Age. It is a large, triangular loom weight which was found during an evaluation in the village of Kirkby on Bain, Lincolnshire. Archaeological evidence for the actual process of textile production is scarce as the wooden looms and associated threads and wool don’t survive. What do survive better are the spindle whorls from the spinning process and loom weights from weaving.

Loomweight

These triangular shaped loom weights are thought to have been used during the Iron Age and are usually made from fired clay, though stone is common on earlier sites. The clay is normally of low firing and as such the weights are prone to break. Later Anglo Saxon loom weights are circular and many Roman ones are pyramidal in shape. The reason for choosing a particular shape is not known and is likely a personal or cultural preference. Loom weights are a fairly common find on sites in Northern Europe and in the Near East where a certain type of loom was used.

The loom which would have been in use during the British Iron Age was the warp-weighted loom which became obsolete in the Roman period but had been in use since the Neolithic. This was a fairly simple loom which consisted of two wooden uprights and a horizontal bar, which would rest against the wall. The warp (vertical) threads would hang freely from the bar and would be tied individually or in bundles to the loom weights. The clay loom weights hanging from the bottom of the threads would keep them taut enough to enable the weft (horizontal) threads to be more easily passed over and under in the weaving process.

This particular loom weight is quite large, weighing in at 2.27kg which would create quite a bit of tension in the yarns. As mentioned earlier, due to the low firing of the clay, they can break fairly easily and several of these heavy items hitting into each other as you weave would cause frequent damage. This loom weight has lost the tips of two of the corners but is still a remarkably complete example of the type.

Best site hut biscuit with Feenagh

Excavating a skeleton in October 2014

What is your job role?
Project Supervisor

How long have you worked for Allen Archaeology?
I started working for AAL in September 2013

How would describe your excavation technique?
Erratic – It’s a messy process, but normally produces good results!

How long have you been working in archaeology?
Since September 2013!

How did you get into archaeology?
Through a love of history, a burning desire not to work inside and just a little bit of luck I guess.

What is the best thing about your job?
The community aspects of it. I’ve been lucky enough to work on a few of our recent community projects and I love the buzz you get from engaging with the public and talking about archaeology. We have a pretty cool job and it’s nice to show it off!

…Also mud.

Specialist skills?
The ability to turn any conversation into one about cats??!

Best site hut biscuit?
The digestive. It’s a good honest biscuit that isn’t afraid of a little bit of tea.
Or a Custard Cream if I’m feeling fancy…

AAL: Winners of the Archaeological Training Forum Award!

This week we attended the CIfA Conference in Newcastle where we were proud to win the Archaeology Training Forum (ATF) award for the AAL Commerical Archaeology Trainee Scheme! It’s really fabulous to have everyone’s efforts in passing on their skills and knowledge recognised in this way and massive congratulations are due to our trainers and trainees alike!

AAL Senior Manager Natasha Powers collects our award (with congratulations to Worcester Archive and Archaeology Service for their highly commended)

We believe that knowledge and skills are best when shared and that a smaller company can provide a more diverse training experience. We also see it as our responsibility to provide a rounded set of experiences which staff can use to take their career in whichever direction they choose. I said in my acceptance speech (whilst facing a stuffed giraffe) that I hoped we showed that training doesn’t need to be rocket science, and the judges commended our straightforward and pragmatic approach. So what have we done that’s so special?

It’s short – The logic behind this is simple. When recruiting we ask for three months experience of UK commercial archaeology, so rather than relying on finding people who already have this, we offer three months with us to meet that criteria.

It’s affordable – It is important to us that our traineeships are accessible so they are fully paid. The wage enables people who are not in a financial position to volunteer on research excavations to apply for the role. Keeping the timescale short makes this an even more practical option. Overtime and subsistence allowances are available and, Trainees have free transport to and from site and free accommodation if they work away (as do the rest of our staff).

It’s diverse – Trainees are given experience of and support with all the tasks that a Project Archaeologist would do. At AAL this includes survey (GPS and/or TST), GIS and illustration skills, photography and assisting with geophysical survey as well as excavation and recording.

…and so are out trainees – Our trainees have been recent graduates, early career individuals from outside the UK and young people with a genuine interest and aptitude but who have not followed a traditional academic route.

We advertise on our website based on the company workload and, whenever we can we overlap the start of each traineeship with the end of the previous one.

Each trainee is given a written training plan which references CIfA training standards and templates and is linked to NOS. Following feedback from our staff last year, a key set of skills are also evaluated by each Project Supervisor at the end of each site. If a Trainee is not considered to have achieved the required level in skills at the end of the three months, their traineeship is extended and they are given a documented forward plan. In the two instances where traineeships were extended, both staff put in tremendous efforts following feedback and completed their traineeships shortly afterwards. Our aim is that on successful completion of the final review, the Trainee is awarded a permanent contract as Project Archaeologist.

Alice learning single context recording at Lincoln Transport Hub

Tae on a rural, Roman site

The positive and constructive feedback from our trainees shows the scheme works and is helping us to improve it further.

“I found my trainee programme very beneficial as I previously had no experience digging – either commercial or academic, so was a great opportunity to get into archaeology and be paid for it.”

“It gave me a proper view of what commercial archaeology really was and I didn’t feel like my lack of experience prevented me from going on any site or prevented any opportunities. The staff at Allen are all very friendly and helpful which made asking questions, help and generally becoming a part of the team so much easier.”

“I’m very grateful the trainee scheme exists as it allowed me to get into commercial archaeology when it might have otherwise been difficult”

“There was a balanced mix of office-based and site-based work that allowed me to develop excavation skills on small to large scale excavations, whilst learning how to make the transition from site material to post-excavation reporting smoother for all involved. All in all, my experience was really quite rounded. I enjoyed it immensely and it gave me the skills to feel confident to work at any site, or in the office”

Recent reports show a 5% drop in university applications, particularly from those aged 19–25 years. In a discipline that currently draws 95% of its staff base from universities, we hope that the this provides a working model for a non-traditional entry route. Supporting and mentoring the Trainees also contributes to staff development and is particularly valuable in enabling newly promoted Project Supervisors to hone their skills. Giving staff the chance to build on and share their experiences is vital (even if it is potentially a little scary for the Management Team) and our ‘AAL Xmas lectures’ ensure that we have at least one day a year when the whole team gets together.

Since March 2015, ten trainees have joined us: both recent graduates and those with no formal qualifications. All but one successfully completed their traineeship and five are currently permanent members of staff.

Merely a mirror? Reflections from a conservator

Guest blogger Rebecca Plumbe, University of Lincoln Masters student

Objects can be very deceptive. Like people, most of them have secrets which stay hidden until you start questioning them. As a conservator, I am a nosey parker by nature. If I could, I would sit an object down under a blinding spotlight and interrogate it with endless questions: How old are you? What are you? What are you made from? And what were you used for? But I suppose that’s what I do when I conserve an object. Inanimate material things will not tell you anything and it is their silence which is the conservator’s challenge. What can I find out about this object to further our shared understanding of its purpose and its history? For the past three months, I have spent my time doing just this with an intriguing archaeological find excavated by Allen Archaeology that arrived disguised in the form of another object. But how can an object be misleading? Well, pull up a chair at the interrogation table as I reveal my findings . . . .

The suspected medieval mirror before conservation treatment

The object in question resembled a Medieval mirror case and had been found on a site close to a deserted medieval village. These kinds of mirrors were believed to be carried by Pilgrims, who thought that catching the reflection of a Saint would imbibe the mirror with their attributes. Initial observations and comparisons with other mirror cases from the period on the Portable Antiquities Scheme database revealed some striking similarities such as the circular recessed shape and the traces of a reflective metal inlay.

An 11th to 12th century mirror case (from Hinds 2010)

But all was not what it seemed! Underneath the layers of corrosion product hid a very different object all together. And one that was at least 900 years younger than was first thought!

Placing the object into the X-ray chamber for analysis

Cleaning the object

Analysis using XRF (X-ray Fluorescence) determined that the object was composed of a metal alloy (brass) as both copper and zinc were identified, the thinner, shinier metal inlay was nickel. But the real surprise came during the mechanical removal of corrosion product from the surface. Slowly but surely, small incised markings began to appear upon the nickel inlay, followed by a distinct horse-shoe shape bearing the letters ‘B_E_ A_ U_ C_ O’ stamped onto the main brass body.

Small incised markings in the nickel inlay

Stamped horseshoe-shaped makers mark

Markings such as these act as clues and allow us to do a little detective work. Although the lettering around the horseshoe was partially lost, due to the effects of corrosion, there was enough evidence to tie it to a French watch-makers, Pierre, Fritz and Louis Japy who manufactured under the name of ‘Beaucourt’. Time had finally caught up with the object’s true identity!

Beaucourt was the French town in which Japy Fréres (Japy Brothers) pioneered the mechanisation of time-piece manufacture, bringing the watch making process under one roof for the first time. Although Japy Fréres started making watches in 1770, the stamp located on this casing dates to around 1890-1900. Japy Fréres prided themselves on making time-pieces for ‘the common man’, so this particular pocket watch could be purchased at a reasonable price. The smaller incised markings appear to refer to the date at which the pocket watch was once repaired. The pocket-watch was nickel plated, which explained the presence of these thinner metal remnants along the lip of the casing.

Conservators tool kit and the watch case after conservation

The conservator’s tool kit. Mechanical removal of the disfiguring corrosion layers was achieved to stabilise and uncover the surface of the watch casing

So my time spent with a scalpel, dental tool pick and microscope was time well spent, as was the case (quite literally!) with this archaeological find. With the metal now stabilised and the maker’s marks once again visible, it can tell its true story. I like to think of objects as suspects: question everything until you discover the truth. Despite being inanimate, they can still pack a surprise or two!

References

Antique Horology, undated),Trademarks, Stamps & Signatures, [online] Available from http://www.antique-horology.org/Trademarks/default.asp [Accessed 1 March 2017].

Artclock, 2017, Japy Freres: Biography, History + Markings, Year, [online] Available from http://www.artclock.nl/horloges-pagina-2-info/11-japy-freres-history-marking-year-11a-kopie [Accessed 1 March 2017]

Artclock, 2017, Japy Freres: History + Mark, Year, Design Index, [online] Available from http://www.artclock.nl/11-japy-freres [Accessed 1 March 2017]

Hinds, K, 2010, WILT-F04EB6: A MEDIEVAL MIRROR CASE. [online] Available from https://finds.org.uk/database/artefacts/record/id/384545 [Accessed 17 Feb 2017].

Stephen-Smith, M, 2006, The Emergence of Modern Business Enterprise in France, 1800-1930. 1^st edition, USA: Harvard University Press

Find of the month: April

This month’s find is a sherd of Anglo-Saxon pottery from an evaluation in Wellingborough, Northamptonshire. It was found in a small posthole alongside a narrow gully terminal, which may have been associated with a structure.

The fabric of the pottery sherd is known as Stamford Ware owing, unsurprisingly, to its manufacture in a number of small potteries concentrated around the Lincolnshire town of Stamford. It was produced between the ninth and thirteenth centuries; by the tenth century, Stamford was one of the major pottery centres of England, exporting its wares throughout the country. By this time, pottery would have been produced on a wheel as opposed to the earlier method of building up a vessel in a series of rings or coils. Stamford produced a variety of fine wheel-thrown vessels, mainly cooking pots, small bowls, spouted pitchers, jugs and dishes. Many of the fine table wares were decorated with a transparent lead glaze and, after circa 1150, with a bright copper green glaze, a useful piece of dating evidence for the archaeologist.

The pottery sherd from Wellingborough is unglazed and an unusually dark colour. This colour is the result of a lack of oxygen during the firing process, a process known as reduction, and is associated with the earlier fabric types. The sherd is decorated with a band of diamond-notched rouletting typical of the 10^th-century examples. At just 25mm in length, it is unfortunately too small to determine the form of the original vessel.

Stamford pot

So why choose a sherd of pottery barely bigger than a postage stamp as Find of the Month? Well, evidence of Anglo-Saxon activity in this area of Wellingborough is scarce, with reported finds being restricted to a single small find of a silver penny of Edward the Confessor (Pastscape Monument 345426). So, despite its diminutive size, this piece of pottery is actually a find of significant local importance.

References:

Kilmurry, K, 1980 The Pottery Industry of Stamford, Lincs. C. AD850-1250 British Archaeology Report British Ser 84

Blinkhorn, P, 2017 Pottery and CBM from 30 High Street, Wellingborough, Northamptonshire (Site WEHS17) In AAL Report AAL2017019

Regia Anglorum – Anglo-Saxon and Viking Crafts – Pottery

University of Leicester website

The Dark Art of Environmental Processing

Bryn Leadbetter, Project Archaeologist, Environmental Processing

In a far-flung corner of Whisby Lodge is a room visited by few. Room 4 (or 9) was once frequented by many. They came then, these folk, in search of tools, but now such utensils of mass earth removal are found elsewhere and there is no longer any reason to venture to this remote outpost. What takes place now in Room 4 (or 9), once likened to a cave, has been described as something akin to alchemy. I like this idea of my work being a dark art and I hesitate to discourage the thought, but in truth no such claim can be made.

In the simplest of terms environmental archaeology is the study of past people’s interaction with their natural environment – we use plant and animal remains to reconstruct ancient environments and farming practices and examine soils, sediments and other suitable deposits to explore how sites are formed. Pollen and isotopes are also studied, and much more still, but, sadly, nothing so wizard-y takes place in Room 4 (or 9).

Bryn floating

The samples of soil that we collect may contain minute/microscopic plant and animal remains that can tell us about the economy and diet of the people who occupied the site, and the natural environment in which they lived. Fragments of pottery, flint and other artefacts may also be present.

To extract these items from the ‘mud’ a water separation system is employed, in a process commonly referred to as flotation. This consists of a number of tanks and connecting pipes around which water is pumped on a continuous cycle, overflowing from one tank to the next. The sample is placed in the first tank onto a submerged 1mm mesh and agitated to break the sediment up and release any eco/arte-facts contained therein. Light material, such as grain, seed, charcoal and shell, will float to the top and is carried by the overflowing water through a 300 micron mesh (1000 micron = 1mm), where it is collected. This material is called the flot. The heavy fraction of bone, flint and pottery along with stones etc. will sink but is captured by the 1mm mesh. This is called the residue. The finest fraction of clay and silt will escape capture and settle to the bottom of the tank. Of course, the overflowing water is instantly dirty and the purpose of the other tanks is to allow as much silt/clay to settle before the as-clean-as-possible water is pumped from the final tank back into tank 1 and the cycle to continues. After drying and bagging the flot is sent to a specialist for analysis. I sort the residue and retrieve any bone, flint, pot and so-forth. A spreadsheet is kept for the documentation of all this activity – and that’s what I do in Room 4 (or 9).

Flot, residue and bagged flot

A Pietá from Lincoln

We have recently seen the return to our offices of a lovely piece of sculpture that we found in uphill Lincoln. This sculpture is a Pietá, a devotional depiction of the Virgin Mary holding the body of Christ after the crucifixion. The Pietá is one of the three main depictions of the Virgin Mary in art, the other two being Mater Dolorosa (Mother of Sorrows) and Stabat Mater (Standing Mother). This form of artwork originated in 13th Century Germany before spreading to France, Italy and Central Europe. Many early wooden examples emphases the wounds Christ suffered on the Cross, whereas the later stone sculptures carved outside Germany focus more on the purity of the Virgin rather than on their suffering. Probably the most famous Pietá was carved by Michelangelo and now rests in St Peter’s Basilica, Vatican City. It is the only artwork that he ever signed, allegedly due because he had overhead people attributing it to his competitor Cristoforo Solari.

The Pieta shows signs of having been deliberately damaged during the Reformation

We found this Pietá during the construction of new buildings for Lincoln’s University Technical College (UTC) back in 2014. It is more than half a metre wide and, when complete, would have stood nearly a metre tall. Similarity to other examples from France, suggests that it may have been made in the mid-15th century. It was probably originally placed on the outside of a building, over a portal but had been reused in a retaining wall, the plain parts facing outwards, hiding its true form.

The sculpture is largely intact but the heads and feet of both Christ and Mary are missing (as are their right hands and Christ’s left shoulder and right knee). The missing heads and the reuse of the statue as building material indicate that it was probably defaced during the Reformation of the 16th Century. Icons of Christ and the saints were present in all Catholic churches but the new Protestant faith saw them as worship of false gods. Excavations on the church neighbouring Lincoln Cathedral, St Peter-in-the-Bail, found evidence of iconoclastic destruction from this period. The heads and hands of saints, both in sculpture and in paintings, were the main targets during this religious vandalism. C. Pamela Graves suggests this was done to remove any power from the saints personification and as a test of the idol and its supposed sainthood. For example when a statue of St Katherine was thrown into a fire, it not burn and by it burning it proved the idol was a sham. There is also a tale from the Old Testament about an image of the Assyrian deity Dagon who was struck down by God by having his head and hands cut off. Removing the head and heads of an idol also mirrored the punishment that was inflicted on heretics.

References:

Graves, C P, 2008, ‘From an archaeology of iconoclasm to an anthropology of the body : images, punishment and personhood in England, 1500-1660’, Current Anthropology, 49 (1), 35-57

The Rt Revd Lord Harries, 2015, ‘The Pieta in Art’, [Transcript] https://www.gresham.ac.uk/lectures-and-events/the-pieta-in-art

Best site hut biscuit with Dominika

What is your job role?
Project Archaeologist

How long have you worked for Allen Archaeology?
1 year, 5 months

How would describe your excavation technique?
I always try to find the deeper meaning of the hole that I am digging.

How long have you been working in archaeology?
1 year, 5 month (I joined AAL as a trainee), however I have volunteered on excavations abroad and in Britain since 2009.

How did you get into archaeology?
My mum let me pick a book from the Readers’ Digest catalogue. I picked one about ancient Egypt and since reading it for the first time when I was seven, I wanted to be an archaeologist.

What is the best thing about your job?
Finds marking and excavating human skeletons. It is a shame but not many people seem to enjoy finds marking. When it comes to skeletons – I hope that one day I get to dig a mummy or a bog body!

Specialist skills?
I can say ‘my name is’ in ancient Egyptian and I am known for being very fast in bagging skeletons.

Best site hut biscuit?
Anything gluten-free. Preferably Jaffa cakes or short bread. I hate anything chocolate flavoured, especially brownies.

Archaeology is rubbish*

Natasha Powers, Senior Manager

We recently finished work on a site to the south of Lincoln. There were no Roman buildings or prehistoric flint scatters but a group (or assemblage) of objects was collected and brought back to the offices. Collections of material like this look familiar to us and they can show the processes we go through to interpret a site no matter its age, and the difficulties we face in doing so.

What was it for? A bottle is probably used for storing liquids, we know that because we have seen objects a similar shape and that’s what they were being used for (their function). Shape (or form) is one of the key ways in which we interpret objects. We have a helping hand here as many of the objects still have writing on them, so we can find out exactly what they were used for. We can use the characteristics of those objects to help us work out what the ones without labels might be. The base of no. 12 tells us that it was made to store Hartley’s jams or preserves. We can therefore work out that no. 11, which is not marked but looks very similar, was used for the same function but presumably by different a company. We work out what the objects are by comparing them with other, sometimes more complete, objects which have the same shape or characteristics.

Modern ‘rubbish’ but what can it tell us?

How old is it? Creating a typology (the classification of objects according to their characteristics) can also be key to establishing their date. Shapes and styles may change over time and if you have an object that you can give a secure date to, you can build up a pattern. Here, we can look at the ketchup bottle (no. 5) and see that it looks like those that were produced between 1914 and 1930. Research can help us work out how old other objects may be: Wiltshaw & Robinson (makers of Carlton Ware) produced over 1000 different shapes of Heraldic Souvenir China 1903–1926, including our yacht (no. 13). Bray & Co. Bus Company, changed their name to Lincolnshire Road Car in May 1930, so the ticket stub (no. 26) must be earlier than this. In fact the objects all seem to have been made before 1930, but not earlier than the start of the 20th century.

Typology of ketchup

When was it deposited? Production date doesn’t tell us when these objects were buried. Some objects stay in circulation longer than others because they have uses beyond their original purpose, because we find them aesthetically pleasing or because they become heirlooms. Stoneware jam pots were superseded by glass jam jars, but we have both here. Empty stoneware jars make excellent pencil pots or vases, so perhaps they were reused before being thrown away (I keep match boxes in one at home)?

What does it mean? Take away our knowledge of these objects from their history and how would we interpret them as a group? Why would someone have a small model house and a boat? Is there a religious significance to these items? Why do they have a coat of arms on them? Did the person who they belonged to own land in, or have family in Southport and Bedford? Perhaps they were just pretty objects picked up at a jumble sale? There is a glass pot marked ‘Spear’s Games’ – does that mean there are children involved in the creation of this rubbish? There is a pocket watch of a type that you would expect to belong to a man, but we need to be careful when we ‘engender’ objects: I own a watch much like that myself. Likewise, there is a pot of solid perfume that we might assume is a ‘female’ object. Did they smoke or need a stick to walk with? There are a lot of ink bottles, one of which even has a pen-nib still in it – is this rubbish from a school or an office? Is it from the home of a writer? All in all, there are storage containers, decorative items and practical ones (like the syrup of figs from a brand known as “the family laxative”!). Perhaps, sometime after 1930 someone had a clear-out and got rid of Aunt Agatha’s now unfashionable nick-nacks?

The truth is that we can’t ever know for certain. We can say that the objects were thrown away because they were no longer considered useful. The key to making our interpretation the best that it can be is to gather as much information together as is possible, compare our site with others and set the discovery in context…and that applies to a Roman farmstead as much as a 20th century rubbish dump.

(*with apologies to Tony Robinson and Mick Aston for borrowing the title of their book)

No.	Description
1	Glass storage jar
2	Robertson’s Scotch Marmalade jar with partial label and motif
3	Medicine or household chemical bottle, very incomplete label reads ‘methylated’. Moulded with horizontal divisions showing tablespoons
4	Glass bottle
5	Heinz ketchup bottle with partial label
6	?Champagne bottle
7	Moulded ‘Daddie’s’ sauce bottle
8	Lyons ?ink bottle with partial label
9	Glass bottle
10	Moulded California Fig Syrup Co. bottle
11	Stoneware preserves jar. No markings
12	Stoneware preserves jar. Base embossed ‘NOT genuine unless bearing Wm PH Hartley’s label’
13	Carlton Ware crested or heraldic china yacht (the Saucy Sue). Marked “Southport”
14	Bovril jar
15	Swan ink pot
16	Miniature vase
17	Lid with running dogs motif
18	Small jar
19	Willow Art crested china model of Paul Bunyan’s House with ‘The arms of ancient Bedford’
20	Bell’ Lyon’s ink tipper bottle with partial label and pen nib inside
21	Stoneware inkwell
22	Glass inkwell
23	Glass pot embossed ‘Spear’s Games’. Possibly a tiddlywinks container?
24	Clay pipe
25	Man’s pocket watched in tooled steel
26	Bray & Co. Bus Company
27	Skull of a small dog
28	Brass solid perfume pot with hinge and mirror in the lid. Perfume still present
29	?Bone/antler and brass walking stick handle in the shape of a duck’s head
30	Pocket watch winder (assoc. with 25)