Tag Archives: Find of the month

Find of the Month, September

by Cova Escandon (Archive Supervisor)

An unusual set of jewellery was found from the grave of an adolescent individual from a Roman Necropolis in Lincolnshire, dated to the 4^th century AD. The grave good assemblage is made up of a group of copper-alloy, bone and iron bangles, along with a copper-alloy chain, glass beads and one copper-alloy ring.

Bracelets made of all types of materials were most common in Britain during the 4^th Century AD, and had been used by the Romano-British elite since early Roman times, often fabricated with precious metals. However, around the time of the 4^th Century AD, the use of these bangles became more common in the general population with materials such as bone or copper alloy used instead of precious metals. Such bangles were often worn with between six and sixteen bangles on both wrists. This practice would explain the large amount of fragments of metal bangles found in domestic contexts from the late Roman period. In the set found by Allen Archaeology, there were also several fragments of bone bangles which became very popular during the 4^th century.

Eight copper alloy bracelets were discovered within the grave, all in different styles, three of them decorated. Such decoration includes an incised decoration of a repeating pattern of III X III, and on other bangles motifs including a wavy line with associated dots, faint cross-hatching, and a ring and dot design can be seen. Interestingly, this ring and dot pattern is also present on one of the bone fragments, suggesting that this group of metal and bone bangles were designed to be worn together.

III X III decoration on copper alloy bangle

Ring and dot detail on the copper alloy bangle

Three of the bone fragments have holes drilled through one end and one fragment also has an iron rivet still attached. Two other fragments are joined together by a thin copper-alloy plate, suggesting that these bangles could have been made in sections and then attached together.

I always find curating these sort of finds a little bit bittersweet. On one hand they are very pretty and interesting artefacts, highly useful in being able to date the burial. But on the other side, they remind us that what we have in front of us is a human being, carefully buried with personal items.

Find of the Month, June – Roman graffiti and stamped pottery

Written by Cova Escandon (Project Supervisor, Archives)

This month has brought us some very lovely finds including some stamped pottery and roman graffiti from a site in Staffordshire!

Graffiti was common in Roman times and was probably considered a type of self-expression. In Pompeii, more than eleven thousand examples have been unearthed. The graffiti covered all sorts of subjects, from mockery, poems, love declarations, puns, political propaganda, advertising for rent, and prostitutes… even announcements like a reward for returning a copper pot stolen from a shop! There are also numerous examples of what seems to be people practising alphabet letters or sentences in order to learn to write or improve their skills, a sensible idea considering paper was very expensive, and walls were free!

As well as graffiti, pottery was sometimes marked with a stamp. This was sometimes done as the pottery was loaded into the kiln, often as they were of communal use. Since the work was standardized and stylistically homogeneous, a record was kept of the number of ceramics loaded into the kiln. This could also be recorded on a plate baked with the rest of pottery. It is also possible that the ceramicist wanted to sign their work. Here are a few examples of stamped mortaria and stamped samian ware, recently excavated from a site in Staffordshire. The stamp on the mortarium sherd is an example of the work of the potter Brucius or Bruccius who is believed to have been based at Brockley Hill during the period AD 80-100 (Fiske 2018). It can be closely paralleled with an example from Gorse Stacks in Chester (Cuttler et al 2012, Fig. 2.22.61; M2).

The samian ware stamp is believed to read ‘AVSTRIM’.

Stamped mortaria from a site in Staffordshire

Stamped samain ware an excavation in Staffordshire

Stamped samian ware from a site in Staffordshire

In graffiti, the inscription was made by scratching into the wet clay with a pointed tool. It is written in Roman Cursive Script, the everyday form of handwriting. It would be used by merchants keeping business records, children learning to write, and quick informal text. It was most commonly used between the 1^st Century BC and the 3^rd Century AD and was often used to provide a description of the contents of the pot!

We think it possibly reads as ‘ulvia’ – what are you interpretations?

Roman amphora with grafito inscription from a site in Staffordshire

Many thanks to H. G. Fiske for providing a written interpretation of the stamped mortarium sherd (Fiske 2018).

Cuttler, R., Hepburn, S., Hewitson, C. and Krawiec, K., 2012, Gorse Stacks – 2000 Years of Quarrying and Waste Disposal in Chester, BAR British Series 563, Birmingham Archaeology Series No. 13

Find of the Month, May – Early Neolithic arrow head

By Cova Escandon, Archives Project Supervisor

This month we have chosen this beauty! It is an Early Neolithic leaf-shaped arrow head and it comes from a site we are currently working on in Grantham.

Early Neolithic leaf-shaped arrow head from a site in Grantham

Arrow heads were manufactured by using a small antler tine to push tiny pieces off a bigger stone; a technique known as pressure-flaking. They were then used as projectile points mounted on the tip of a wooden shaft. We are not sure if they were propelled by a bow or were part of a spear as wooden artefacts don’t survive very often.

These leaf-shaped arrow heads dominated the Early Neolithic era (4,000-3,200BC), becoming less common in the Mid Neolithic and scarce in Late Neolithic. Later arrow heads followed designs with ‘barbs’, that made them more effective, but these leaf-shaped ones were easier to make.

Some are incredibly thin and delicate, too fragile to be used for hunting or violence, and some scholars believe that they were status symbols, as they required an immense amount of skill to make. But it is not that simple, as some of these very delicate arrow heads show traces of having been used…

But why do these Early Neolithic groups start manufacturing these new arrow heads? The Neolithic Revolution had begun! The clearance of the woodland in order to get it ready for harvesting had drastically changed the environment, and it was more difficult for the hunter to get close to the prey. One theory suggests that this type of arrow head offered a more aerodynamic and effective killing tool with an increased range and penetration.

This alteration of the environment was already happening during the Mesolithic. But the Neolithic saw massive deforestation to make room for farmland, dramatically transforming the landscape.

This Neolithic Revolution not only brought economic and technological change, it also saw deep social transformation. Knapping tools changed from being a survival skill learnt by everyone, to an artisan trade done by specialists in the community. The groups settled in territories, and the foundations of new social hierarchies were established.

The attachment to the land brought an increase in violence as control of the territory was key in order to survive.

Examples of these bloody episodes have been seen at archaeological sites such as Belas Knap Long Barrow in Gloucestershire and Wayland’s Smithy in Oxfordshire, where there is evidence of blows to the head or arrow wounds in dead deposited there, and at Hambledon Hill in Dorset, there is evidence of the defensive palisades being burnt. Leaf-shaped arrow heads are the most commonly found artefact in British Neolithic tombs. As usual, we end up with more questions than answers. Why did society change? Farming requires much more work than hunting-gathering and one so why did they change their way of living?

Whilst Britain was still in the Late Mesolithic, a big part of Southern Europe was already embracing the Neolithic Revolution. Can we attribute the beginning of the Neolithic in the UK to sea-borne colonialists from continental Europe, or to the influence of locals who were in touch with the continent?

This is certainly a beautiful artefact, no doubt about that. But it is also a window to a fascinating and mysterious time of change.

Find of the Month, March – Soda Water Torpedo Bottle

By Cova Escandon (Project Supervisor Archives)

The find of the month for March is a Lee and Green Ltd. torpedo bottle. It is made of plain glass and you can read on its body ‘Sleaford’ and ‘Spalding’.

Lee and Green Ltd. Torpedo Bottle

Arthur Green and Ranyard Lee opened an aerated water bottling factory in Spalding in 1885. The factory was located on Albion St. and built by John Richard Carter in 1824. It was sold in 1846 to Henry Bugg the Younger and William Henry Bugg. A few years later, the premises were used temporarily as a guano store, before being sold to Lee and Green. They also had factories in Sleaford, Bourne, Boston and Skegness.

The first ‘torpedo bottles’ appeared at the end of the 18^th Century as a solution to the problem of containing gas in glass bottles. At this time, glass bottles were not strong enough to contain the gas so they would often explode. Glass capable to contain the gas was very expensive, so it was reserved for luxurious liquids such as champagne. Cheaper drinks like ginger beer were contained in stoneware bottles. The torpedo shape would stop any air leaking as it prevented the bottle from being stood up, keeping the cork moist as a result of being in contact with the soda, so it wouldn’t shrink (something still done today with other drinks such as wine). Pouring the drink would also be easier and it would be better adapted for packing carriage. It did present advantages for the merchant and the consumer too as the consumer would have to finish the drink before putting down the bottle! The bottles were also easy to transport via boat on flat shelves with holes on them so they wouldn’t fall over when the ship moved.

1914 marks the end of the torpedo bottle era. They are no longer necessary as they are replaced by Malenstrone’s 1901 patent that allows normal shaped bottles to contain gas.

‘The Story of Lee and Green’ Exhibition is currently on display at Sleaford Museum.

The Story of Lee & Green

Find of the month March – a selection of finds chosen by our work experience student, Matt.

By Matt and Yvonne Rose (Archive Project Supervisor)

For February, just for a change, there’s a slight twist to “Find of the Month”. For the past three Thursdays the finds and archiving team has been joined by work experience student Matt. He’s been busy washing the usual assortment of pottery, tile and animal bone, so to make the days more interesting we’ve shown him an array of the more exciting finds from past excavations. We asked him to choose two of his favourite finds, along with a few other questions, so that we could find out a bit more about Matt and his interests. Here are the results:

How long have you been interested in archaeology?

Since I was around 7 years of age (10 years ago).

How did you become interested in archaeology?

I became interested in history by watching Time Team on the TV in my own time. It encouraged me to go outside and try it for myself. Ever since I started finding actual finds of importance I enjoyed it more and more, up to this day. Now I wish to continue further with a regular job in either archaeology or palaeontology.

What is your favourite period in history?

Probably Roman.

Which finds have you liked the most, and why?

The Roman face pot (nicknamed Marion) because it is a very nice pot from my favourite period in history. I would also like to do some research on it at some point in the future.

I like the Palaeolithic flint blade due to the fact that it is very old (around 10 000 years). I also like to think about the many different ways it could have been used. I love the history behind it.

Palaeolithic flint blade

The Roman face pot (Marion)

What would you like to find in the future?

A hoard of Roman coins or something gold!

We wish Matt well in his remaining weeks with us and hope he finds that gold one day!

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.

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

Find of the month: September – a Roman bangle

Roman glass bangle

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

Our find of the month for September is this spectacular fragment of glass bangle, found in the rather unremarkable setting of a ditch fill in North Lincolnshire.

This is a Kilbride Type 2, named after H. E. Kilbride-Jones who, in 1938, created a detailed typology of early Roman glass bangles. The Type 2 bangles are characterised by having from one to three narrow, twisted cables, generally blue and white, fused lengthwise onto a translucent core, most commonly ice-green or blue, but occasionally colourless. They are usually D-shaped or triangular in section. If it had been complete, our bangle would have had an internal diameter of approximately 60mm.

Bangles of all materials are most common in Britain during the 4th century. The major exception to this are the coloured glass bangles which, by contrast, appear to have been at the height of fashion in the earlier centuries of Roman occupation in Britain. Despite their relatively short lifespan, there are many examples of this type of bangle in the north of England, and even Scotland. Recent work has indicated that this type has been found on several sites north of the Humber in the former Parisi territory. It has been suggested that they may have been manufactured in Roman forts, using raw materials brought over from the continent, and this would explain the spread northwards.

There has been some debate about what precisely these glass rings were used for, and whether all of them were worn as arm or leg ornaments. It has been suggested that some of the broken fragments appear to have had a value as amulets of some sort, with an example found deposited with a cache of stones, fossils and other coloured glass objects in an empty burial cist in a prehistoric cairn at Cairnhill, Aberdeenshire. However, the most commonly accepted theory is that they were used as anklets, armlets, bracelets or possibly even for tying up hair.

Find of the month: August – a prehistoric bead

The shale bead

Yvonne Rose, Archives Supervisor

In 2015 we excavated a very wet site close to the Brayford Pool in Lincoln. One of the finds, which is due to head off to the museum very soon, is this lovely example of a shale bead. It was found during analysis of the samples which was a lucky catch!

The bead has broken down the middle, probably along a natural stress line. Shale is a type of sedimentary rock which is made up of layers and layers of compressed clay and other minerals such as quartz, and as a consequence it can easily laminate along these layers. XRF (X-ray fluorescence) was used to determine the material, as jet and shale can look quite similar. XRF uses X-rays to work out the elemental breakdown of the item; different elements react differently to x-rays and by seeing how the x-rays react, technicians can work out the elemental make up of an object.

The bead is a roughly oval shape with a hole in the centre which has most definitely been drilled. The shape of the hole suggests that it was drilled from both sides rather than straight through from one side. This bead would mostly likely have been one of many on a necklace or other form of strung jewellery. The bead itself doesn’t show any sign of hard wearing suggesting that it was a fairly new bead or necklace, or that it was only worn for special occasions.

This bead was quite difficult to date from its shape alone. Artefacts manufactured from materials such as shale, with its propensity to laminate especially as it dries out, tend not to survive the centuries. This results in an incomplete archaeological record of all the styles and construction methods used throughout the Neolithic and Bronze Age eras, meaning accurate comparison for dating purposes is not always possible. The closest beads in appearance to ours are from a shale and amber necklace from Balmashanner, Angus in eastern Scotland which date from around 800 BC. As you can see from the picture, there are broad similarities to our bead but it’s not quite the same style. From this comparison we can assign a broad date range for our bead to around 1000‒800 BC.

We can have a lovely specimen of a shale bead but without an extensive record collection to compare it, we can only guess to at its age. So keep digging and finding lots more shiny beads!