Excavation of a Medieval Bridge at Waltham Abbey,Essex, in 1968

THE single-arch bridge over the lower mill stream at Waltham Abbey was excavated in advance of roadworks. The bridge had three double-chamfered ribs set skew to the abutments. The springers were of Caen stone; the ribs and ashlar facing of the abutments were of Kentish ragstone. The abutments were set on oak sill-plates and staggered rows of elm piles. Bank revetting and coffer-dam timbers were also found. The bridge is compared with the near-by single-arch Stony Bridge. A mid 14th-century date is established by dendrochronology. Documentary study has enabled phases in the development of the watercourse system to be postulated.     

Gold Fibula,Found at Odiham,Hampshire

A cropmark complex of ring-ditches and square-plan ditches in the Vale of Clwyd, North Wales has been partially excavated. Mesolithic activity is represented predominantly by lithic waste in local cherts. A small bronze age cemetery, dated to between about 1660–1400 b.c., comprises a large and small ring-ditch and a ‘flat cemetery’ associated with Beaker inhumation burials, and by cremation burials, of which some were found with Food Vessel Urns. The larger ring-ditch was superseded by an undated rectangular enclosure with causeways at the centre of each side. An early medieval inhumation cemêtery, with associated dates of about a.d. 510 and a.d. 860, was established to one side of the larger ring-ditch. A small proportion of the graves are enclosed by square-plan ditches, two of which had a causeway at the centre of the eastern side. Generalized parallels are drawn with other sites in eastern and northern Britain and within Wales itself.     

Notice of the Annual Meeting,at Norwich

Excavations took place in 1969, in advance of housing development, on the site of a fourth-century Roman pottery workshop, two adjacent kilns, a well, a large pit and two burials. The workshop contained internal features linked with pottery production, including possible emplacements for potters' wheels. Two kilns, each constructed differently, were producing grey and colour-coated wares. A large pit was used for rubbish. A well, square in plan, was associated with the workshop and must have provided water for the potters. Of particular interest was a complete millstone, which appears to have been used as a flywheel fixed to a potter's wheel. Pottery production at the site may have continued into the early part of the fifth century and as such is one of the last known production centres of the Roman Nene valley pottery industry. The site is significant in that it probably represents a near complete and typical industrial pottery production unit within a major pottery production area of the province and represents an important aspect of the late Roman economy.     

Notice of Inscriptions and Antiquities,Discovered at Caerleon

This paper presents some of the background information considered necessary to expand the archaeological uses of aerial photography. Some problems encountered recording archaeological features from the air are discussed but the paper concentrates on the subsequent use of aerial photographs and covers the interpretation and plotting of archaeological features, use of different map scales, and outlines two schemes for the presentation of completed drawings which show air photograph evidence. The uses and potential of morphological analysis are included, as are comments on the relevance of fieldwork to air photograph interpretation.

An appendix considers the application of geophysical techniques to air photograph sites, and the deductions that may be derived from these non-destructive methods.     

Notice of the Cross-Legged Sepulchral Effigies,Existing at Cashel

Evidence recovered on the site known from late ninth-century charters as Æthelred’s hithe illustrates successive phases in the early development of London as an international port. While two middle Anglo-Saxon female skeletons were found in foreshore deposits, coins and other metalwork, along with the remains of gangplank trestles, suggest the site was a trading shore from at least the later ninth century. Riverside construction followed by the late tenth century: several low waterfront embankments date to the late tenth and early eleventh century, the waterfront was divided into regular plots and timber buildings erected. Reused nautical and building timbers include fragments of a Frisian ship and an arcaded building.     

The Upper Palaeolithic Sculptured ibex of Angles-sur-l'Angkin, France

This article reviews Magdalenian depictions of ibex in a cave in central France, and examines both the natural history of this animal and its meanings for the artists.     

Notice of Documents Preserved in the Record Office,at Malta

The recently found wall-paintings at North Mymms Park, Hertfordshire (a privately owned house, not open to the public), (TL 217042) are introduced, the history of the building and its relevant ownership is discussed, the paintings described, comparisons made, possible sources for the paintings considered, and date ranges suggested. An account of the subsequent conservation work is given.