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Saxon / Anglo-Saxon Archaeology & Artefacts

"tooth enamel fragments"
"MOLA"
:rollingw:
 
Galloway Viking-age treasure: Egbert revealed as name of one owner

Source: BBC News
Date: 2 October, 2019

Part of a Viking-age treasure hoard unearthed in Galloway belonged to a man named Egbert, research has concluded.

Examination of Anglo-Saxon runic inscriptions on silver arm-rings has revealed the name Ecgbeorht.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-south-scotland-49905258
 
They ran out of sticky labels at the Viking reception...
 
Comfortably Numb said:
Galloway Viking-age treasure: Egbert revealed as name of one owner
Examination of Anglo-Saxon runic inscriptions on silver arm-rings has revealed the name Ecgbeorht.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-south-scotland-49905258
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Addendum

"Yet these runes are not of the familiar Scandinavian variety common around this date on the nearby Isle of Man, but of a distinctively Anglo-Saxon type."

Reading runes... wish there had been more details about this.
 
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Anglo-Saxon buildings beneath Bath Abbey

Source: Current Archaeology
Date: 6 March, 2020

Two buildings found during excavations at Bath Abbey are the first Anglo-Saxon stone structures to be identified within the city, and may belong to the monastery where Edgar was crowned as first King of England, new analysis suggests.

The apsidal (semi-circular) structures were uncovered by Wessex Archaeology to the south of the current Abbey church, below street level, during archaeological work undertaken as part of Bath Abbey’s Footprint project (see CA 348). It has long been known that there was once an Anglo-Saxon monastery in this area, but no remains exist above ground today; these structures may represent some of the first real evidence to come to light.

[...]

The structures were found below the location where the cloisters of the 12th-century cathedral would have stood, and overlying Romano-British deposits, supporting the radiocarbon dates. In a post-Roman context like this it is most common to find such apsidal structures at the east end of an ecclesiastical building like a church or chapel. Furthermore, the late Saxon stonework found at the Abbey and the presence of late Saxon burials in the area near the stone structures reinforce the likelihood that they were indeed part of Bath’s lost Anglo-Saxon monastery.

https://www.archaeology.co.uk/articles/anglo-saxon-buildings-beneath-bath-abbey.htm
 
Normal For Norfolk: Mystery of brooch origins remain.

The origins of a 1,100-year-old brooch found in a lorry-load of soil may be "a mystery" that is never solved, say archaeologists.

The late 9th Century silver disc was discovered in a field in Great Dunham, Norfolk, which had recently been landscaped. It is not known where the soil came from, but experts say the find is similar to the nearby Pentney Hoard. The British Museum said the discovery was of "national importance".

An inquest - the process by which the find may be officially declared treasure - has been opened in Norwich and will conclude on 9 June.

The brooch was found by an inexperienced detectorist on 9 May 2019, on just his third day detecting. He initially thought the piece was Victorian, but when archaeologists at Norfolk County Council were alerted they visited the scene to excavate further.

https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-norfolk-52724170
 
Anglo-Saxon warlord unearthed by metal detector hobbyists

The skeleton of the man, dubbed the "Marlow Warlord" after the Berkshire town near where the remains were found, was buried with several weapons, including a sword in a decorated scabbard. He would have stood at about 6 feet (1.8 meters) tall at a time when the average male height in Britain was about 5 feet 7 inches (1.7 m).

they unearthed two bronze bowls, — and, realizing the significance of the find, registered their discovery with the Portable Antiquities Scheme (PAS) run by the British Museum and the National Museum of Wales, which records amateur archaeological finds.

A PAS archaeologist then investigated, recovering the bronze bowls and a pair of iron spearheads that suggested the site was likely to be an Anglo-Saxon grave. Those objects will soon go on display at the Buckinghamshire Museum in Aylesbury.

The sword is made of iron and is held in a decorated scabbard made of bronze, leather and wood. Some of the leather has survived many centuries in the ground because it was protected by the corrosion of the iron blade

The scabbard also had a bronze fitting called a "chape" at the end, which showed a cut-mark where it might have been damaged by a warrior on foot who struck the wearer of the scabbard seated on horseback.

This suggested the sword was a working weapon, rather than just for show, he said. "It's quite an interesting piece of evidence that this person saw active combat."

Several other items buried with the Marlow Warlord indicate his importance.

The bronze bowls were imported to Britain from what is now Belgium or France, which suggested he had far-reaching connections, Thomas said. The glass vessel was also a very rare find from the period — glass was relatively common under Roman rule, but it is seldom found at early Anglo-Saxon sites — while the sword itself must have been made by an expert craftsman.
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1,000-year-old cross buried in Scottish field thought to have belonged to king.

The silver cross was likely commissioned by those in the highest levels of Anglo-Saxon society.

The true value of a 1,000-year-old Anglo-Saxon silver cross, found in Scotland in a rare hoard of Viking artefacts, has been revealed for the first time.
Delicate conservation work on the cross has unveiled its intricate decoration and it is now thought the individual who commissioned the treasure may have been a high-standing cleric or even a king.
Discovered by metal detectorist Derek McLennan when scanning a ploughed field in Dumfries and Galloway in 2014, the cross was dug up in the Galloway Hoard – the richest and rarest collection of Viking-era objects ever to be found in Britain and Ireland.
Conservators say the treasures are of international significance and could transform our understanding of this period of Scottish history. The collection was acquired by National Museums Scotland (NMS) in 2017.
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(C) Independant. '20
 
Up-date

Researchers win £1m grant to unlock secrets of Viking-era treasure trove

Galloway Hoard comprising more than 100 objects lay undiscovered for 1,000 years before discovery in 2014
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Researchers in Scotland hope to unlock the secrets of a stunning Viking-age hoard after a receiving a £1m grant to examine the provenance of the 10th century haul that lay undisturbed for a thousand years before being unearthed by a metal detectorist.

The incredible discovery of the Galloway Hoard, comprising more than 100 objects including silver jewellery and ingots, was made in September 2014 in a field in Dumfries and Galloway. It has since been acquired by National Museums Scotland (NMS).



NMS will carry out a three-year project, “Unwrapping the Galloway Hoard”, in partnership with the University of Glasgow, to examine in detail the objects, due to go on display in an exhibition next year.

The haul contains an unparalleled range of precious metal and jewelled items, including a rare gold ingot, a unique gold bird-shaped pin and a decorated silver-gilt vessel, the only complete lidded vessel of its type ever discovered in Britain and Ireland.

Inside the vessel were beads, amulets of glass and rock crystal, a silver penannular brooch and five Anglo-Saxon disc brooches not previously found in Scotland. Parts of the find were wrapped in fragile textile bundles.

Taken altogether, the hoard hints at hitherto unknown connections between people across Europe and beyond, and, according to researchers, it provides a rare opportunity to research and reveal many lost aspects of the Viking age.
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(C) The Guardian.'20.
 
'Find of the century': medieval hoard of treasures unearthed in Cambridge.
Graves found under demolished student halls are providing valuable insight into life in a post-Roman settlement
A man in a hard hat and hi-vis clothing bending over a partly unearthed skeleton in the ground

The human remains found at the Cambridge site are remarkably well preserved in the alkaline soil. Photograph: Albion Archaeology



An early medieval graveyard unearthed beneath student accommodation at Cambridge University has been described as “one of the most exciting finds of Anglo-Saxon archaeology since the 19th century”.
King’s College discovered the “extensive” cemetery, containing more than 60 graves, after demolishing a group of 1930s buildings which had recently housed graduates and staff in the west of the city, to make way for more modern halls.

(c) The Guardian. '21.
 
Anyone see The Dig on Netflix? Ralph Fiennes is pretty good as Brown.

Archaeologist Basil Brown unearthed some of the greatest treasures ever found in the UK. The story of the Sutton Hoo discovery is being retold in the new Netflix film The Dig. Who was Mr Brown and what was his role in revealing the Anglo-Saxon finds?
Short presentational grey line

Who was Basil Brown?

Born in 1888, he was the only child of farmer George and Charlotte Brown. He spent almost his entire life in the Suffolk village of Rickinghall and left the local school there at the age of 12. Despite his limited formal education, he taught himself several languages and studied diplomas in astronomy, geography and geology, says historian Caleb Howgego. ...

Mr Brown, who was also a keen astronomer and author of Astronomical Atlases Maps and Charts, had previously been involved in excavating the Roman settlement at Stanton Chair, near Ixworth, and Roman pottery kilns in the Wattisfield area. His work caught the attention of Ipswich Museum.

When Edith Pretty decided to excavate part of her estate at Sutton Hoo, near Woodbridge, Suffolk in 1938, she was advised by the museum to call upon his services. While working on the site, Mr Brown cycled 35 miles (56km) each way between there and his home every week.

Cambridge archaeologist Charles Phillips, who took over the excavation once it became clear it was of huge significance, called Mr Brown "a pure piece of rustic Suffolk" in his book, My Life in Archaeology....

https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-suffolk-55877934
 
ramonmercado said:
Artefacts being returned to Southend.

A royal burial site found between a pub and Aldi supermarket has been hailed as the UK's answer to Tutankhamun's tomb.

Workers unearthed the grave, which contained dozens of rare artefacts, during roadworks in Prittlewell, near Southend, Essex, in 2003. Tooth enamel fragments were the only human remains, but experts say their "best guess" is that they belonged to a 6th Century Anglo-Saxon prince. It is said to be the oldest example of a Christian Anglo-Saxon royal burial.

Now, after 15 years of expert analysis some of the artefacts are returning to Southend on permanent display for the first time. When a team from the Museum of London Archaeology (Mola) excavated the site, they said they were "astounded" to find the burial chamber intact. The remains of the timber structure, which would have measured about 13ft (4m) square and 5ft (1.5m) deep, housed some 40 rare and precious artefacts.

https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-essex-48203883
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I know exactly where the burial site is - used to play there as a kid. We called it 'the Roman graves' . Only a couple of hundred years out. That would have been 40 years before the graves were discovered. I haven't been back for a few years but would be astonished if it is between a pub and an ALDI since the Southend Victoria to Shenfield railway is on one side, the A127 on the other, and on the other side of the A127 is Priory Park.
 
ramonmercado said:
Anyone see The Dig on Netflix? Ralph Fiennes is pretty good as Brown.

Archaeologist Basil Brown unearthed some of the greatest treasures ever found in the UK. The story of the Sutton Hoo discovery is being retold in the new Netflix film The Dig. Who was Mr Brown and what was his role in revealing the Anglo-Saxon finds?
Short presentational grey line

Who was Basil Brown?

Born in 1888, he was the only child of farmer George and Charlotte Brown. He spent almost his entire life in the Suffolk village of Rickinghall and left the local school there at the age of 12. Despite his limited formal education, he taught himself several languages and studied diplomas in astronomy, geography and geology, says historian Caleb Howgego. ...

Mr Brown, who was also a keen astronomer and author of Astronomical Atlases Maps and Charts, had previously been involved in excavating the Roman settlement at Stanton Chair, near Ixworth, and Roman pottery kilns in the Wattisfield area. His work caught the attention of Ipswich Museum.

When Edith Pretty decided to excavate part of her estate at Sutton Hoo, near Woodbridge, Suffolk in 1938, she was advised by the museum to call upon his services. While working on the site, Mr Brown cycled 35 miles (56km) each way between there and his home every week.

Cambridge archaeologist Charles Phillips, who took over the excavation once it became clear it was of huge significance, called Mr Brown "a pure piece of rustic Suffolk" in his book, My Life in Archaeology....

https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-suffolk-55877934
Click to expand...

Watched it last night. Quite a charming drama and top marks for belatedly giving Basil Brown the credit he was due. Got me Googling the real story behind the dig afterwards. Carey Mulligan is only 36 and is rather too young to play Edith Pretty, who would have been mid-fifties at the start of the film. Otherwise though, very well cast and gently compelling in a very English sort of way. There were definite hints of Brideshead Revisited in there!
Until reading up on it afterwards, I didn't realise that the ship itself had completely disintegrated. The shape we see in the ground is just the imprint or ghost of the ship.
 
blessmycottonsocks said:
Watched it last night. Quite a charming drama and top marks for belatedly giving Basil Brown the credit he was due. Got me Googling the real story behind the dig afterwards. Carey Mulligan is only 36 and is rather too young to play Edith Pretty, who would have been mid-fifties at the start of the film. Otherwise though, very well cast and gently compelling in a very English sort of way. There were definite hints of Brideshead Revisited in there!
Until reading up on it afterwards, I didn't realise that the ship itself had completely disintegrated. The shape we see in the ground is just the imprint or ghost of the ship.
Click to expand...

I read a review that said it was aptly named, because all they do in it is bloody dig.
 
GNC said:
I read a review that said it was aptly named, because all they do in it is bloody dig.
Click to expand...

With such an eponymous title, you would feel a bit short changed if there wasn't a lot of digging in it!
There is though a wry look at the upstairs downstairs English class system, the politics infecting archaeology, some barely suppressed homosexuality, a dash of adultery and even a bit of al fresco shagging, all set against the heady atmosphere of the outbreak of war.
Definitely worth watching.
 
I am almost certain that the Sutton Hoo helmet was not made from Lego

However

The Benty Grange Helmet was made from Horn...so, a plastic helmet is possible...
 
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I was really into Beowulf when I was a kid --in fact in junior high school I wanted to be able to read Beowulf in Old English, so I ended up taking lessons in Middle English with a grad student at the U of O (you need to learn M.E. before O.E.) --I kept growing up and things changed and I ended up not continuing on to learn Old English.. Or joining the wealthy folks who decided to make a career out of studying ancient literature :chuckle:
 
There is a nice duo-language translation by Seamus Heaney. Maybe it could help you get a foothold in Old English since you have some experience with Middle English. Then you can hire a nice grad student when the pandemic is over and recommence your studies in earnest.
 
Probably lost by the Count of Cromer during a raid.

A gold and garnet sword pyramid lost by a Sutton Hoo-era lord "careening around the countryside" on his horse has been discovered by a metal detectorist.

The Anglo-Saxon object was found in the Breckland area of Norfolk in April. Finds liaison officer Helen Geake said the garnets are Indian or Sri Lankan, revealing the far-flung nature of trade links in the 6th and 7th Centuries. Sword pyramids come in pairs so its loss "was like losing one earring - very annoying", she said.

The tiny 12mm by 11.9mm (0.4in by 0.4in) mount dates to about AD560 to 630, at a time when Norfolk was part of the Kingdom of East Anglia.

Dr Geake said: "It would have been owned by somebody in the entourage of a great lord or Anglo-Saxon king, and he would have been a lord or king who might have found his way into the history books. They or their lord had access to gold and garnets and to high craftsmanship."

https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-norfolk-57999456
 
A Monastery fit for a Queen.

The site of an 8th Century monastery that was believed to have been lost has been unearthed next to a church.

The exact location of the monastery ruled by Queen Cynethryth - the widow of the powerful King Offa of Mercia - had long baffled historians. However, archaeologists said they had finally found it in the grounds of Holy Trinity Church in Cookham, Berkshire.

It is hoped it will give a unique insight into one of the most prominent women of the early middle ages. Cynethryth, who it is believed died in 798 AD, is the only Anglo-Saxon queen known to have been depicted on a coin.

Written records showed she became royal abbess of a monastery after the death of her husband, King Offa, who had ruled Mercia, one of the main Anglo-Saxon kingdoms.


https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-berkshire-58258647
 
Under the Norman Church they find an Anglo-Saxon Church.

Archaeologists working on the route of the HS2 high-speed railway have found the remains of an Anglo-Saxon Church.

The discovery was made during excavations at the site of the old St Mary's Church, Stoke Mandeville, Bucks. The Norman church, which dates back to 1080, previously made headlines when it was revealed around 3,000 bodies will need to be moved to a new burial site as part of the excavation.

Anglo-Saxon remains beneath have been described as a "fantastic discovery".

The site is being investigated by a team from LP-Archaeology, working with HS2's contractor, Fusion JV.

https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-beds-bucks-herts-58477080
 

Earliest Evidence Of A Deadly Bacteria Found In Child Plague Victim​


In the tooth of a 6-year-old kid killed by the Plague around 1,500 years ago, scientists have identified the earliest known case of a Haemophilus influenzae serotype b (HiB) infection, a disease that was a leading cause of bacterial meningitis in children before a vaccine was rolled out across the world in the 1980s.​


Haemophilus-influenzae-disease_H.jpg


As reported in the journal Genome Biology, researchers isolated the genome of HiB from the tooth of a 6-year-old boy who died from around 540 to 550 CE and was buried at the Anglo-Saxon cemetery of Edix Hill in England.

Along with detecting HiB on the boy's dental calculus, they also found the dreaded bacteria responsible for the plague, Yersinia pestis, which likely killed him.

“This is the second case of plague co-infection in archeological samples reported recently,” the study authors write in their paper. “The site of Edix Hill, which has yielded multiple plague genomes, illustrates how plague affected whole populations already afflicted by other diseases and might have been the final blow for already immunocompromised individuals.”

https://www.iflscience.com/health-a...deadly-bacteria-found-in-child-plague-victim/

maximus otter
 
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