Yet another hoard has been discovered by metal detectorists in a farmer’s field. Laura McLean and Stefanie White discuss the pottery vessel and metalworking hoard that was buried almost 3,000 years ago. This past summer, John Humphreys was enjoying a relaxing August bank holiday searching for artefacts with his metal detector near Burnham-on-Crouch. Walking across [...]
Time Team Season 2011 coming soon!
We are delighted to announce that Time Team will return to the small screen very soon! The new series of the long-running and much beloved archaeology programme will air on Channel 4 from February this year. Tony Robinson and the trusty team (including Professor Mick Aston) will be raising their trowels once more to grace [...]
Frome Hoard
A massive ceramic jar containing over 52,000 Roman coins has been discovered by a metal detectorist in a Somerset field – the largest coin hoard ever found in Britain in a single pot. What can it tell us about wealth, ritual and political upheaval in Roman Britain? In April 2010, metal detectorist Dave Crisp discovered [...]
Wallsend – The fort at the end of the Wall
October 4, 2010 By Filed Under: Hadrians Wall
Four miles east of Newcastle upon Tyne, Hadrian’s Wall comes to an end. It’s not quite at the sea — Tynemouth is still 4 miles further on, but here the River Tyne is broad enough to allow the Wall to come to an end. Here there is a fort known appropriately as Wallsend from which [...]
Chesters Roman fort
October 4, 2010 By Filed Under: Hadrians Wall
Chesters is the nicest of the Hadrian’s Wall forts. It lies 20 miles west of Newcastle and forms the beginning of the dramatic central part of Hadrian’s Wall. Chesters is still ‘civilised’: it lies in fertile farm land at the point where the Wall crosses the river North Tyne.
Visiting Sutton Hoo
October 1, 2010 By Filed Under: Further Info
Visiting Sutton Hoo For long, Sutton Hoo was in private hands, but in 1998 it was given to the National Trust. A Visitor Centre has been opened, and visitors are now welcome. It is situated off the B10832 road, two miles east of Woodbridge [TM288487]. Here is a short guide to what you may see [...]
Ship burials
October 1, 2010 By Filed Under: Further Info
Ship burials are rare in Britain. The closest parallel to Sutton Hoo comes from Snape, only 9 miles away, where a cluster of mounds overlooking the River Alde was thoroughly examined in the 19th century. Although the records are incomplete, it is clear that one mound overlay the remains of a 14m long vessel, the [...]
Return to Sutton Hoo
October 1, 2010 By Filed Under: Further Info
After such sensational discoveries it was inevitable that archaeologists would return to Sutton Hoo. Rupert Bruce-Mitford was the first to pick up where the 1939 team left off, re-excavating Mound 1 and removing the remaining ship rivets in the 1960s. A more substantial campaign spanning 1983-2001 was masterminded by Martin Carver. This included another look [...]
Treasure
October 1, 2010 By Filed Under: Discovery
They let the earth hold the wealth of the earls, gold in the ground, where still it dwells, as useless to men as it was before – Beowulf The grave goods were stowed in a wooden chamber, about 6m long, occupying the centre of the ship. The more utilitarian objects, such as cauldrons and buckets, [...]
A grave find
October 1, 2010 By Filed Under: Discovery
The 1930s Sutton Hoo excavations were bookended by tragedy. While the curtain call was a catastrophe on an international scale, with archaeologists battling to complete their excavations as war swept across Europe, the opening one was of a very personal nature. In 1934 Mrs Edith Pretty suddenly found herself a widower, with a young child [...]
Sutton Hoo: field of kings
October 1, 2010 By Filed Under: Discovery
This was no ordinary burial. The group that gathered on a grassy promontory overlooking the River Deben around AD 625 was participating in a ceremony that is without equal in Britain. First a huge vessel, 27m long and honourably scarred and patched through long service was hauled a mile uphill to the mounds of a [...]
Mercia
September 24, 2009 By Filed Under: Staffordshire Hoard
The discovery of the hoard in Staffordshire is interesting, for Staffordshire was near the heart of the Anglo-Saxon kingdom of Mercia.
The Inscriptions
September 24, 2009 By Filed Under: Staffordshire Hoard
Significant in the hoard is the discovery of two ( maybe three) gold Christian crosses and a ribbon of gold with a Biblical inscription, the only non-martial finds to be unearthed.
The Hoard
September 24, 2009 By Filed Under: Staffordshire Hoard
Most of the hoard is comprised of sword hilts – a hugely symbolic item in the Anglo Saxon period, representing wealth and, more importantly, status. Taking an enemy’s sword hilt would have been a highly prized trophy, and it is the hilt, rather than the blade, that would have been retained and displayed by the [...]
The Discovery
September 24, 2009 By Filed Under: Staffordshire Hoard
Metal detectorist, Terry Herbert, discovered the find most metal detectorists can only dream of, on arable ground in early July this year. Realising its significance, he immediately contacted Duncan Slarke of the Portable Antiquities Scheme’s Finds Liason Officer for Staffordshire and the West Midlands.
The Staffordshire Hoard
September 24, 2009 By Filed Under: Staffordshire Hoard
The largest hoard of Anglo Saxon gold ever found, was discovered this summer by a metal-detectorist in a field in Staffordshire and is set to revolutionise our perceptions of life in the 7th and 8th centuries. With more than 650 items made from gold, and more than 500 in silver this is truly a king’s [...]
Mick Aston reveals the secrets of Time Team
The Time team is Britain’s longest running archaeology TV series. Here, Professor Mick Aston, the leader of the Time Team, reveals the secrets behind the programme’s success.
How to Kill a Witch – The Reigate witch bottle
What do you do if you find yourself bewitched? If you find you are constantly out of sorts, and you just know someone has put the evil eye on you? The answer is obvious: you must set about killing the witch who has bewitched you. But how do you set about killing a witch?
Footloose in Archaeology
June 8, 2007 By Filed Under: Featured, Features, Special Features
“Feet- did you say Feet?-Ugh-h-h!” That is the usual remark I hear when I mention my Research Project. I hope that when you have finished reading this your reaction will have changed.
500,000 BC – Boxgrove
May 24, 2007 By Filed Under: The Timeline of Britain
In a gravel pit at Boxgrove, just outside Chichester, the remains of a man have been discovered, half a million years old. Only a shin bone and two teeth were discovered, but his position, under thick layers of gravel show that he is the oldest ‘man’ so far discovered in Britain.
