Digital Digging - Archaeology News: 2008-03-09

Saturday, 15 March 2008

Roman burial site open to public

From BBC News.

A Roman settlement and burial ground found during excavations at a quarry in Gloucestershire opens to the public for the first time this weekend.

Archaeologists are giving guided tours of the site at the Hanson's gravel quarry in Horcott near Fairford.

Finds include a Roman graveyard where 100 decapitated bodies were unearthed in 2006.

The team also found evidence of Iron Age and Saxon villages on the same seven acre site.

Pretensions to grandeur

Ken Welsh, from Oxford Archaeology, who has been overseeing the investigation, said it was a challenging excavation.

"In addition to the Roman graveyard and farmstead, our work has revealed a multi-phase settlement area, with evidence of occupation from the early Iron Age, the Romano-British and the early to middle Saxon periods.

"The Saxon settlement, with as many as 40 sunken-featured buildings, overlies the early Iron Age settlement and disentangling the post-holes (approximately 3,500) has been a huge challenge made easier by our on site computer graphics and recording system.

Full story here.

Iron Age site discovered under Wearside school.

From the Sunderland Echo.

Archaeologists have found what they think is the remains of an Iron Age settlement under part of a Wearside school.

The surprising discovery was made by experts carrying out a study for contractors Balfour Beatty, who are working on the new £17.3m Northumbrian Water-sponsored academy to replace Castle View School.

The study is part of planning conditions laid down by Sunderland Council because school is on the site of the historic Hylton Dene, but archaeologist Dr Andy Towle said he did not expect to find Iron Age remains.

He said:"It was a surprise to be honest.

"The school was built in the 1960s so I would have thought anything here would have been destroyed in the construction.

"If anything, I thought perhaps we would have found medieval archaeology, but to have found probable Iron Age archaeology quite surprising."

Dr Towle said the archaeological evaluation had looked at three areas.

Two did not turn up any finds, but the third revealed a post-pit and ring-ditch, which would indicate an Iron Age roundhouse once stood on the site.

Groups of children from the school are now helping to sift through the site looking for artifacts and helping archaeologists to investigate.

"The kids are great," said Dr Towle. "They are full of enthusiasm. When you've been doing it year in year out you lose some of that, but seeing the kids being so enthusiastic reminds you of your own enthusiasm. It's been great fun."

Full story here.

Friday, 14 March 2008

Thornborough Henges quarrying permission revoked

From the Darlington and Stockton Times.

PLANS for a controversial quarry extension near Thornborough Henges have been thrown into disarray following a legal challenge.

Tarmac Northern won planning permission in January 2007 from North Yorkshire County Council to extract 1.1 million tonnes of sand and gravel over eight years from land at Ladybridge Farm, between Bedale and Ripon, half a mile from the nearest of three Bronze Age earthwork henges on Thornborough Moor.

Tarmac said the unanimous decision would ensure the future prospects of 15 full-time quarry workers and 40 hauliers at the neighbouring Nosterfield quarry, where reserves are almost exhausted.

The henges, described as the Stonehenge of the North, have legal protection as a scheduled ancient monument but worried campaigners who organised a 10,000-name petition insisted that their surroundings, including Ladybridge, must be protected from the effects of further quarrying.

The formal decision notice was not issued until October following completion of a detailed agreement with Tarmac covering conditions attached to the permission.

However, council lawyers have now confirmed that it should be quashed following a legal challenge on eight grounds concerning the handling of the planning application. The issue is expected to be reconsidered by the committee at Masham Town Hall on April 22.

Full story here.

House of Lords debate about the PAS. Breath holding advised against.

They seem capable of acting in unison when one of their number is addressed as 'honourable' as opposed to 'noble'. Pity this commonality doesn't bleed into the worthwhile endeavor at hand. DD.

From the excellent theyworkforyou.com

Lord Renfrew of Kaimsthorn (Conservative) Link to this | Hansard source

asked Her Majesty's Government:

What plans they have for the future funding and management of the Portable Antiquities Scheme.

Lord Davies of Oldham (Deputy Chief Whip (House of Lords), HM Household) Link to this | Hansard source

My Lords, the Portable Antiquities Scheme is funded by the Museums, Libraries and Archives Council and administered on its behalf by the British Museum. The MLA has committed itself to funding the Portable Antiquities Scheme at £1.3 million for 2008-09. Beyond that period, the funding and management arrangements for the PAS will be subject to an upcoming review of the scheme, jointly commissioned by the MLA and the British Museum.

Lord Renfrew of Kaimsthorn (Conservative) Link to this | Hansard source

My Lords, I am grateful for that reply, but I imagine the Minister is aware that the future of the scheme has been much discussed in recent months. Does he recall that his noble friend Lord Bach said from that very Bench some six weeks ago that,

"the DCMS, the MLA and the British Museum are in discussions about the issue, as we speak"?—[Official Report, 7/02/08; col. 1263.]

I was hoping for a clearer statement about the future of the Portable Antiquities Scheme. It is widely felt on all sides to be one of the best things that this Government have done in the field of archaeology and heritage. Can the Minister be a little more explicit about the future arrangements for the scheme?

Lord Davies of Oldham (Deputy Chief Whip (House of Lords), HM Household) Link to this | Hansard source

My Lords, the noble Lord speaks with great authority on these issues, and I pay tribute to his work in this area. We are looking forward to the conclusion of the discussions on the future of the scheme. The scheme is greatly valued, as he indicated. It brings various artefacts into museums in a way that otherwise would not occur. What is more, it engages a wide-ranging section of the public who otherwise would not visit museums. They do so because of the scheme, so we value it highly. However, it is necessary for us to think about the future of the scheme constructively, which is what the two bodies are doing. I regret that the noble Lord can point out to me that we have not made enormous progress in the past six weeks, but I assure him that we expect these discussions to conclude favourably in the near future.

Lord Howarth of Newport (Labour) Link to this | Hansard source

My Lords, as the Minister has just suggested, if the remaining problems are to be resolved satisfactorily, will it not be necessary for the DCMS to intervene more actively and more constructively, and specifically to provide a more generous dowry for the Portable Antiquities Scheme as it enters the full embrace of the British Museum? Is this not incumbent on the department, which in the Comprehensive Spending Review chose to allocate an additional £50 million to the Arts Council, which was welcome, and even found £50 million for a new building at Tate Modern, but imagined wrongly that it would be acceptable to cut funding by 25 per cent for a range of important but less glamorous programmes, including the Portable Antiquities Scheme, housed at the Museums, Libraries and Archives Council?

Lord Davies of Oldham (Deputy Chief Whip (House of Lords), HM Household) Link to this | Hansard source

My Lords, the cut for the Portable Antiquities Scheme is merely that the annual sum granted to it for the coming year is the same as it was last year. Of course that is a cut because of inflation, but it is nothing like 25 per cent; we are talking about a marginal cut. However, I accept what my noble friend says. We want a resolution of these issues so that the future of the scheme is identified effectively. As I said to the noble Lord, Lord Renfrew, we expect progress to be made on these matters. If the department needs to intervene more proactively, we will certainly do so.

Lord Redesdale (Liberal Democrat) Link to this | Hansard source

My Lords, will the national nature of the scheme be preserved? As all sides of the House have mentioned in previous debates, the great value of the Portable Antiquities Scheme is its national nature, so that every part of the country is covered. If it is cut even marginally, that national nature might be threatened. Would that not have damaging effects on the archaeological heritage of different regions?

Lord Davies of Oldham (Deputy Chief Whip (House of Lords), HM Household) Link to this | Hansard source

My Lords, I pay tribute to the noble Lord, Lord Redesdale, for his work in this area—and, indeed, to my noble friend Lord Howarth. In fact, all three noble Lords who have questioned me about this matter today know a great deal more about it than I do myself. I want to emphasise that there is no intention of changing the structure of the Portable Antiquities Scheme—quite the opposite. We highly value the scheme. It has great virtues and we intend to safeguard its future. However, there is discussion on where authority for the scheme should lie, and those discussions have not quite concluded yet.

Baroness Trumpington (Conservative) Link to this | Hansard source

My Lords, I declare a sort of interest as the person who took the treasure trove Bill through this House—legislation which has been a great success, as I think your Lordships will agree. I am not absolutely certain that all these wonderful words of support include finances. Are the Government actually giving money towards this scheme? I say that as a portable antiquity myself.

Lord Davies of Oldham (Deputy Chief Whip (House of Lords), HM Household) Link to this | Hansard source

My Lords, I cannot guarantee than the noble Baroness will be a direct beneficiary of the £1.3 million allocated to the scheme. However, as I indicated to the House, that figure obtains over the next year. Protests and anxieties have been expressed because that does mean a reduction of 2 or 3 per cent in the resources available to the Portable Antiquities Scheme. I think that will be recognised as on the margins. Certainly the Government's intent is that the scheme should continue to develop and flourish. The issue of management, however, is still to be resolved.

Lord Janner of Braunstone (Labour) Link to this | Hansard source

My Lords, does my honourable friend know—

Noble Lords:

Noble!

Lord Janner of Braunstone (Labour) Link to this | Hansard source

My Lords, does my noble friend intend that some part of this scheme will give those whose portable valuables have been stolen and exhibited anywhere in the country the means to recover them?

Lord Davies of Oldham (Deputy Chief Whip (House of Lords), HM Household) Link to this | Hansard source

My Lords, I am grateful to my noble friend for that question. The question is not directly related to the work of the Portable Antiquities Scheme, but it an issue that the Government take seriously. It is not the function of the scheme itself to address itself to those issues.

Monday, 10 March 2008

'Exceptional' Roman ruins found at Wansford

From Peterborough Today.

An exceptional ancient Roman site has been discovered in woodland near Peterborough. Despite numerous digs and excavations across the region over the past two centuries, the huge site, hidden deep in woods at Bedford Purlieus, had miraculously gone unnoticed.

Early work has only scratched the surface of the Roman remains, but indications have left experts stunned by how well preserved the remains, of what appears to be a building of some importance, are.

Forestry Commission District Operations Manager, Hugh Manall said: "It's unusual for us to find a site of this significance that we didn't realise was there. Generally, sites as good as this are known about."

Experts believe the remains at the site, just off the A47 at Wansford, near Peterborough, probably date back to between the second and fourth centuries AD.

Excavations have been taking place at three areas in the woods thanks to funding from Augean Ltd's landfill tax and Peterborough City Council.
City council archeologist Ben Robinson described the find as "exceptional".

He said: "I've not seen a Roman building as well preserved as this. The work we have done has shown we have got a building of quite some importance, with all the features of a high-status Roman site. This was something big and impressive."

Luxuries included in the building were heating and paintings hung on the wall.

And, because the site has been hidden in a forest, it has remained virtually undisturbed.

Mr Robinson said: "We've only scratched the tip of the iceberg, there's a lot more to be discovered.

"But we have to be mindful that sites like this are rare and we shouldn't destroy them by digging them up. We also have to be careful about the wildlife and rare plants in the forest, but I really hope we will get to do more there.

"The thing about this is people have been carrying out archaeological digs in this area for the best part of 200 years. You would think that with the amount of work that has gone on that everything has been discovered. This shows that's far from the case, we're getting new finds on a weekly basis.

"This area is a very, very exciting place to do archaelogy."

Full story here.

Sunday, 9 March 2008

28 hand axes found in North sea

From Wessex Archaeology.

An amazing haul of 28 flint hand-axes, dated by archaeologists to be around 100,000 years-old, have been unearthed in gravel from a licensed marine aggregate dredging area 13km off Great Yarmouth.

The find was made by a Dutch amateur archaeologist, Jan Meulmeester, who regularly searches for mammoth bones and fossils in marine sand and gravel delivered by British construction materials supplier Hanson to a Dutch wharf at Flushing, south west Netherlands.

The axes show that deep in the Ice Age, mammoth hunters roamed across land that is now submerged beneath the sea. These are the finest hand-axes that experts are certain come from English waters, although there have been several finds on beaches, for example at Pakefield in Suffolk.

Full story here.