Category Archives: Uncategorized

Find of the Month December: Clay Pipe Bowl

Decorated clay pipe bowl

By Cova Escandon, Finds Supervisor

On 27^th of July 1586, Sir Walter Raleigh brought back three unknown weeds from one of his trips to the New World. They were the plants of potato, maize and tobacco.

Although tobacco was most likely to have been known in England before this date through Spanish and Portuguese sailors, Raleigh was the first person to introduce smoking as a fashionable habit in the court of Elizabeth I. Imagine the first time these courtesans saw smoke coming out of someone’s nose and mouth! It is said that one of Raleigh’s servants threw water on him thinking he was on fire. Smoking soon became very popular, and it was even thought to be beneficial to health. It was highly recommended to heal conditions such as worms, halitosis and toothache. Even during the Great Plague (1665) it was thought to clean the air, so schoolboys at Eton College would smoke a pipe at breakfast. But at the beginning of the 17^th Century some voices started speaking against its use. One of them was King James I who wrote a famous text called ‘Counterblast to Tobacco’ where he condemned the use of the aforesaid plant. He also destroyed the crops existing in England and taxed severely the import from America. Despite this, the use of tobacco continued to grow until the 1930s. It was around this time that clay pipe use declined due to competition from cigarettes.

The pipe bowl that we bring to you today was found in Lincoln and made at the Watkinson Clay Pipe Factory in Market Rasen. This factory was founded in 1843 by George Spencer Watkinson and it was very successful until 1893 when wooden pipes started being more popular. Watkinson’s son, George Spencer Watkinson Junior, wrote a journal of his memories of the factory and drew sketches describing the process of making clay pipes. This source of information is priceless as not much is known about this type of factory.

Back in those days, each factory would produce their own designs incorporating the name of the manufacturer or place of production. Our pipe bowl is beautifully decorated with a trophy, possibly related to horse racing, and what appears to be thistles and roses in a laurel crown. On the rim of the bowl you can read MARKET RASEN. Interestingly, we know that the Watkinson Factory often used another design showing a chained slave on one side and the personification of Liberty on the other. This antislavery decoration is highly unusual in the tobacco industry, given its close relationship and dependence on the slavery system.

As you can see in the photograph, the stem of the pipe is missing. We actually often find them with short stems, or none at all, and one reason is that in the second half of the 19^th Century, pubs would provide pipes for their clients to smoke: the customer would break the end of the stem, fill the bowl with tobacco and smoke, returning it to the landlord once he had finished. The next client would break the stem and start again. This artefact not only is a beautiful piece of art, it is also a little window into our past.

Lincoln’s Medieval High Street: a new book

In 2012 we carried out excavations on Lincoln’s High Street in advance of a retail development. The site revealed the presence of a ‘lost’ medieval alley way that took people from the docks on the Brayford to the shops and workshops of the High Street. Amongst the discoveries made were a medieval paint palette made from an oyster shell, locally made pottery and cobblestones which had been worn down by the carts that passed over them. We wanted to show how this small but busy neighbourhood could tell the story of medieval Lincoln and its thriving markets, the evidence for metalworking, weaving and baking and the affect that the Black Death and later the Civil War had on the town.

The medieval street recreated by Pighill Illustration

In our new, fully illustrated book we do just that. The medieval High Street is recreated thanks to a digital reconstruction by Peter Lorimer of Pighill Illustration. Signposts through the text enable you to learn more about the archaeological evidence and a map help you to discover parts of medieval Lincoln that are still visible today.

The book is on sale at the SLHA bookshop, Jew’s Court, Steep Hill or via our website for £8.50 plus P&P

Find of the Month November – Roman denarius

Roman coin

By Yvonne Rose, Archives Supervisor (with thanks to Adam Daubney, Lincolnshire Finds Liaison Officer, for the original identification)

This month’s featured find is a lovely silver denarius recovered from a large site in North Lincolnshire.

The coin features Mark Anthony who was a Roman politician and general under Julius Caesar. It has been dated to 42 BC and is a quite rare example of the type. The obverse depicts Mark Antony’s bare head, and to the left of his portrait is a lituus – a symbol of augury. In ancient Rome, augurs were part of a college of priests whose duty was to interpret the will of the gods by observing natural signs, particularly the behaviour of birds. The reverse of the coin shows the radiate head of Sol, the Roman god of the sun. Interestingly, Mark Antony’s son by Cleopatra was named Alexander Helios; Helios being the personification of the sun in Greek mythology.

The coin, when new, would have borne a legend around the outer edge of the reverse. Now completely worn, it would have read M ANTONIVS III VIR R P C. This is the abbreviated form of “Marcus Antonius tresviri rei publicae constituendae”, which roughly translates to “Marcus Antonius, one of the three-man commission for restoring the constitution of the republic”. This commission was known as the Second Triumvirate and was the political alliance of Octavian (Caesar’s great nephew and adopted son), Marcus Aemilius Lepidus and Mark Antony. It was formed in November 43 BC, following Caesar’s assassination the previous year, with the intention of defeating his assassins, Brutus and Cassius, who had gained power in the eastern territories. It is possible this coin was minted to celebrate victory over the assassins in 42 BC.

Coins were manufactured using circular “blanks” of metal which would be warmed slightly to make them more malleable, and then placed within a metal die with the mould for one side of the coin on it. The metal die with the mould for the opposing side of the coin would be placed on top of the blank and then hit with a hammer. This is why many obverse and reverse sides of the coin don’t match up, as the die moulds weren’t necessarily lined up before hammering.

Coins were usually manufactured in static mints in towns, but this coin is likely to have been made in one of the military mints travelling with Mark Antony in Italy. As it was struck 81 years before Claudius invaded Britain, it makes it quite an intriguing find to have it made its way to North Lincolnshire!

Find of the month October – a Roman buckle

Roman buckle

By Yvonne Rose, Archives Supervisor with Mike Wood, Project Manager and Finds Specialist

Our find of the month for October is a rather nice example of a Roman buckle. This type of triangular-shaped buckle dates to the second half of the 4^th century and is found at predominantly military sites in Britain. Indeed, ours was found in Lincoln, just outside the east wall of the Roman city. In this period of history, buckles are still a relatively rare find, much less common than brooches.

The buckle was discovered together with other artefacts in the grave of an adult male. The other associated objects include a crossbow brooch, a small silver mount, a fragment of decorated copper strip which could be part of another brooch, the broken plate of a further buckle, as well as 10 iron nails which may indicate the presence of a coffin. All of these objects are typical of the burials of males from positions of authority in the late Roman Empire.

Buckles with triangular plates are known from both the late Roman and early Anglo-Saxon periods. Roman ones usually have openwork plates with D-shaped or, as with ours, kidney-shaped frames; whereas the Saxon ones tend more towards oval frames and solid plates.

The buckle is made from cast copper alloy and measures 50mm in length. The pin is present, as are three copper alloy rivets, one in each corner of the plate. From the junction with the frame, the arms of the plate extend to meet at a cleft terminal lobe with a pointed projection either side. The heart-shaped aperture of this buckle is particularly attractive.

German archaeologist H. W. Böhme studied buckles with integral triangular plates as part of his survey of late Roman artefacts in Britain, and the settlement of England by the earliest Anglo-Saxons (Böhme 1986, Liste 1, Abb. 5, Abb. 14). He dated them to the middle or second half of the 4th century and his map shows that they are found in small numbers not only in the British Isles but also along the European frontier of the Roman Empire, along the Rhine and Danube rivers.

Böhme, H W, 1986, Das Ende der Römerherrschaft in Britannien und die Angelsächische Besiedlung Englands im 5. Jahrhundert, Jahrbuch des Römisch-Germanischen Zentralmuseums Mainz 33 pt. 2

Lincoln: an (almost) undiscovered gem of a City

Mark Allen, Director and founder of AAL

Having been volunteered to write a blog post on why Lincoln is such a good place to come and work it took me back to my first few days in the city back in 1997 (blimey, 20 years ago!).

I had just finished work on a pipeline and had my contract extended, with accommodation thrown in at Lincoln. Despite having previously lived in Nottinghamshire (the county immediately to the west of Lincolnshire) I had no idea where Lincoln was! I soon tracked it down, booked my train ticket and headed there. At the station I was picked up by my then employer and taken to the accommodation, where I had to wait until the owner was tracked down to a local hostelry where he was slightly the worse for wear. Welcome to Lincoln I thought…

At the time the University had not yet begun its major programme of expansion and Lincoln was not in very good shape. On my first evening I randomly ended up in a rather rough pub that did not do food, so ate some out of date stale crisps, drank a beer and retired for the night on a very empty stomach vowing to leave this place as soon as possible.

Now I realise this is not exactly winning you over, but bear with me….

In the next few years the University (in fact Lincoln has two) oversaw a major programme of expansion which also saw significant investment in the city by retailers, restaurants, and of course pubs: got to cater for the increase in thirsty students. Almost overnight the city was transformed into a vibrant place to be, whilst retaining its sense of character and heritage.

Lincoln Cathedral – it’s pretty darn magnificent

The city is absolutely dominated by the Cathedral and to a lesser extent the castle, and these are located in the picturesque Bailgate area at the top of the hill (Lincolnshire is not flat!), which is steeped in Roman and later history. The Newport Arch is the only complete Roman gateway that you can still drive through. The quirky character of the city really shines through. Where else can you see the largest Steampunk festival in Europe one weekend and the next the famous clog and morris dancing festival (not to be missed!).

Steampunk in progress

This year Lincoln has been voted by university students as the cheapest place in the UK to live, and with its friendly vibe, really gets its hooks into you when you spend some time here. It is not quite on the tourist trail as is, say York, so you don’t get the heaving crowds in the summer, which is also nice.

So to summarise, come to Lincoln! It really is a great place, we have a top team of ultra-friendly people, and it’s cheap! Despite my initial foreboding, being here 20 years almost to the day, I cannot think of a better place to be.

Cambridge Feature: Corn Dryer? Oven? Kiln? Something else?

By Richard Brennan, Project Archaeologist

As with all great archaeological discoveries this story begins with the final product, the 100% excavated feature in all of its glory, something uniquely special. You can see a large hole dug into the ground with a longer and shallow shaft continuing to the west (and some painted sticks for decoration)!

The mystery feature

If at first look you excitedly whispered to yourself that this is obviously an Iron Age corn dryer or some kind of oven or even a kiln, then, like us, you are unfortunately mistaken. On the surface, the feature appeared to have a flue-like wing (to transfer heat) continuing to the west and a possible oval wing (to dry grain or bake ceramics) to the east. If it was a corn dryer or oven then one would expect accompanying integral structural components, to you know, house the feature, store the goods, and keep out animals and what not. Our Go Pro shot of the immediate surrounding area shows no evidence for any post holes or beam slots. So just what did we have here if not an oven, kiln or corn dryer structure?

GoPro shot of the feature

We half sectioned the “flue” wing and quarter sectioned across the “oven”. I worked on the “flue” and south facing section and my colleague in the north facing section of the pit. It quickly became apparent that our feature was probably neither a corn dryer nor oven nor kiln, and in fact most likely a large waste pit, with some sort of raking channel…I know, right.

So why do I think this? Well, there was no baked lining to the feature (the clay geology if baked would appear a reddish orange colour). The feature contained

Fragments of dark reddish orange ceramic building material (CBM)
Sherds of mid Iron Age dark greyish brown pottery
Discarded fragments of burnt and unburnt animal bone
Fragments of animal bone with patterns of rings etched into the bone
Occasional iron objects
Very occasional copper alloy materials.
Fragments of slag

The vast majority of the finds were heavily worn, fragmented and obviously discarded away as broken pieces of rubbish within the remnants of the charcoal deposits. Lastly, the stratigraphy of the waste pit indicates a possible prolonged use and that it was open for some time as phase after phase of dumping had been taking place. Had it been a corn dryer or oven we might expect a single dump event as its use came to an end.

Although all this is still speculation until the expert reviews come through, what at first we thought might have turned out to be an Iron Age corn dryer, oven or even possible kiln is probably ‘just’ a waste pit.

Find of the Month: EXTRA! Medieval Shoe from Brayford Wharf, Lincoln

As a special treat for July we have an extra Find of the Month! This one is particularly exciting as it’s a rather nice example of a medieval ankle boot. It was found in thick clay on a site in Lincoln’s Brayford Wharf East, where the waterlogged conditions are ideal for preserving leather.

The boot dates to between the 12^th and 14^th centuries and is made of goatskin with a cowhide sole. It laces up at the side and the straps would originally have fastened using a metal buckle. At 25cm long, it probably equates to a modern-day size 3 or 4, taking into account the extremely pointed sole!

You can watch this and other videos of our work on our youtube channel.

Cathedrals and sandcastles at the Lincolnshire Show

Feenagh Johnson, Project Supervisor

Tucked among the various stalls at the Lincolnshire show 2017, Team Allen joined the wonderful people in the Cathedral Tent and the Lincoln Cathedral Connected project to perform a little bit of community outreach and to show off some of the cooler parts of our work!

Director, Mark Allen chats about the Cathedral excavations

Over the course of the Show, countless cups of coffee were consumed (thanks to Stokes) and even more people were introduced into the wonderful world of archaeology, engaging with our reconstruction pots; mosaic tiles and plans of our works at the cathedral and of course Pighill Archaeological Illustration’s virtual reconstruction of the Works Chantry, which quite literally brought the archaeology we had encountered to life!

Fee with a reconstructed pot

It was great to see how enthusiastic and interested the public were in their local heritage, but the centrepiece of this adventure was without a doubt the sandpit. Armed with trowels, little spades and of course finds trays and brushes, a small army of budding archaeologists (hopefully!) jumped at the chance to explore what it was like to be a real digger.

They travelled from Ancient Egypt, with a sphinx and a couple of pyramids; through the Roman Empire, with a fort and colosseum and then back home again with a castle and a very artistic representation of Lincoln cathedral, unearthing all sorts of artefacts (including what we were told were real dinosaur teeth!). At the end of the two days we can’t help but wonder…who had the most fun in the sandpit… the kids or the archaeologists!

Sand Cathedral

Nicky and Bill with their sand castle

Find of the month: June – Why mend a mortaria ?

Director, Mark Allen discusses why anyone would pay good money to fix a broken pot

Our find of the month for June is rather intriguing. It is a Roman mortaria, the ancestor to the modern day pestle and mortar we use today for crushing seeds and spices, and was found during monitoring of groundworks for a housing development in Suffolk.

Mortaria are not particularly rare objects, and they often turn up on Roman sites. However, what is rather special about this example that it was made in the 1st century or early 2nd century AD and has clearly been dropped and broken into a number of pieces, before being repaired. The repairs consist of twin sets of holes drilled through the sherds with lengths of lead used to ‘staple’ the pieces together: no UHU (other brands of glue are available) or sticky tape existing at the time!

Roman mortaria, used for grinding food, which has been broken and mended using lead staples

This may in itself sound pretty unimpressive, but the mystery is that with the repairs the mortaria would have become far less useful and could not have been used for crushing or mixing liquids anymore. ‘How is this interesting ?’ I hear you cry! Well, it gives us an insight into the social activities and values of the Roman who owned this nearly 2,000 years ago, a rare opportunity without inventing a time machine and popping back to observe the people themselves.

If we examine the vessel more closely we see other clues: the spout (to right of the photo) is quite worn suggesting it had seen a lot of use. This is further confirmed when we look at the inside of the bowl. Mortaria were made by pressing small, hard grits into the soft clay before firing, producing a rough, jagged surface to help crush the food inside the bowl. Modern mortaria do not do this because the grits would occasionally pop out and end up in the food, which is not very good for your teeth! In this instance, the grits have been all but lost or worn down, again showing that the mortaria had been used for a long time.

The time, effort and expense required to repair the mortaria would have been considerable considering it was now next to useless as a household item and it’s much more common to see repairs on fancy vessels like Samian ware (Willis 2005, 11.4), so why on earth would you repair such a thing? The most plausible explanation is that it held some intrinsic value to the individual who had it repaired. The object itself was important, less so its functionality. We can never be sure, but perhaps it was a present or had been inherited from a deceased relative or friend, and just the presence of the vessel was a reminder of them.

Archaeology is not just about preparing a record of the physical remains of former activities, it is also the study of past behaviour. Through the physical objects we gain insights into past lives. At a time that A Level archaeology has been scrapped and fewer universities are offering degree courses in the subject than once did, we should remember that the study of the past is important, in that it gives us the opportunity to learn from the mistakes of our ancestors. Perhaps now, more than ever, this needs to be highlighted.

References:

Willis, S, 2005, Samian Pottery, a Resource for the Study of Roman Britain and Beyond: the results of the English Heritage funded Samian Project. An e-monograph. http://intarch.ac.uk/journal/issue17/1/11.4_5.html