A child's burial in unconsecrated ground in early modern Dorchester,Dorset

Abstract

Re-examination of a child burial found during excavations in advance of the construction of new offices for Dorset County Council in the north-west quarter of Dorchester in 1937 indicates that it is of early modern, rather than of Roman date, as originally believed at the time of excavation. A possible context is explored for the burial of a child in unconsecrated ground in the 17th century.     

RETHINKING THE SMALL PIG HORIZON AT YORK MINSTER

Summary.   The small pig horizon within the headquarters building of the legionary fortress of Eboracum (York) is a unique assemblage of early post-Roman animal bones. Originally interpreted as evidence of an impoverished Dark Age community scratching out a living within the ruined fortress, reinterpretation of this deposit suggests that it may be evidence of the economic power of a post-Roman elite conspicuously consuming suckling pig, perhaps in an echo of high-status Roman dietary preferences.     

The Malham Pipe: A Reassessment of Its Context,Dating and Significance

The Malham Pipe is a musical instrument formed from the tibia of a sheep, and was discovered in 1950 among artefacts revealed during the excavation of a Bronze Age burial mound at Seaty Hill on Malham Moor in the Yorkshire Dales. On the basis of associated finds the pipe was dated originally to the Iron Age, and in a study published in 1952 the musical properties of the pipe were examined physically at a level of detail that set a benchmark for the characterization of other such objects discovered subsequently. However, in the intervening period the dating of the pipe has been questioned. In this paper, following a detailed reappraisal of the Seaty Hill finds and dating evidence, including burial practice and settlement remains in the locality, and their wider historical context, we have concluded that the Malham Pipe is of post-Roman date. We believe, therefore, that although the Malham Pipe may no longer be claimed to be the earliest known duct flute found in the British Isles, nevertheless it appears to be the first recorded bone flute found in a post-Roman (Anglo-Saxon) burial context.     

Tree-rings and Medieval Archaeology

CAREFUL examination of the horizontal beams above the arches framing the arcades of the 12th-century great hall of the bishop's palace at Hereford has brought to light additional structural evidence shewing that the hall, as originally built, had a clerestory and separate pent-roofs over the aisles. The proposed reconstruction is discussed with reference to surviving but incomplete examples of the same date at Leicester and Farnham, where the evidence for the architectural form is inconclusive. It is compared with earlier illustrations, including those in the Bayeux Tapestry. The evidence of the churches of late 10th and 11th-century date with transverse (diaphragm) arches is also adduced.     

Original DocumentsExtracts from The Bursar’s Accounts,Preserved Among The Muniments of Winchester College

This paper challenges the interpretation of late Roman Verulamium which has stood since Frere's excavations in 1955–61. A quantitative analysis of construction work and occupation phases forms the basis of two new interpretative conclusions. First, in contrast to a view which sees urban vigour continuing to the end of the Roman period, it is suggested that the town experienced a sharp decline in both construction and occupation from the early fourth century onwards. Second, the late town is portrayed as radically different in character from that of the second century—a defended ‘post-classical’ outpost of the decaying empire rather than a garden-city of romanizing local gentry.     

Townships and early fields in north Nottinghamshire

Recent work by Riley has illustrated the existence of an extensive system of fields of probable Roman date in north Nottinghamshire and south Yorkshire. When these are compared with the alignments of township boundaries it is evident that the two patterns do not coincide. This suggests that the medieval township structure was not based on an earlier pre-Saxon system of territorial divisions. Such a suggestion would support arguments that have been put forward for a discontinuity of occupancy between the Roman and Saxon periods in this part of England.     

Some Account of the Parish Church of Bakewell in Derbyshire,and of the Early Grave-Stones and Other Remains Discovered During the Recent Repairs

This report outlines the results of excavations carried out on the Stanwick earthworks in four different areas between 1981–86. At Forcett, area investigation recovered more of the structural plan of the north-western entrance investigated by Wheeler in 1951. Both here and in the Tofts, earlier deposits and features were recognized beneath the ramparts. Wheeler's idea that the Tofts settlement originated as a defended enclosure can no longer be sustained, and geophysical survey has indicated that its southern defences in fact follow a different line from that originally envisaged. Other excavations took place at Henah Hill, where a low bank underlies a long sequence of agricultural activity, itself sealed by the medieval ridge-and-furrow; and at Forcett Barns. The date and context of the earthworks are briefly reviewed in the light of the recent work at Stanwick. The main defensive earthworks were all probably constructed within a relatively short period around the mid first century A.D., when the long-lived settlement was at its most important.     

Memoir on some Ancient Arms and Implements Found at Lagore,near Dunshaughlin,County of Meath. With a Few Remarks on the Classification of Northern Antiquities

In 1957, gravel-digging exposed a previously unknown Roman fort and during the following five years this was destroyed. Observation during soil stripping, together with some manual excavation, recovered most of the plan and history which may be summarized as follows:

(a) Slight remains of occupation earlier than the first Roman fort; these were not fully worked out, and are not necessarily all of one period.

(b) A Roman auxiliary fort, founded c. A.D. 80 and destroyed after less than twenty years occupation. Most of the fort buildings were deliberately burnt, apparently after evacuation; it seems a little more likely that this was the work of the Romans themselves rather than of the natives, but there is no definite evidence.

(c) After an interval probably of a few years a ditch was dug along the line of the via principalis, as if intended for a fort of reduced area, as at Castell Collen or Tomen-y-Mur; this was unfinished, and after remaining open for a short time seems to have been deliberately refilled.

(d) A fortlet was built over the north quarter of the auxiliary fort. The meagre evidence available for dating would be consistent with a short occupation in the early or middle 2nd century.

(e) Finally, after a considerable interval, an irregular oval was enclosed by a light palisade. Full details of this occupation were not recovered. It seems to have begun about the end of the Roman period and may have continued into the 5 th century.     

Notes on Certain Objects of Stag–s Horn Used for Hafting Stone Implements or Weapons

Part of a cemetery of uncertain extent was excavated following its discovery during work upon a late prehistoric and Roman rural settlement. At least four of the inhumations appeared to lie within square-ditched enclosures with entrances on the east. Bone survival was very poor but one skeleton, from a double burial, was dated to the mid-seventh century and was probably female. The practice of square-ditched burial is discussed and it is suggested that the burials are a widespread but uncommon form of secular elite burial in areas outside Saxon control.     

Carlisle: Function and Change between the First and Seventh Centuries AD

Archaeological excavations combined with antiquarian observations shed considerable light on the evolution of Roman Carlisle. From being a fort in the northern advance under Cerialis and Agricola, Carlisle developed as a nodal hub supported by a number of activity ‘zones’. By the early third century most had become absorbed into the newly created civitas capital. The Roman town declined and stone buildings became ruinous, a process that probably commenced before the fourth century and continued until the land was taken over by the kings of Northumbria and the church in the seventh century. Scanty archaeological records for the sub- and post-Roman periods are supplemented by implications for socio-political structures drawn from texts.     

THE PROVENANCE OF DONKEY MILLS FROM ROMAN BRITAIN

Pompeiian-style (hourglass) grain mills are common at many Roman sites within the circum-Mediterranean countries. Three examples are known from Corfe Mullen, London and Hamworthy in southern Britain. Petrographic examination, chemical and microprobe analyses indicate that the Corfe Mullen millstone and the London donkey mill were imported from central France into southern Britain. The Hamworthy mill should be designated a ‘flat donkey mill’, and represents a recent (post-Roman) import from a volcanic source in Sardinia. There is no evidence of importation of Roman donkey mills from Germany or for transportation of such mills (or stylistic derivatives) north of London.     

Post-Roman crop production and processing: Archaeological evidence from Goldthorpe,South Yorkshire

The remains of a ditched field system dating from the late Iron Age to the early post-Roman period, and two associated corn drying ovens (dating to the 5th–6th centuries AD) were revealed during archaeological excavations at Goldthorpe, South Yorkshire. The site was excavated during 2012 and 2013, during which bulk environmental samples were taken in order to retrieve any surviving botanical remains from deposits associated with the corn drying ovens, and other features across the excavated area. Early post-Roman occupation is under-represented in the archaeological record, especially in northern England, as such human activity and subsistence during this period are currently not well understood. This paper combines evidence for the field system, the physical remains of the corn drying ovens and their associated botanical remains to further understand early post-Roman change and continuity in landscape use and crop production and processing practices.     

ROMAN CIRENCESTER AND GLOUCESTER COMPARED

Summary. Roman Cirencester and Roman Gloucester have in the past been seen as examples of success and (relative) failure in the urbanization of Roman Britain, but they seem better understood as expressions of different urban ideas. Cirencester actively remoulded itself as a model Roman city, although there may be allusions to its earlier past in its layout. Gloucester, perhaps deliberately, did not, with the result that its earlier history is expressed physically within the Roman city plan. The two communities may also have presented their collective identities differently. Other aspects of their urban expression are also explored.     

"基督教国家"的理念和现实基础

基督教在由“出世”倾向朝“入世”倾向转变的过程中,提出了神权统治的思想体系。利用中世纪初期西欧政治秩序的混乱,基督教会凭借其经济、文化和社会势能,实现了其政治理念,把中世纪的欧洲锻造成一个单一的政治实体,即所谓的“基督教国家”。这个进程充分反映了宗教意识形态对人类文明发展的巨大影响。     

BEYOND THE ROMAN EMPIRE: ARCHAEOLOGICAL DISCOVERIES IN GUDME ON FUNEN, DENMARK

Summary. More than one hundred years ago in the Gudme area on Funen, Denmark, Frederik Sehested carried out probably the earliest regional survey in world archaeology. This was subsequently published in two magnificent volumes. Today the Gudme-area is the focus of the main research project of Danish archaeology, investigating a truly massive 'royal' settlement of some two hundred hectares near Gudme with the adjacent emporium at Lundeborg on the nearby coast of the Greater Belt. The settlements, cemeteries, and hoards of precious metals of the region date in the main from 200–600 A.D., the late Roman and migration periods of European history. The royal settlement is seemingly made up of farms with longhouses of ordinary type, but with very rich finds, including many Roman and Frankish imports, and remains of luxury crafts. The emporium antedates the well-known Carolingian and Viking establishments by several centuries and was founded when Roman cities still flourished, e.g., in the Rhinelands.     

Perinatal infant death at the Roman villa site at Hambleden,Buckinghamshire, England

The aim of the current work is to investigate whether perinatal infant burials at Hambleden Roman villa (1st–4th century AD), England, more likely represent infanticides, as has been contended by earlier workers, or natural deaths. Previous work has noted that when infanticide is practiced it is normally carried out immediately after birth and so will produce an age at death distribution tightly clustered around the gestational age of a full-term infant. By contrast, natural deaths in the perinatal period produce a rather flatter age distribution. In foetal and perinatal infants, long-bone length bears a close relationship to gestational age. The distribution of age at death in the Hambleden perinatal infants is compared with those from Roman Ashkelon, Israel, where earlier work showed evidence for infanticide, and Mediaeval Wharram Percy, England, where previous studies demonstrated a perinatal age at death distribution consistent with natural deaths. The comparisons between the sites are undertaken using four different methodologies: direct comparison of distributions of long-bone lengths, and comparison of ages at death estimated using two different regression methods and using a Bayesian methodology. Results consistently show a strong clustering in the Hambleden age distribution at an age approximately corresponding to a full-term infant. In this respect they resemble results from Ashkelon and differ from those from Wharram Percy. This was interpreted as supporting the suggestion of infanticide at Hambleden.