Romano-British Archaeology Dig

 

I had such an amazing day today, and I am SO excited to share it with you!  

Above left is a map of England. We are currently in East Anglia, (the part in yellow) which gets its name from the Anglo- Saxon Kingdom of the East Angles.   My history and art loving friends will remember the site of Sutton Hoo, where Raedwald, King of the East Angles, was buried in a fantastic hill-top ship burial, which eventually yielded amazing finds.  We're sort of close to there......and sort of close to the West Stow Anglo-Saxon site, and the 900-plus year old Norwich Cathedral,  and LOTS  of other history. (As a matter of fact my Dad has a neolithic flint here at the cottage right now which is prehistoric- THOUSANDS of years old!)  I love soaking in the history of this amazing island when I come home. 

Today we drove about an hour to the west to just north of Cambridge, the old university town, to a small village called Cotterham.  The first thing that struck Dad and I  as we approached the parish church (above right) was the unusual shape of the pinnacles.  I researched them when I got home and learned this:

The pinnacles form a very striking feature of the tower. Pinnacles are, of course, common on towers of this date (for example they were added to the tower of Great St Mary’s in Cambridge in about 1600), but the bulbous, ogee shape of these is very remarkable; Cole, the eighteenth century antiquary, compared them to pineapples and said of the tower that it was "the admiration of all the country thereabout". It has been suggested that they show Dutch influence; Dutchmen were active in the seventeenth century in East Anglia where they played a prominent part in the draining of the fens, but this explanation seems unlikely. They are not unlike the pinnacles on the four corners of King’s College Chapel in Cambridge.

 (http://www.allsaintscottenham.org.uk/all-saints-church/)

 We met up with the volunteers who run the Fen Edge Archaeology Group (FEAG). There was just Dad, Cameron, me and another man.  Krys and her friend drove us a mile or so down the country lane (with the best name ever- "Twenty-Pence Lane!") to the farm where the Romano-British dig is unfolding.  The owners of the land have discovered Roman coins and other artifacts on the site, but it is thought that it was not inhabited by Romans but by British peoples living in a quite simple trading site during the time of the Roman occupation of Britain. There is no sign of any occupation on the site since the Romans left Britain in the 4th century. The FEAG archaeologists were looking for a place to dig, and the land owners were quite happy to let them dig on the land which hadn't been plowed since the 1950's.  FEAG have dug on the site for the last two years, and already have started their trench for this year. Today was the first day of the British Festival of Archaeology which goes on for the next two weeks.

 

We walked through two fields with Paddy the farm collie happily joining us. As we approached I could see the orange protective fence that surrounds the trench.

The trench is very interesting as it intersects old ditches and waterways.  The archaeologists pointed out the different colors of soil which can indicate the presence of .....anything!.....artifacts, buildings, old ditches, modern plough marks, etc.   They have found pottery, coins, and bones.  If you look in the background of the photo above you can see the raised bank of an old waterway.  We walked along that bank and saw the Roman earthworks of the opposite field.  (Different land-owners, no digging, but a listed Monument site, so there is definitely something special there!)

 Above is an old aerial shot of the field next door which definitely shows evidence of some prior human occupation.

 Flint stones, meet the flint stones..........

 Richard, one of the senior guys there, took Cam and I  to a pit on the right side of the trench which contained all the earth from the trench that had not yet gone through the sieves.  He had said Cameron could look for something small to take with him, not realizing that *I* was the crazy one who was drooling with fascination and interest.   I spotted a fragmented piece of pottery on the heap and excitedly pointed it out.  Richard pounced on it and took it from me, (above) saying "OH WOW! This is great, oh no, you can't have this, this has got to stay here!"   He explained that it was a locally made piece of pottery, from no more than 20 miles away.  It is very plain,  but has two slight grooved lines that may show up more after we clean it.  He dropped it down on the heap again and I took a picture of it.

 We thanked Richard and said goodbye, then Krys then took us down the finds area, in the barns.  This is where the finds are washed and stored.  I was fascinated with the striations of the potsherds, and by the fact that very old snail shells were found from the same level of the trench!

 The trays all contain pieces from each individual area of the trench. They must stay separate so that if something further comes out of that area they know what level or area of the trench it came from.

 I absolutely love that the artists who created these simple pots for basic utilitarian purposes still took time to imbue them with some sense of decoration.  These are no status pots, they're simple storage and cooking pots for someone's supper- about 1600 years ago.  That piece at left- I ran my finger under the lip, imagining the potter doing that hundreds of years ago as he/she created the piece.

Since there is no evidence of habitation at this site after the 4th century- I wonder why these Romano-British people left?  I imagine they would have become Anglo-Saxon, taking on new habits, customs and building practices.  I imagine them just throwing these old pots away, or casting them aside without a care,  and certainly not wondering whether they would be found hundreds or thousands of years later. 

 Just touching something this old sets my imagination on fire. Who handled it?  Did some child complain about  having to do the washing up?  What was in this bowl?  How many meals did it serve as a silent witness to conversations about- what?  Weather? (Always a good topic of conversation here, since it changes every day!)   Supplies?  Building?  The Romans?  Who made it?  What was their name?  I know I am a romantic, and perhaps too fanciful at times, but it is the STORIES that I obsess about.

I remember having a conversation with my friend Lisa long ago.  We were talking about history's mysteries.  She said that she thinks she'll find out when she crosses through the Pearly Gates of heaven and all the mysteries of the universe are revealed to her!  "Oh, THAT'S how the pyramids were constructed.... oh THAT is why this happened, or that happened.... etc." 

The best part of the day was yet to come!  After we had been given a "tour" of the trench and the site,  before we headed down to the finds area with Krys,  I was talking to Richard about my students, and he asked me if I was still teaching.  When I responded yes, he looked thoughtful for a moment, then called Cameron over. He said "Cameron, run back to that heap by the end of the trench and get that big piece for your Mum!"  He handed it to me when Cameron came back and said "There you go, take that back for your students in America!"   I can't possibly convey to you how excited and awestruck I am.  I own a piece (a very small piece, but a piece nonetheless!) of Romano- British history!   I hope my students find it equally exciting.  (I contained myself until I got back in Dad's car then had to do a seated "happy dance!")

 Below, Cameron carefully cleans hundreds of years of dirt off a simple, ordinary potsherd that inspires not so simple and not so ordinary fanciful daydreams and conversations about history. 

 

 I told my Dad today that I wish time travel existed.  I want Dr. Who's phone box.  I would dial up the middle ages first, and visit a scriptorium where illuminated manuscripts were being constructed and then go listen to the monks singing Gregorian Chant.   Then- Anglo-Saxons times, just to watch the amazing Sutton Hoo ship burial ceremony.  Then Renaissance and artist studios.  Prehistoric cave paintings.  Vermeer, Van Gogh, Van Eyck.  Nazca lines in Peru.  There are so many mysteries I want to know about.  I feel a bit like Violet in Willy Wonka:  "I want to know NOOOOOOWWW!"  In the meantime however, I shall content myself with reading books, blogs and magazines, learning as much as I can, and traveling through time in my imagination.  Oh yeah, and visiting sites such as these whenever I can!

(When I pop off, you can all just laugh at me and imagine me being happy,  walking through the Pearly Gates, wide-eyed and slack-jawed with excitement, saying "ohhhhhhhhhh!!!!   I get it!")


http://www.feag.co.uk/sandy-grey-ware