Wessex Archaeology News

An amazing collection 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, near Antwerp, 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 a few finds on beaches, for example at Pakefield in Suffolk.

Phil Harding of Wessex Archaeology and Channel 4’s Time Team programme is an expert on the Ice Age. He said: “These finds are massively important. In the Ice Age the cold conditions meant that water was locked up in the ice caps. The sea level was lower then, so in some places what is now the seabed was dry land. The hand-axes would have been used by hunters in butchering the carcasses of animals like mammoths.”

He added: “Although we don’t yet know their precise date, we can say that these hand-axes are the single most important find of Ice Age material from below the North Sea.”

English Heritage, the Government heritage agency, is co-operating with Dutch counterparts, the National Service for Archaeology, Cultural Landscape and Built Heritage to evaluate the finds. The hand-axes date to the Palaeolithic (or Old Stone Age) but exactly when in that 750,000-year time span is yet to be determined.

While the hand-axes were discovered in Holland, the gravel came from a licensed marine dredging area in English waters known as Area 240 - some 13km off Great Yarmouth where the sea is about 25m deep. Bones and teeth, some of which may be from mammoths, were also recovered along with the axes.

Ian Oxley, Head of Maritime Archaeology at English Heritage, said: “These are exciting finds which help us gain a greater understanding of The North Sea at a time when it was land. We know people were living out there before Britain became an island, but sites actually proving this are rare.”

Ian Selby, Hanson’s Marine Operations and Resources Director, added: “The hand-axes were collected over a three-month period and this remarkable discovery only came to light in February when Mr Meulmeester, realising their importance, informed the wharf owners. As we manage our dredging very carefully, we were quickly able to identify the area where the finds came from. As part of our industry’s protocol with English Heritage, we have now moved dredging to another part of the seabed.”

The reporting of the hand-axes demonstrates the level of co-operation that exists between the dredging industry, through its trade association, The British Marine Aggregate Producers Association, and English Heritage. The protocol, signed in 2005, aims to protect archaeological remains discovered in English waters as a result of marine sand and gravel extraction.

The reporting protocol for archaeological finds was an industry led initiative to prevent finds such as these going unreported. The potential for discovering finds has always been known to exist within dredging areas. The industry with consultants Wessex Archaeology and English Heritage established a mechanism through which any finds could be reported and assessed. The Guidance notes produced on behalf of English Heritage and BMAPA, can be viewed at: http://www.wessexarch.co.uk/projects/marine/bmapa/index.html

Read our FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions) about the handaxes.

Who’s Who

Hanson is one of the world’s largest suppliers of heavy building materials to the construction industry and is part of the HeidelbergCement Group, which employs 70,000 people across five continents. HeidelbergCement is the global leader in aggregates and has leading positions in cement, concrete and heavy building products. Hanson’s marine aggregate dredging business is the largest in Europe, delivering to 20 wharves around the UK and in Holland, Belgium and France.

The British Marine Aggregate Producers Association is the trade association for the British marine aggregate industry. It represents 12 member companies who collectively produce around 90 per cent of the 24 million tonnes of marine sand and gravel dredged from licence areas off the coast of England and Wales each year.

English Heritage exists to protect and promote England’s spectacular historic environment and ensure that its past is researched and understood. The national Heritage Act 2002 gave English Heritage responsibility for the submerged historic environment out to the 12 nautical mile limit. The maritime team of English Heritage is also responsible for managing historic wrecks designated under the Protection of Wrecks Act 1973.

Wessex Archaeology is one of the largest archaeological practices in the UK, working with public authorities and developers to ensure the archaeological remains are recorded and preserved in the course of construction and extraction. Set up in 1979, Wessex Archaeology now employs more than 180 archaeologists and retains its charitable status, encouraging interest in archaeology and extending knowledge to the wider public. Wessex Archaeology has been working with the marine aggregate industry since the mid-1990s, carrying out desk-based, geophysical and diving investigations as well as designing and implementing the industry’s reporting protocol.

The site of one of the largest hoards of Bronze Age axes ever found in Britain has been investigated by Wessex Archaeology.

At a site on the Isle of Purbeck in south Dorset, metal detector users found hundreds of Bronze Age axes in late October and early November 2007.

The axes, though not made of gold or silver, seem certain to qualify as Treasure when the Dorset Coroner holds an inquest into their discovery. Revisions to the original Treasure law mean that prehistoric objects of bronze can be classed as treasure, opening the way to a reward for the metal detector users and the landowner.

The metal detector users could hardly believe their luck when the discovery of one complete bronze axe and a fragment of another led them to identify three hot spots close by. The hotspots proved to be hoards of axes. Having reported the finds to the government funded Portable Antiquities Scheme, the detectors returned the following weekend. And promptly found another hoard containing hundreds of axes. In total at least 300 axes were found.

Following a request from the British Museum, who will give expert opinion to the county Coroner as to whether finds should be defined as Treasure, and the Portable Antiquities Scheme, a team from Wessex Archaeology undertook a follow up excavation.

Find out more on the Bronze Age Axes project website.

In December we announced the discovery of a Roman stone coffin at Boscombe Down in Wiltshire. Inside were the remains of a woman cradling a child in her arms. The unique environment within the coffin had allowed the preservation of the leather and cork slippers of the lady, as well as the child’s calf skin shoes. This was an exceptionally rare find.

Finding a complete coffin with lid intact, and witnessing the removal of the lid was a momentous occasion for all of the archaeologists working on the site.

Fortunately, we were able to capture these exciting moments on video to share with you. This short film begins with our osteoarchaeologist Jacqueline McKinley removing soil from around the coffin, the first look inside the coffin with an infra-red camera, to the removal of the lid and the careful excavation and planning of the remains inside.

Opening a Roman Coffin from Wessex Archaeology on Vimeo.

A shorter (10 minute) version is available on YouTube.

A remarkable Roman burial has been found at Boscombe Down, Wiltshire. When archaeologists lifted the lid off a three tonne stone coffin they were surprised to discover that the coffin had not filled with soil.

Instead, they looked down on the skeleton of a woman who was cradling a young child in her arms. A unique environment had been created inside the coffin. This had slowed down the processes of decay so that, even after 1800 years, the woman’s deer skin slippers still survived.

The slippers had cork insoles and a fur lining and are the best preserved examples in Britain of this sort of luxury shoe which was imported from the Mediterranean. The child was buried wearing calf skin shoes which are unique in Britain.

The woman also wore a necklace of Whitby jet round her neck, and on her right ankle was a bronze bangle. By her head was a small lustrous pot imported from France which would have contained drink for her journey to the next world.

Everything points to the woman having been of high status. Almost 300 graves have been excavated at Boscombe Down in five separate cemeteries. Although many contained wooden coffins, this is the only one with a stone coffin. Dating to around 220 AD, the burial is the earliest in its cemetery and the later burials clustered around it. Many of the people in the other graves were buried with hobnailed shoes or boots for their journey to the next world and local copies of the imported pot are common finds.

Dr Andrew Fitzpatrick of Wessex Archaeology said ’The preservation of the shoes is remarkable. Because the processes of decay were quite slow we also have traces of cloth that have been preserved by a chemical reaction with the metal bangle. We even have traces of the puparia from which the coffin flies that infested the body hatched. Squeamish but fascinating!’

The coffin goes on display in Salisbury Museum on Monday 17th December where the finds from the important Bronze Age burial of the Amesbury Archer, which was found a few hundred yards away in 2002, can also be seen.

Further information can be found at the project homepage.

Builders working on new classrooms at Twyford School have discovered Anglo-Saxon burials. At least 12 graves have been found in a small cemetery dating back to the 7th century AD.

The bodies had been laid out in shallow graves cut into the chalk. An iron knife placed next to one of the dead is the clue to the date of the cemetery.

Rob Bosshardt the Bursar at Twyford School said, “it was a surprise when the burials were made as when the planning application was checked it was thought that there was not much likelihood of any archaeological finds. The site has been landscaped in the past. But it is an exciting find which the children will be fascinated to learn more about.”

After consulting with Tracey Matthews, archaeologist for Winchester City Council, the school called in archaeologists to do an excavation. Tracey Matthews added “an unexpected discovery like this can cause delays to building works but the school acted promptly and did the right thing.”

When the dig, which is being done by local experts Wessex Archaeology, is finished, the remains will be studied in the laboratory to establish the age and sex of the dead, and also their exact date.

Paul McCulloch, Project Manager at Wessex Archaeology said “The first time Twyford, which means ‘Two Fords’, is mentioned in historical sources is in the 7th century. We think the burials date right back to this time, about 1,300 years ago. Three or four Anglo-Saxon cemeteries of this date are already known around Winchester, including one at Oliver’s Battery and some of the finds from there are on display in Winchester Museum.”

View the photos from the excavation on Flickr.

Archaeologists have found a medieval cemetery, probably part of the St Margaret’s church burial ground, at Christchurch Park.

The burials were found while a new drainage system for the park renovations was being dug. Archaeologists were watching the pipe trench being dug because it was known that the cemetery, which is at least 500 years old, lay nearby but it was not known exactly where. In order to protect the burials, the route of the pipe has been re-routed across the lawns of the park.

Find out more at our Christchurch Park project website.

A Roman stone coffin, probably dating to the 3rd or 4th centuries AD, was found recently in archaeological excavations in Poundbury, Dorchester.

Visit our project page on the discovery of the coffin for photographs and further information.

Marine archaeologists are used to working on sandbanks, but usually on their own. At Barnstaple in north Devon they were joined by local enthusiasts to track down buried evidence from the town’s historic pottery industry.
A new road bridge is being built over the River Taw at Barnstaple. The building works have caused changes in the flow of the river which caused part of a sandbank being scoured away. This revealed a large quantity of 17th pottery that had lain buried beneath the sand.

Barnstaple was an important centre for pottery manufacture from the medieval period until recent times. Large quantities of the attractive, decorated, pottery were exported to North America in colonial times. The sandbank in the Taw lies not far from one of the main potteries in Barnstaple and it seems likely that much of the material came from there.

Devon County Council asked Wessex Archaeology to undertake the survey, co-ordinating the work of the local enthusiasts who made the discovery. Volunteers and professionals worked together to make a careful record of the finds.

Some of the pots are shapes that have not been seen before. They were either new styles that did not catch on, or were difficult to make. Other finds are what are called wasters; damaged during firing and thrown away.
It seems that the potters threw the wasters into the River Taw where they were washed downstream before coming to rest in the sandbank.

As well as the 17th century pottery there was also pottery of medieval date, some 300-400 years older, which was also made in Barnstaple.

Local enthusiast Mike Palmer had been combing the sandbank for months, and his local knowledge and experience was a great help. Margaret Bunyard of Wessex Archaeology said ‘we are used to working in conditions like these, and often work with the public, but we haven’t done both at the same time before!’

The volunteers spent three days combing the site for pottery, then washed and marked their finds. John Allan of Exeter Archaeology, who is an expert on pottery from North Devon is writing a report on the pottery before it goes on display at the Museum of Barnstaple and North Devon.

Builders working on the new Tank Regiment base at Tidworth have discovered Bronze Age burials. Dating back to the time of Stonehenge, the four graves are 3,500 years old making them the oldest finds from Tidworth.

Wessex Archaeology was called in and they found that the bodies had been cremated. The ashes in three of the graves were covered by pots that had been placed upside down. The fourth burial was not covered by a pot and instead it may have been wrapped in a cloth that has long since rotted away.

The bones will be studied by experts to establish the age and sex of the dead. It is hoped that radiocarbon dating on tiny fragments of charcoal from the funeral pyre found with the bones will allow a close dating of the finds.

Nick Truckle, Project Manager at Wessex Archaeology said ‘Bronze Age burial mounds are a familiar site even today. But not everyone was buried under a barrow at this time. As the four graves lay in a line, we imagine that the sites of the graves were marked by some sort of memorial. As the graves are so close together this small cemetery may be a family one.’

An eighth century Saxon sceatta was an exciting find for archaeologist Steve George while he was keeping an eye on the excavation of a new cable trench in Malmesbury, Wiltshire. The 1,200 year old silver coin was minted in Hamwic (Saxon Southampton) and examples are very rarely found outside of Southampton. It was probably issued by Cynewulf, King of Wessex.

The origins of Malmesbury are even older than this, dating back to the middle of the sixth century. By the seventh century an imposing abbey stood in the centre of the town. Steve found traces of this early history nearby in Gloucester Street. Two stone-lined graves were uncovered in the base of the trench. Luckily they were deep enough to be safely left undisturbed. He also spotted the traces of footpaths nearby, probably used by the Saxon inhabitants of the town when visiting the Abbey.

The trench in Abbey Road uncovered a medieval road surface, made of cobbles laid on packed clay. This is the road that brought traffic into bustling Malmesbury through the West Gate on market days.

The cable trench is being dug for Scottish and Southern Electric to link a sub-station outside the city walls to the town. Wessex Archaeology was asked to keep a watching brief on the work because of the high possibility that it might uncover further clues to the history of this ancient town.