TEESSCAPES Spring 2014 | Teesside Archaeological Society by Teesside Archaeological Society

Spring 2014

TEESSCAPES eMagazine of the Teesside Archaeological Society

YOU, ME AND DMANISI the exciting world of human evolution EDUCATION BEFORE HISTORY a national curriculum revolution REDCAR’S PREHISTORIC FOREST axe marks the spot?

 TAKE THE HERITAGE CRIME TEST!

ENGLISH HERITAGE eLearning for the Police

NEW EXHIBITION

STREET HOUSE before the Saxons

teesarchsoc.com UNCOVER THE HIDDEN HERITAGE OF NORTH EAST ENGLAND

SOCIETY NEWS

Gary Bankead’s fantastic stereo-vision March lecture with finds handling.

Members’ and Committee Update

Happy Easter! I hope you all had a restful and peaceful break—or managed to get out into our wonderful countryside. With the blink of an eye, our next 2014 lecture is just around the corner too. Newcastle University’s Chris Fowler will speak to the mysteries of dead folk from the early “bling” Bronze Age and your venerable Chair will endeavour to bring some splendid artefacts—an authentic replica beaker and food vessel, bronze axes and daggers, funerary accoutrements—and a sprinkling of typical flint tools from his teaching portfolio.

TAS PROGRAMME

Bulletin Update

All members should now have received their 2013 Bulletin. We apologise for the delays as we handed over Committee duties. If you were a 2013 member and have not received your Bulletin, you can collect a copy at our lectures, or email teesarchsoc.news@gmail.com Back copies are available in limited numbers and are being packaged up for a final sell-off before the summer break. More recent editions are being converted to electronic copy—available from our website soon.

Postal Mailing

TAS COMMITTEE OFFICERS | 2014-15 Chair

Spencer Carter*

Treasurer

Mick Butler *

Membership Secretary & Marketing

Ed Higgins

Secretary & Publicity

Dave Errickson

Fieldwork & Events

Bruce Webb-Ireland

Lecture Hospitality

Carole Tyson

Tees Archaeology & Community Liaison

Robin Daniels

OPEN POSITIONS TAS Bookstall | Bulletin Editor *Standing

down in January 2015 | Posts available for nomination.

Disclaimer | TAS makes every effort, in good faith, to provide accurate information about events, activities and news. However, The Society is not responsible for any errors, changes or omissions. Opinions expressed in TEESSCAPES or on Internet and social media platforms are not necessarily endorsed by the Committee of The Society.

A postal mailshot is planned for late April–early May. This will include a final reminder to members who have not renewed their subscription for 2014. As agreed at the January AGM, members who have not renewed will be required to pay for lecture attendance at £4 each time or apply for new membership at the full current rates—see our website. We also hope to include a synopsis of this Spring edition TEESSCAPES e-Magazine for members who are not registered by email. With increased postage costs, we urge as many members as possible to subscribe by email and follow the latest news on our website and social media outlets—Facebook is the main place for announcements and events.

TAS bookstall seeks owner We’re still looking for a volunteer to take over the bookstall—a significant revenue generator for the Society—from Jenny Parker. The bookstall operates by selling archaeological and historical books, donated by members, back to members and at regional events. The ideal volunteer will be a regular TAS Lecture attendee with their own transport (possibly a hand trolley), willing to price items keenly, keep records of sales and— most importantly—pass proceeds on to the Treasurer. Please contact us if you fit the bill!

Download as a PDF | http://teesarchsoc.com/tas-news/teesscapes/

TEESSCAPES | 3

Contents You, Me and Dmanisi | 04 The Exciting and Complicated World of Human Evolution David Mennear

Education Before History | 08 A National Curriculum Revolution Kim Biddulph

Redcar’s Prehistoric Forest | 14 Axe Marks the Spot? Spencer Carter

Street House Before the Saxons | 25 New Exhibition at Kirkleatham Museum Stephen Sherlock

#FlintFriday | 29 A weekly celebration of ancient flint things on Twitter

Take the HERITAGE CRIME Test! | 30 E-Learning Test designed for the Police by English Heritage

SITE NOTES | 31 Latest news about fieldwork, excavations and discoveries

BOOKSHELF | 35 Recommended new books and free online e-books to download

BROWSER | 36

The Committee welcomes your feedback, questions, suggestions and news. Why not write for TEESSCAPES?

Online links, resources and interesting places to browse on the Internet

TAS PROGRAMME | 37 Forthcoming TAS Lectures and events

TAS Membership Form | 39 Renew your subscription or apply for membership

Remember | eNews is free—spread the word about TAS!

TAS FEATURE

You, Me and Dmanisi The Exciting and Complicated World of Human Evolution by David Mennear Starting with the amazing Homo erectus site of Dmanisi, Georgia, this article provides a whistle stop tour of the advances made in the study in human evolution of the Homo genus in 2013.

An Unexpected Find in Georgia Not a lot of people would have heard of the small Georgian town of Dmanisi, a picturesque settlement with medieval ruins that is 93km south-west of the country’s capital Tbilisi, if it were not for the finding of five relatively complete Homo erectus skulls that could help rewrite the map of human evolution.

The five relatively complete Homo erectus individuals recovered from the Dmanisi site in Georgia. Credit: Ponce de León, Zollikofe/University of Zurich.

In a truly remarkable find the remains of the individuals, all found within a close proximity of each other in the past 13 years and dating from around 1.8 million years ago, suggest that there was greater anatomical variation in the Homo erectus species than

A hominin is an erect bipedal primate that includes modern humans, extinct ancestral and related species, such as Homo erectus. Homo is a genus of hominins, dating from 2.4 million years ago to the present day, which originated in Africa and eventually inhabited the majority of the planet. It is also the genus that gave rise to modern Homo sapiens around 200,000 years ago in eastern Africa.

BRITAIN | One Million Years of the Human Story at the Natural History Museum, London Until 28 September 2014 | Adults £9, Children and concession £4.50, Family £24, Free for children under 4

TEESSCAPES | 5 has previously been given credit for.[2] The implications of this for human evolution could mean that there were possibly only a few species in the entire early Homo genus at this critical time in human evolution than is currently described and documented in the fossil literature record.[5] The Dmanisi individuals are also unique in the fact that they are some of the earliest hominins found outside of Africa. In particular, it is the relatively complete skull of D4500, the one far right in the figure (left), which has captured the attention of researchers with the release of a new research paper by Lordkipanidze in October 2013.[2] Requiring eight years of preparatory analysis, the study of D4500, an adult male individual, and other individuals at the site, has highlighted the fact that there is greater morphological diversity between the Homo erectus specimens at Dmanisi than between most other recorded Homo hominins within this early period of human evolution. Some researchers believe that this site could prove the theory of a single lineage of species within the early Homo genus,[2] whilst others highlight that it is the unusually large amount of fossil individuals found at the Dmanisi site that bias the comparative study.[6]

Studying Fossil Hominins There are a few things to bear in mind when discussing the finding and studying of hominin fossils. When a palaeoanthropologist finds evidence for a fossil hominin on a palaeoanthropological site, the fossil individual under study is quite often isolated and preserved independently of other representatives of their population. It must also be remembered that fossil remains of Homo hominins are also relatively rare, especially of early Homo hominins, and that the processes that fossilised the individual can also warp the bones of the individual.[5] Once found, the excavation and preparation of the fossils is often undertaken by small secretive teams, with fossil access to other academics only permitted after the first raft of scientific articles have been published. This has quite often led to distinct fossil hominins being described and recorded independently as separate species in the

early Homo record when, strictly, this may not be the case.[1, 2, 4] Whilst debate about the importance of the skeletal anatomy of the Dmanisi hominins in the early Homo record continues, there were further surprises in store for hominin enthusiasts in 2013.

Ancient DNA: Knowing Me Knowing You? The ability to sample the bones of hominins for ancient DNA (aDNA) has dramatically improved within the past decade, and 2013 brought a slew of studies from various sites across Eurasia. Although the majority of these studies[1, 4] focused on Neandertal remains from the last 60,000 years or so, one study[3] managed to extract mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) from hominin remains that are dated to approximately 300,000 years ago. This is by far one of the oldest examples of viable aDNA being extracted from hominin remains. The cave site in Spain, named Sima de los Huesos (‘pit of bones’), is a remarkable 300,000 year old site where numerous bones of both animal and hominins have been found in a vertical shaft.[3] Although around 28 adult and juvenile individuals have been identified among the hominin remains at Sima de los Huesos, there is still doubt as to the classification of their species. Most researchers agree that they represent Homo heidelbergensis, a species likely ancestral to the Neandertals. The ancient mtDNA recovered from one hominin at the site indicated a genetic relationship to the recently discovered Denisovan hominin, a hominin found in the Altai mountains in Siberia.

A Hominin Rethink Whilst this caused some shock at the time, it must be remembered that populations of late Homo hominins have likely always interbred with other Homo species.[3, 4]

“late Homo hominins have likely always interbred with other Homo species”

With the very real wealth of recent aDNA studies we can now see that there is no straight line from species to species—the skeletal anatomy, archaeology and genetic information must all be used in conjunction in understanding evolutionary relationships between the hominins in Homo and their quite likely social relationships.

Rising Stars of South Africa A very special cave site was discovered in late 2013 in the Cradle of Humankind world heritage site near Krugersdorp, South Africa, by caving enthusiasts, revealing the fossilised remains of 12 hominin individuals. This was an unprecedented find in palaeoanthropology, even more so than the finding of the Dmanisi site in Georgia. Although it is currently unknown if the hominins were members of the Homo genus, the sheer amount of individual skeletal elements found (n=1200) will doubtless shed new light on the anatomy and physiology of the species uncovered and on human evolution in general. But it is also the way in which the site was excavated that was so important for advancing the Palaeoanthropology field in 2013. Directed by the University of the Witwatersrand palaeoanthropologist Lee Berger, in conjunction with the National Geographic Society, the Rising Star project has openly called for help in the excavation of the hominin haul. Using an internationally sourced team they documented

and recorded the site in a matter of weeks, although it is clear that there are more skeletal remains waiting to be uncovered in the 2014 excavation season. Recently, Berger has announced the call for palaeoanthropologists interested in studying and analysing the remains to apply for a position on the workshop team. The international call was something almost unheard of in studying new palaeoanthropological finds and it represents an important ‘open access’ shift towards the studying of human ancestral remains in a field noted for its conservatism in access to the studying of such material.

Homo sapiens: a View on the Past The remains of the medieval settlement of Dmanisi sit atop one of the world’s most important palaeoanthropological sites, but the physical relationship between the species of hominins in the Homo genus is still intensely debated, as the above discussion highlights.[4] As researchers and scientists document and study the fossil remains of our ancestors, we continually have to ask the question what does it mean exactly to be human? We are slowly realising the very real physical and behavioural dynamics and social interactions of our hominin forbearers. Our own species (Homo sapiens) is, as successful as we are, the only surviving species of the Homo genus left. We are now uniquely well placed to investigate the origin not only of our species but also of the whole range of hominins that came before us. To do this we must include every possible resource that can be mustered, whether it is studying the skeletal anatomy, ancient DNA or simply just allowing access to new finds to researchers all over the world. Whilst 2013 has been a pretty spectacular year in the study of human evolution, it is this year—2014—that promises to be even more astounding as we dig deeper into our hominin record to uncover the fascinating, and complicated, relationships between our ancestors.

“The international call was something almost unheard of…”

Indeed, closely following the Sima de los Huesos paper came the full genome sequencing of an Altai Neandertal. It was revealed that every hominin over the past 150,000 years or so (including Neandertals, Homo sapiens and the Denisovans) interbred with each other to some degree. It is important to understand the different ebb and flow of hominin populations across Eurasia and Africa, with groups consistently interacting, expanding and dying. This is particularly evident when studying the genetic and physical remains of hominins—the palaeoanthropologist must be aware that there is great genetic and morphological variability in past hominin groups, more than the purely physical remains would or could show,[1] even when that connection isn’t quite fully understood.[2, 4]

TEESSCAPES | 7 References 1. Hawks, J. 2012. Dynamics of Genetic and Morphological Variability within Neandertals. Journal of Anthropological Sciences 90, 81–87. 2. Lordkipanidze, D., Ponce de León, M.S., Margvelashvili, A., Rak, Y., Rightmire, G.P., Vekua, A. and Zollikofer, C.P.E. 2013. A Complete Skull from Dmanisi, Georgia, and the Evolutionary Biology of Early Homo. Science 342 (6156), 326–331. 3. Meyer, M. et al. 2014. A Mitochondrial Genome Sequence of a Hominin from Sima de los Huesos. Nature 505, 403–406. [doi:10.1038/nature12788]. 4. Prüfer, K. et al. 2013. The Complete Genome Sequence of a Neanderthal from the Altai Mountains. Nature 505, 43–49. 5. White, T. 2003. Early Hominids – Diveristy or Distortion? Science 299, 1994–1997. 6. Van Arsdale, A.P. 2013. The New (Wonderful) Dmanisi Skull. The Pleistocene: A.P. Van Arsdale Blog http://tinyurl.com/oqzpvwx

Acknowledgements Thank you to Spencer Carter for suggesting the topic of the article and appreciative thanks to Lorna Tilley (Australia National University) for reading through the article.

Map | Wikimedia Commons

About the Author David Mennear studied history and archaeology at the University of Hull before undertaking an MSc in human osteology and funeral archaeology at the University of Sheffield. Having volunteered for a number of archaeological units, he is currently looking to undertake further research in academia. His excellent blog focuses on human evolution, osteology, paleopathology and archaeology. He hosts guest articles and interviews practitioners across his varied research interests.

www.thesebonesofmine.wordpress.com

TAS FEATURE

Education Before History A National Curriculum Revolution by Kim Biddulph Teaching prehistory to seven year olds: the new history curriculum in England from September 2014.

‘If prehistory teaches us anything, it is that we must all learn to think in the long-term. One day, maybe in a few centuries' time, our survival, not just as a nation but as a species, could depend on it.’ Francis Pryor | Britain BC (2003), p439.

‘If children's nascent passion for the past is stifled... there is a real danger of society losing a sense of collective responsibility for its past and leaving it to the professional bureaucracy.’ Kate Pretty | in Communicating Archaeology (1999), p89.

Schools Prehistory provide lesson plans and support for teaching the prehistory element of the 2014 primary history curriculum at Key Stage 2. Need support teaching the Stone Age, Bronze Age and Iron Age? They can help. Check out the resources on their website, blog, and social media platforms.

Section of the new National Curriculum for Key Stage 2 history.

Strong words for unsettling times—they hold true even a decade or so on. Archaeological collections in museums are underfunded and understaffed, and many museums are refusing to take any more excavation archives. English Heritage's funding has been cut massively, leading to the loss of specialist archaeological expertise. But there are rays of hope. Commercial archaeology is, thankfully, getting back on its feet after the recession and there is more funding than ever for community archaeology. And, now, prehistory is explicitly part of the history National Curriculum (NC) in schools. Archaeologists have been campaigning for a long time to get archaeology into the school curriculum. One of the Council for British Archaeology's (CBA) original objectives when established in 1944 was ‘to obtain recognition of archaeology in education’ (Corbishley 1999, 72).

“I must admit to punching the air and shouting with glee! At long last…”

TEESSCAPES | 9 Standardised Skills When the National Curriculum was first introduced in 1988, it brought in a standardised set of knowledge and skills that all children across the country should learn in primary and early secondary school. The advantage is that it provided an agreed set of ideas about what was important for our children to know, which at Key Stage 2 included study of the Romans, Saxons or Vikings. The disadvantage is that gifted teachers had less opportunity to be creative about what they taught. The history working group which prepared the history element of the curriculum didn't contain any archaeologists, despite the CBA publishing its own archaeology curriculum for schools (Corbishley 1999, 73). One area of leeway in the history curriculum was in the local history study, in which children could do an indepth study of an aspect of the history of their local area. Later changes to the curriculum at least brought a commitment to using sources other than written and pictorial, and to understand that there are different interpretations of the past.

A Past Without Prehistory? The prehistoric past didn't often feature in this study, though some schools in Wiltshire probably touched on it. Some schools followed the nonstatutory guidance for a study of a ‘European turning point pre-1914’ to study the Neolithic revolution. Many, if not most, schools introduced children to the ‘Celts’ as the people who were here before the Romans. There also used to be archaeology 'A' Levels and GCSE courses, but these have been sadly cut by examination boards in the past few years. All this is about to change because from September this year all schools in England will be expected to teach an aspect of prehistory from the Stone Age to the Iron Age and they'll have no other option but to use archaeology. There was an outcry about the earlier drafts of the new curriculum, which had Year 2 children (six year olds) starting with the Stone Age and Year 6 children arriving in 1707 at the Act of Union . There were misgivings by many teachers and educators on the chronological thrust of the curriculum, and the amount to teach. These

quotes are anonymous musings of museum educators from the Group for Education in Museums mailing list and teachers from the Twitter hashtag #ukedchat archive session 139: http://www.scribd.com/doc/126637830/ArchiveSession-139

‘I'm passionate about history, but don't think I can do justice to so big a range.’ ‘I do wonder what learning theory supports a belief that starting with prehistory and working through will help develop chronological understanding?’ ‘Perhaps the main issue we should concentrate on in our response are the importance of starting children off from the local and tangible (the current local history element) and certainly not from prehistory—the most remote stretch of history which museums and heritage organisations find most challenging to bring to life.’ ‘My fear with a very chronological fact-based approach is that teachers will end up falling back on rote learning—how else are they going to get time to teach all this?’ ‘If we must be sequential with history how about in reverse, youngest children dealing with the most recent history?’ But some were happy with the framework:

‘Firstly, I must admit to punching the air and shouting with glee! At long last, after spending 17 years at the CBA arguing with government that prehistory should be part of the curriculum, as soon as I leave and have no voice in it, the government makes prehistory a statutory part of the history curriculum. Perhaps I should have kept quiet all these years!’ Don Henson | from his blog NowThenUK http://nowthenuk.wordpress.com/2013/02/08/ new-national-curriculum-in-england/

“I'm passionate about history, but don't think I can do justice to so big a range…”

10 In the final draft of the curriculum, studying prehistory has been pushed back a year to Year 3 and Key Stage 2 finishes at 1066, which seems to have been better received. Is seven years old the best time to understand prehistory? Will seven year olds understand the time-scales involved? Well, probably. Many children will already have seen depictions of cavemen in picture books and on television (including CBeebies), and so will have some context of a certain view of the remote past from a young age. Luckily we have an opportunity to modify this view which, while amusing, is misleading (image, bottom right).

The biggest challenge, however, is enthusing teachers about it. They are faced with a number of other changes next year, not just a completely new curriculum in all subjects, but also new assessment methods, new observation targets and new Ofsted processes. The teaching of the prehistory element of the history curriculum is the least of their worries. One school is very pragmatically planning to teach prehistory within the existing Ancient Egypt topic by comparing Silbury Hill to the pyramids (Dr Matthew Pope, pers. comm.). Schools Prehistory undertook a small online survey of teachers (only 38 respondents) in the autumn of last year. Just over half were from the south-east, and just over a quarter from the north. Given such a small survey it was interesting to see four archaeology graduates now teaching in primary schools. This suggests that the self-selecting bunch may have been slightly biased.

Photo credit Hans S CC-BY-ND.

Challenges

Despite some of the teachers being quite confident about teaching prehistory to mainly Years 3 and 4 (ages seven to eight), though not the archaeology graduates funnily enough, they all wanted a great deal of support. They wanted to know an outline of the prehistory of Britain. They wanted to know how archaeology works and how to read objects. And they all wanted to know about their local prehistory.

There are many challenges, not least the fact that free schools and academies have no obligation to follow the curriculum. There is also the wording of the non-statutory guidance on the new curriculum framework. The typo in reference to Late Neolithic instead of Mesolithic hunter-gatherers is worrying, as is the description of Stonehenge as a Bronze Age monument. There is also the marked lack of support from the government in teaching this period, which amounts to nearly one million years of human presence in what is now the British Isles. Added to that the refusal of many teacher training colleges to take on archaeology graduates for the past couple of decades (as they weren't qualified in any NC subject) and you're faced with a majority of teachers who know very little about this subject.

“…you're faced with a majority of teachers who know very little about this subject.”

TEESSCAPES | 11 Teacher Support In terms of the type of support, teachers felt they needed workshops to be run in their local museums, sets of replica objects to use in the classroom, and downloadable information tailored for them, perhaps with supporting lesson plans. Here at Schools Prehistory we are developing some of these resources for teachers. This is a real opportunity for archaeologists, museums and craftspeople to help teachers. All those prehistory collections can now be brought out for children. Children can wonder at microliths and flesh hooks and torcs. Professional, amateur and university archaeologists can visit schools or, better, take classes out to see the archaeology under their feet. Potters and flint knappers and costumiers have a whole new market to exploit! What I think is key for enthusing teachers and pupils about prehistory is highlighting the local. I'm from Calverley in Leeds originally and in researching the prehistoric remains around a friend's school in Shipley I stumbled across The Northern Antiquarian's website. On it I found reference to rock art and a lost stone circle in Calverley Woods, where I spent most of my adolescence. I had never known it was there and I aim to go back and find it next time I'm visiting family. It has excited me, like no find of Mesolithic precedents to Stonehenge could, and I'm sure it will excite Calverley children too.

‘Remember, things that we take for granted, like a handful of waste flakes or some scraps of animal bone from off the site spoil heap, could fire a child’s imagination.’ Francis Pryor | from his blog In the Long Run, 30 November 2013 | http://tinyurl.com/kgkhlbp

‘Archaeology [can be] used as the primary educational tool in exciting and involving children in their local heritage and cultural issues.’ Jody Steele and Timothy Owen | Teaching the next generation – Archaeology for Children, Antiquity 77 (297), 2003.

Schools Prehistory's teacher booklets. Whatever happened to that public love of prehistory, as described by Glyn Daniels in 1962? Was it, perhaps, stifled by the curriculum that started Britain's past at the Roman invasion? By teaching children about the more remote past maybe it'll rekindle that British love of prehistory, and with it archaeology too. With any luck the Young Archaeologists’ Club (YAC) may get a bit of an influx of interested children. The Young Archaeologists’ Club was established in 1972 as Young Rescue to cater to children's interest in archaeology in an increasingly professionalised

‘It is abundantly clear that prehistory is popular at present, that the public likes prehistory, wants prehistory, and often prefers prehistoric archaeology to many other subjects.’ Glyn Daniel | The Idea of Prehistory (1962), p150.

“Potters and flint knappers and costumiers have a whole new market to exploit!”

12 and high-risk digging environment. At first run by a committee of volunteers, it was later taken over by the CBA (Pretty 1999, 87-8). Recent funding cutbacks have led to a campaign to save the national groups and the branches. I've been coleading a YAC branch in Aylesbury for about five years now and though we have about 15 to 20 children that turn up every month, we know there must be a whole lot more interested kids who have never heard of it. When I ran a summer dig for primary children in Camden, I know none of them had heard of YAC and all of them loved doing archaeology.

Aylesbury Young Archaeologists’ Club surveying an Iron Age hillfort on Pulpit Hill in the Chilterns.

Learn more about the Young Archaeologists’ Club:

http://www.yac-uk.org/

Photo credit Hans S CC-BY-ND.

We at Schools Prehistory were delighted when the eminent archaeologist, broadcaster, farmer and author Francis Pryor expressed an interest in our plans. He very kindly not only wrote for our blog but also checked our information booklets for accuracy. Although Schools Prehistory is charging for the services and resources we provide, we're also running a blog to share free resources, places where schools can visit, either museums or accessible prehistoric remains, and we'd like to invite you to read, comment and maybe even write for us, if you're as passionate about teaching prehistory to seven year olds as we are.

Schools Prehistory online resources. Many are free to access.

“…we're also running a blog to share resources, places where schools can visit…”

TEESSCAPES | 13 References Corbishley, M. 1999. The National Curriculum: Help or hindrance to the introduction of archaeology in schools? In J. Beavis and A. Hunt (eds.) Communicating Archaeology. Bournemouth University School of Conservation Sciences Occasional Paper 4. Oxford: Oxbow Books, 71–78. Daniel, G. 1962. The Idea of Prehistory. Middlesex: Penguin Books. Pretty, K. 1999. Child's play: archaeology out of school. In J. Beavis and A. Hunt (eds.) Communicating Archaeology. Bournemouth University School of Conservation Sciences Occasional Paper 4. Oxford: Oxbow Books, 87–89. Pryor, F. 2003. Britain BC. London: Harper Perennial. Steele, J. and Owen, O. 2003. Teaching the next generation – Archaeology for Children. Antiquity 77 (297). http://antiquity.ac.uk/projgall/owen/owen.html

About the Author Email | kim@schoolsprehistory.co.uk Web | www.schoolsprehistory.co.uk Twitter | @schprehistory Facebook | /schoolsprehistory

Schools Prehistory was set up in 2013 by a group of archaeologists and educators to help teachers and heritage educators get ready for the prehistory element of the new primary history curriculum at Key Stage 2 in England. They are available for consultancy, to run training or workshops in schools and museums. They also sell information booklets designed for the nonspecialist on their website—more lesson plans and supporting resources will be coming soon. They are also developing good quality replica object-handling boxes for sale. Keep up to date with what’s happening on their blog.

Primary History 66: The Stone Age to the Iron Age | Spring 2014 Free PDF download http://tinyurl.com/p2b4gdl 05 The National Curriculum For History From September 2014: The View From Ofsted | Michael Maddison HMI 08 HA Primary News 09 Ideas for Assemblies | Polly Tucknott and Helen Maddison 10 Early years foundation stage | Hilary Cooper 12 Curriculum planning: How to write a new scheme of work for history | Hilary Pegum and Steve Davy

Kim Biddulph trained as an archaeologist with a prehistory specialism at the University of Nottingham and the Institute of Archaeology UCL, before moving into heritage and museum education. She has written resources for schools for the London Boroughs of Bromley and Camden, Buckinghamshire County Council, St Albans Arts, the V&A, National Portrait Gallery, Imperial War Museum and the Royal Armouries. She has taught at schools in Buckinghamshire and London as an external educator leading archaeology, architecture and history of science projects. She teaches in historic houses and museums, including Iron Age and Mesolithic workshops at the Chiltern Open Air Museum in Buckinghamshire.

18 The coordinator's role and the 2014 national curriculum for history | Tim Lomas 20 Stone Age To Iron Age - Overview And Depth | Francis Pryor, Hilary Morris and Wessex Archaeology 32 Churches as a local historical source | Hilary Cooper 34 The Great Fire of London | Karin Doull 43 Using the back cover image: Windmill Hill - A Visual Image Of A Prehistoric Scene | Bev Forrest, Jon Nichol and Dave Weldrake

www.schoolsprehistory.co.uk/blog

TAS SITE NOTES

Redcar’s Prehistoric Forest Axe Marks the Spot?

A fuller report has been submitted to the Historic Environment Records (HER) at Redcar & Cleveland Borough Council.

by Spencer Carter Introduction North Tees | Hartlepool Bay Hartlepool and Seaton Carew Submerged forests and intertidal peat beds have long been known and explored, notably by Trechmann (see Waughman 2005) in the first half of the last century, to the north of the Tees

estuary around Seaton Carew. The beaches to the south of Hartlepool headland reveal broad tracts of peat at times of exceptional low tides and low sand coverage. Watching briefs, associated palaeo-environmental sampling and excavation during coastal protection works post-1995 have further added to the record (Waughman 2005). A number of intertidal areas are now designated as SSSIs. Table 1 provides

“At least one storm surge event is attested…”

TEESSCAPES | 15 a chronological summary of dated archaeological and palaeo-environmental findings, including marine transgressions and storm events.

Palaeolandscape The early Holocene (post-glacial) record is not preserved in the intertidal zone but may exist farther offshore. Three water channels, two of which are palaeochannels, seem to have attracted transient Late Mesolithic hunter gatherers from time to time with increasing evidence in pollen records for woodland/fenland clearances. Throughout the mid- to late Holocene, sea levels fluctuated resulting in a complex changing environment, vegetation cover and faunal presence in landscape that always seemed to be reasonably close to the sea through the Late Mesolithic. Evidence from sediments, pollen cores and diatoms indicate the presence of woodland/forest, fenland and saltmarsh conditions at various stages, interspersed with marine transgressions. At least one storm surge event is attested and may have precipitated or accelerated the eventual silting of the palaeochannels and sufficient environmental changes to influence human behaviour. Charcoal and burning events, in the context of disturbances in the local pollen record, may suggest degrees of management as has been suggested for the North York Moors and elsewhere. There is a switch from Quercus sp (oak) to Betula (birch) dominance around 7208±49 BP (6210-5920 cal BC at 95% probability, Wk-13596) which may be of interest in considering the apparent Betula dominance (macro remains) at Redcar. The Elm (and Lime) decline is well evidenced from an early date, as well as the appearance of grasses and open taxa later in the Neolithic in a coastal catchment where resource gathering and pastoral activities perhaps endured longer than in other ecotones.

indicating a ready supply of raw material. While Late Mesolithic tool forms and debitage (cores) are present, the absence of more diagnostic pieces—blades and microliths in particular— suggests a picture of raw material selection, testing and removal for further working elsewhere in the landscape. It is in the very Late Mesolithic and Early Neolithic, a largely indiscernible transition, that a wattle construction (possibly part of a fish weir, and also possibly displaced by storm activity) and stake configurations enter the record, with stakes extending, by radiocarbon AMS dating, into the early Bronze Age. Neolithic lithic evidence is similarly scanty, if difficult to discern from Late and so-called Terminal Mesolithic technologies in this location— perhaps significantly. However, isolated finds of axe sharpening flakes and two axes of Langdale Tuff and Borrowdale Volcanic Series raw materials are present and, since evidence of extensive woodland clearance does not appear until the Bronze Age, are suggested as possible votive depositions. A single human skeleton, with associated flints, is interpreted as a Neolithic bog burial and dates to the time that the palaeochannels became more terrestrial. Pottery is an exceptional occurrence with only sherds from a single pot, itself possibly a ritual deposition in a fresh water pool. The earlier Bronze Age brings more secure evidence for pastoral activity involving cattle and pig and commensurate woodland clearances on a greater scale. Cereal and associated weed pollen appears late in the regional sequence. The later Bronze Age sees a reduction in the range and quantity of material recorded, likely related to the increasing wetness and habitat change, but with pollen and charcoal evidence for increasing areas of managed pasture and fen-edge marsh.

Archaeological Record

Faunal Evidence

The presence of Early Mesolithic lithics can be called into question, more so in light of the general lack of diagnostic artefacts throughout the Mesolithic and Neolithic. The evidence suggests expedient flint usage from local till and beach sources, with an array of informal tools

Chance finds of animal bones and antlers are numerous but usually out of context, the result of tidal scouring and erosion. Footprints (none human) infrequently occur, with adult red deer, juvenile elk and small/immature cattle but without discernible trails. A concentrated area of hoof prints was noted in a Bronze Age context.

Table 1 | Summary of archaeological, faunal, palaeo-environmental and marine evidence from Hartlepool Bay investigations with radiocarbon dates BP at 1Ď&#x192; (68% confidence) and calibrated dates BC to 2Ď&#x192; (95%). Extrapolated from Waughman 2005 passim & Appendix 3.

TEESSCAPES | 17 South Tees | Redcar in Cleveland The peat beds at Redcar are not as extensive, well-known or studied as those around Hartlepool Bay. They are only infrequently exposed (Fig. 1) for varying periods with those closest to the sea wall suffering from mechanical scouring and raking. The present exposure endured through much of the summer of 2013 and was frequently visited by Stephen Sherlock, and accompanied by the author on 31 July (Fig. 2). Each tide was noted to alter the surface topography to varying degrees with significant surface change between periodic exposures over longer cycles with notable fragmentation, including exposure and separation of clay blocks from beneath the peat at the margins of the peat bed area.

Archaeological Evidence Prehistoric archaeological finds are largely absent from the peat beds and neighbouring coastline. Redcar seafront has been artificially constructed (from the late 19th century and reinforced more recently). Extensive dunes exist to the north-west at Coatham towards South Gare, and to the east towards Marske and Saltburn where the high cliffs of Jurassic mudstones and shale then rise towards Huntcliff. Chance finds at Redcar and Coatham include a purported stone axe from the peat beds area, undiagnostic flints and a human skull fragment of Neolithic date from Coatham beach, perhaps the remains of a burial in or under the dune system—a phenomenon known at Crimdon Dene and along the Northumbrian coastline (e.g. Low Hauxley and Howick). See appendix for HER records*.

Summary of Observations 31 July 2013 The following observations result from a 45 minute inspection of the peat beds at low tide between 17:15 and 18:00 in bright, cloudy conditions. *HER records for Redcar and Cleveland are no longer accessible through nor maintained by Tees Archaeology (local authority shared unit) subsequent to funding cuts by Redcar & Cleveland and Middlesbrough borough councils in 2012-13.

 The peat beds seem to be dominated by Betula trunks (fallen), stumps and root bowls in situ, branches and twigs. Trunk segments are generally between 10 and 20cm diameter, some occasionally larger.  The peat surface is firm and compressed but soft enough to scratch (e.g. dog claws, see Fig. 4) with some evidence of mechanical scoring as straight cuts or parallel 'rake' marks in some areas (see Fig. 6).  Wood varies in condition from segments that retain bark (Fig. 3) to degraded and decomposing fragments of soft material. Larger fragments are relatively firm but spongy to touch. Smaller fragments and branches are extremely soft and friable with little or no internal strength.  Dense grey clay (marine or glacial till/lacustrine) is occasionally evident in pools and at the edge margins of the peat (Fig. 7), especially to the east. There are no visible inclusions although they may, as at Hartlepool, occasionally exist.  The palaeo-vegetation coverage seems to be relatively dense over the exposed area.  No human footprints were visible.  No animal or bird prints were visible except for one isolated pair of depressions that had an appearance of a single cloven hoof, if rather widely spaced (not photographed). The collective opinion of those present was that it was unlikely to be a print.  There were no lithics, no charcoal nor any visible macroscopic evidence for burning.

18 Fig. 1 | Location with SMR (HER) records

Fig. 2 | Photograph taken at low tide. Sand covering and surface topography are extremely variable. The peat surface is firm but easily marked by sharp objects (e.g. dog claws). Betula stumps, timbers, branches, twigs and bark are frequent.

TEESSCAPES | 19 Positive Evidence?  One stump and shaft in particular was noted in that the shoot and branch terminations all displayed ‘straight’ terminations and a possible coppice stool (Fig. 4).  A long, narrow ‘rod’ could be seen lying beneath a trunk and was devoid of bark (Fig. 5).  The same trunk had an indented segment and possible cut marks within that area (Fig. 6). These were parallel, slightly curved in profile, blunt/rounded, and appeared to have been struck at a downward angle (when the trunk was upright). They were noticeably different to more recent damage and areas of decomposition. No similar marks were found on other trunks in the immediate vicinity. Comparative pictures are included in Figs 8 and 9 for both animal damage (bear and beaver), experimental chopping (UCD Dublin), managed coppice, natural tree fall and notes from extensive experimental work conducted by John Coles (Coles & Coles 1986) at the Sweet Track, Glastonbury, in the 1970s-80s. Similar experimental work referenced in Oxford Archaeology North’s report on Stainton West, Carlisle (Brown 2011) will be followed up.

Human Interventions? Do these finds provide evidence for human interventions?

 Coppicing (basal cropping) or copparding (elevated cropping)? Beaver activity is plausible too—inter-human and beaver exploitation is not without precedence (F. Pryor pers comm.).  Stone axe marks (unfinished felling)?  Is the ‘rod’ the result of coppice growth or otherwise modified? Unfortunately it was too fragile to inspect any more closely and lay beneath the larger trunk.

References Brown, F. 2011. Stainton West, (Parcel 27) CNDR, Cumbria: Post-excavation Assessment. (Wood: pp 913). Lancaster: Oxford Archaeology North unpublished report. http://tinyurl.com/ll98zps Coles, B. & Coles, J. 1986. Sweet Track to Glastonbury. The Somerset Levels in Prehistory. London: Thames & Hudson. Waughman, M. 2005. Archaeology and Environment of Submerged Landscapes in Hartlepool Bay, England. Hartlepool: Tees Archaeology Monograph Vol 2.

Missing Axe Does anybody know Mr. A. Johnson who, whilst walking his dog in 1986, found a Neolithic stone axe head on Redcar beach? He also mentioned an ‘interesting jaw’. The finds were reported to the Dorman Museum but there whereabouts are now unknown.

Acknowledgements Thanks are extended to Francis Pryor and Maisie Taylor for commenting on this document and the images (September 2013). The peat beds are presently re-covered with sand and are not available for inspection.

Evening Gazette | 15/03/1986

‘Treasure among the deadwood’. MORE IMAGES AND APPENDIX

Fig. 3 | Betula trunk, branches and twigs.

Fig. 4 | Betula with straight trunk and base shoot terminations from a possible coppice stool.

TEESSCAPES | 21

Fig. 5 | Betula rod without bark underlying a tree trunk.

Fig. 6 | Betula trunk with possible stone axe marks. The marks are angled downwards (towards the left in picture) and slightly concave in profile (e.g. no. 3).

22 Experimental Woodworking Sweet Track, Glastonbury, Somerset Coles & Coles (1986)

‘Felling of alder, hazel and birch trees was easy with most of the [stone and bronze] axes, although stone axes tended to bounce off the fibrous birchwood in particular, rather than making a clean cut. The stone axes were much thicker than the bronze axes, and it was necessary to chop a wide notch into the trees as otherwise the blade jammed.’ (p. 110).

‘Stone axes tend to leave slightly dished facets if the latter are viewed across their width.’ (p. 111).

‘The angle at which the blade entered and left the wood varies according to whether it was stone or metal. Axemen of the Neolithic knew their tools well, and knew their blades were rarely sharp enough, and that most were too fat to try to make very long, shallow-angled facets on a piece of roundwood. Instead they would chop at a steeper angle, to form a sharp but thick point.’

Fig. 7 | Block of clay underlying the peat beds. Scale: 15cm.

(p. 111).

Coles, B. & Coles, J. 1986. Sweet Track to Glastonbury. The Somerset Levels in Prehistory. London: Thames & Hudson.

Comparative images

Fig. 8a and 8b | Coppiced woodland. CC BY 2.0 Dominic Alves.

TEESSCAPES | 23

Fig. 8c | Coppiced woodland during rod removal.

Fig. 8d | Tree felled with stone axe.

Courtesy of Aidan Oâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;Sullivan, University College Dublin.

Fig. 9a | Natural splintering. CC BY 2.0 Mike Pepler.

Anthropogenic and natural agency

24 SMR/HER records courtesy of Redcar & Cleveland Borough Council Planning Department [23/08/2013] SMR 248 | NZ 460000 525630 | Axe head

SMR 4869 | NZ 460270 525380 | Lithic Scatter

In March 1986 the Evening Gazette reported on the find of an ancient axe head from Redcar's Submerged Forest. The find had been made by Mr. A. Johnson whilst walking his dog. He also mentioned an ‘interesting jaw’. The finds were reported to the Dorman Museum.

A small assemblage of four flints was found at Redcar Submerged Forest (SMR 1263) in 1996 by Mags Waughman. The flints were from a pale grey-brown silty clay between the peat and the weathered boulder clay, approximately 50-125 metres out from Leo's Public House on Newcomen Terrace. The flints are all stained black, which is a typical feature of material from Hartlepool's Submerged Forest, several miles north. The flints are undiagnostic and consist of two flakes, a piece of angular debitage and a small tested pebble (flint identification by Peter Rowe).

No further information is currently available on the material, date, find spot or whereabouts of the axe head. Evening Gazette. 15/03/1986. ‘Treasure among the deadwood’. SMR 1263 | NZ 460400 525480 | Submarine Forest Peaty deposits were first reported at Redcar by a correspondent to The Redcar and Saltburn-by-the-Sea Gazette in 1871 (Ref. 1) who described ‘two very small patches…to the east of Redcar, nearly opposite the flagstaff which stands on the west end of the battery, and is distant from the latter place about four hundred paces, a little north of east’. This was followed up by an article the next week (Ref. 2) saying ‘that from time to time, near the same place, and by the side of what is locally known as the first “water race”, the existence of a buried forest has been recognized’. Peat was also reported ‘on the east side of Redcar’ by the Rev. Tute in 1883 (Ref. 3). The deposits were more fully described in 1902 by Mr. Henry Simpson (Ref. 4). The remains were noted ‘close to the east end of West Scar Rocks, immediately in a line with West Terrace, and also not far from the West end of the same rocks, almost opposite to the Convalescent Home’ and were usually only visible for short periods, after which they were covered with sands. Simpson noted that the peat was often dug out and dried for fuel and observed that it contained 'large portions of trees, chiefly oaks and firs, and they included trunks as well as branches, but seldom roots. Hazel nuts, acorns and decayed leaves were plentiful, apparently well preserved. Antlers of the red deer and tusks of the wild boar were found. Small unworked flint noted by S. Sherlock 1986.

SMR 351 | NZ 461700 524480 | Animal Remains Identified by Miss J.E. King, British Museum (Natural History). Found on beach opposite Hawthorne Road, Redcar in 1954.

Fig. 9c | Beaver-knawed wood.

References 1. 2. 3. 4.

The Redcar and Saltburn-by-the-Sea Gazette, Friday September 22, 1871. The Redcar and Saltburn-by-the-Sea Gazette, Friday September 29, 1871. Tute, J.S. 1883. Some indications of a raised beach at Redcar. Proc. Yorks. Geological Soc. 8 (p. 220). Simpson, H.S. 1904. Note on the Submerged Forest and Peat Beds at Redcar. Proc. Cleveland Naturalists Field Club 5 for 1902 (p. 274–275).

Fig. 9b | Bear claw marks.

Carlisle Northern Development Route (CNDR)

http://cndr.thehumanjourney.net

TEESSCAPES | 25

Street House Before The Saxons NEW EXHIBITION Kirkleatham Museum From 1 July 2014 for one year

This is an exhibition that chronicles the archaeology of Redcar & Cleveland through the excavations that have been undertaken at Street House near Loftus between 1979 and 2013. Whilst many people will have heard about the Royal Anglo-Saxon cemetery that was excavated 2005–2007 there is much more to this area north of Loftus than the Saxon treasure. The exhibition which formally opens on 1st July 2014 is the prelude to the award winning ‘Saxon Princess’ exhibition, but also sets the scene for much of the archaeology of East Cleveland. Commencing with the excavations by Blaise Vyner between 1979 and 1986, the display has panels and finds from the Neolithic and Bronze Age sites that were initially excavated at Street House. Since 2004 the excavations were led by Steve Sherlock, assisted by members of Teesside Archaeological Society, local students and residents from the area. This element of work has augmented the early discoveries with further Neolithic and Bronze Age sites, as well as unearthing substantial Iron Age and RomanoBritish sites and finds.

The exhibition will have a selection of the many finds from the ten seasons of excavations between 2004 and 2003 including intricate pieces of locally carved jet, pottery—some of which was made on site—decorated prehistoric rocks, worked stone, glass, flints and metal objects. One of the themes of the exhibition is that Street House was important as a location for people to live, work and farm for over 4,000 years with objects made on site and traded across a wide area. The culmination of the exhibition will display Roman finds from Street House , complemented by the loan of other Roman artefacts from across the region. Site of timber circle excavated at Street House in 2011.

“There is much more to this area north of Loftus than the Saxon treasure.”

Excavation of Iron Age house no. 3 in 2005. In total, 15 circular structures of Iron Age date were unearthed and there is evidence for both jet working and the manufacture of salt. It is clear that the settlement developed over time with a number of houses of 5mâ&#x20AC;&#x201C;6m diameter on the edge or outside the enclosure. When dated these proved to be later in the chronological sequence.

Iron Age round structures excavated in 2010.

Iron Age Farmers The excavations in 2004 were focused on understanding the extent of an Iron Age settlement that was suggested by aerial photography and the provisional interpretation of finds from the site. In 2005 a large area was excavated to reveal four circular structures that proved to be Iron Age roundhouses and the first of the many (109) Anglo-Saxon graves.

Salt and Jet In further years much of the Iron Age enclosure was excavated and the agricultural evidence was gained from plant macro-fossils to suggest spelt wheat and barley were grown from 200 BC, but no animal bone survived due to the acidity of the soil. Saltworking hearth no. 1 under excavation in 2006.

TEESSCAPES | 27

Building no. 2, a rectangular stone structure excavated in 2012 (outlined by ranging rods). The black line is a modern drainage pipe.

A lathe-turned jet spindle whorl and jet beads found in 2013.

Building no. 3 (left of centre) was an irregular â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;horse shoeâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; shaped structure with an entrance at the south, for which there are parallels in East Yorkshire.

An early prehistoric saddle quern and rubbing stone re-used as building material in the Roman period.

Rectangular Romano-Britons The evidence for the Romano-British period was found during excavations in 2008 and 2012–13 when a total of five Romano-British buildings were excavated. The structures are all different from the Iron Age roundhouses—they were constructed from stone and, with the exception of building no. 3, were rectangular in shape. It is apparent that industrial activity was important at the site throughout the Roman period, with evidence found so far indicating that cereal cultivation, jet manufacture, saltworking and the small scale manufacture of pottery was occurring at different times between the 1st and 4th centuries AD. This activity and trade would support the evidence that Frank Elgee proposed, namely that Cleveland Street, a metalled road that passes the southern end of the field, was a roman road linking signal station sites along the coast. Images © S. Sherlock.

The Street House Before The Saxons exhibition opens July 1st at Kirkleatham Museum, Redcar. The museum is open Tue–Sun 10am to 5pm through the Summer (closed Mon except Bank Holidays) and with shorter hours in the Winter.

Roman pottery from Building no.2 found in the 2013 excavations.

TEESSCAPES | 29

#FlintFriday

A little small talk Lunatic

Leading edge

Love triangles

Your point is?

Rod for my own back

If you’re a Twitterer and ‘into’ archaeological lithics and flint, why not join the weekly #FlintFriday celebration of beautiful flint—as well as good fieldwork, recording, curation and sharing? Do you have a favourite in your local museum or archive? ∇

Good practice ∇ Please always ask permission to take photographs, and a scale is useful! Always report finds to the landowner (who remains the legal owner), the Portable Antiquities Scheme (PAS) and Historic Environment Record (HER) or seek advice. ∇ Remember | if an artefact isn’t accurately recorded, it’s lost its context and much of its meaning for everybody else.

http://teesarchsoc.com/contact/useful-links/

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HERITAGE CRIME TEST! HERITAGE CRIME is an increasing problem—metal and stone theft, vandalism, graffiti, arson. But the fight back is underway with increased public awareness, police training and vigilance across all heritage organisations.

Rothbury, Northumberland 2014

eLearning Test Designed for police officers, community support officers and special constables. War Memorial metal theft scenarios with outcomes that depend on your choices.

http://tinyurl.com/qxh8o5z www.english-heritage.org.uk/professional/advice/advice-by-topic/heritage-crime/

Report a crime ∇ Report a crime, telephone the police immediately on 999 if a crime is taking place which may be damaging a historic building or site. If damage has already been caused, please use 101 to advise them of this. Heritage crime is "any offence which harms the value of England's heritage assets and their settings to this and future generations". Heritage assets are sites which are considered to have a value to the heritage of England and include: Listed buildings Scheduled monuments World Heritage Sites Protected marine wreck sites Conservation areas Registered parks and gardens Registered battlefields Protected military remains of aircraft and vessels of historic interest  Undesignated but acknowledged heritage buildings and sites        

∇ Some of these heritage assets are protected by specific criminal offences to prevent harm caused by damage and unlicensed alteration. However, other crimes such as theft, criminal damage, arson and antisocial behaviour offences can also damage and harm heritage assets and interfere with the public's enjoyment and knowledge of them.

www.cleveland.police.uk/advice-information/14394.aspx

TEESSCAPES | 31

SITE NOTES EXCAVATIONS New Discovery at the ‘Home of Easter’ English Heritage Research at Whitby Abbey ‘After almost 20 years of intermittent excavation on the Whitby Abbey Headland we were putting together the records and drawn plans of a 7th-century Anglian cemetery which lay some distance to the south of the ruined 13th-century abbey church. As she pulled them together, our colleague, the late Sarah Jennings, saw that there had been a rectangular area in the centre of the cemetery surrounded by close packed burials and defined by trenches and stone walls. She had spotted a probable chapel building.’

“In the Anglian period the site we now know as Whitby Abbey was called Streoneshalch. It had been established in 657 by its first Abbess, St Hild, who was herself a royal princess. The Synod was a meeting to determine whether the Irish Celtic or Roman Catholic version of a number of Christian rituals was to hold sway in the kingdom of Northumbria. The most important issue was the method used for the calculation of Easter, which differed between the two churches, as the Irish church had been using a form of calculation obsolete in the Roman church by the 7th century. King Oswy of Northumbria presided over the meeting and adjudicated in favour of Rome, beginning over 900 years of Catholic observance in England, only ended by the dissolution of the monasteries under Henry VIII.”

Further Reading and Links English Heritage blog | HERITAGE CALLING http://tinyurl.com/koxq3st For more photos and interesting tweets, follow the discovery as it happened in this Storify – Whitby Excavation 2014 http://sfy.co/rTK9 Follow @EHArchaeology on Twitter https://twitter.com/EHArchaeology Story of England: The Synod of Whitby and the Keys of Heaven http://tinyurl.com/kprfl8e Visit Whitby Abbey http://tinyurl.com/84qujky

“The conclusion is inescapable – the ditch must be the boundary of St Hild’s monastic establishment.”

EXCAVATIONS

The dig has revealed what was on the menu over the centuries at the cathedral. The kitchen was in use from the 14th century up until the Second World War, catering for the monastic community, pilgrims and patients in the cathedral infirmary. © Archaeological Services Durham University.

Pre-Medieval Evidence? The six week programme of excavations have also recovered tantalising evidence for earlier activity on the peninsula. Two sherds of 3rdcentury South Gaulish Samian Ware pottery, one of which has been converted into a spindle whorl. A prehistoric flint was also recovered. ‘Archaeologists are reluctant to draw too many conclusions about what kind of settlement might have existed in Durham at the time, but the expensive, glossy red pottery was imported from southern France, suggesting inhabitants of some status and ambition.’ These are in addition to scattered Roman finds in the past elsewhere in the cathedral area and the uncovering of what is thought to have been a Roman farmstead-villa on the opposite bank of the river during gravel excavation in the Second World War.

Further Reading Northern Echo | 10 April with Video http://tinyurl.com/pxcezhc The Journal | 10 April http://tinyurl.com/pp2pfw6

A puffin or lapwing for tea? Durham excavations reveal kitchen protocols. "We have come across a vast amount of food waste. A test pit one metre square contained 21,000 fish bones.” Archaeological Services Durham University Excavations at Durham Cathedral The dig was undertaken ahead of the Great Kitchen, formerly home to the Cathedral bookshop, being transformed into a world-class exhibition space under the £10m Open Treasure project. The Great Kitchen will become the new venue for the Treasures of St Cuthbert.

“We have come across a vast amount of food waste,” he said. A test pit one metre square contained 21,000 fish bones. Fish would have been an important part of the religious order’s diet, and the finds showed that the monks were eating North Sea cod, herring, sole, turbot, and salmon and trout from the River Wear. Cathedral archaeologist Mr Emery said that although some dried and salted fish would have been eaten, most were fresh. Livestock bones included that of “white meat” calves, while a wide range of birds was also on the menu. These ranged from domestic fowl to game and wild birds from the estuaries and moors of the region. Mr Emery said that the cathedral would have had its food suppliers, and records of what was brought in survive. There is one reference to puffins on the food list, and lapwing. “The kitchen would have been a very busy place, with people milling about,” said Mr Emery.”

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TEESSCAPES | 33 EXCAVATIONS New excavations in York hope to uncover Roman evidence Archaeology Live! at All Saints Church, North Street, York ‘The first two weeks of digs began on March 31, and there will be more work in May, June, August and October. Assistant field officer Arran Johnson said: “It’s nice to have a fresh site and we expect to find archaeology from the Victorian period going back to medieval, Viking and Roman times. This is a very interesting spot right by the river, and will have been the centre of York for a very long time.” The digs will take place on the north-east side of the church, and could show evidence that the medieval buildings which surround the site could have at one point extended over it.’

Further Reading and Links The York Press | 20 April http://tinyurl.com/pby38rn Archaeology Live! Website and training opportunities http://tinyurl.com/clvd66d

PROTECTION A Roman town, rediscovered beneath farmland in Stamford Bridge, East Yorkshire, has been scheduled as an ancient monument

The Yorkshire Post | 12 April http://tinyurl.com/pcbvz5m

Believed to have been called Derventio, the settlement is a rare discovery as most Roman urban centres now lie completely beneath modern towns. ‘Derventio was not an official town. It grew organically thanks to its riverside location and over time it developed urban characteristics through trade on the river and surrounding roads.’

“There is almost certainly a Roman fort at the western end of the site but it has not shown up as crop marks.”

Hornby Castle is a grade I listed fortified manor house on the edge of Wensleydale between Bedale and Leyburn. Originally 14th century, it has been remodelled in the 15th, 18th and 20th centuries. The present building is the south range of a larger complex, the rest of which has been demolished.