Most archaeology in Britain takes place on redevelopment sites – erecting shops and houses, road extensions etc. Therefore where we dig is often dictated to us. It is important that a site is investigated before building works take place, as deep foundations and service pipes could damage evidence for ancient remains buried in the ground. There will not always be a need for a large scale excavation. A decision is made dependant on several factors, including the redevelopment plans and what we might expect to find on the site. Fenwick’s (pictured) is part of the Whitefriars shopping precinct which was completed in 2005. The 5 year excavation project was known as THE BIG DIG. |
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There are other ways of finding or investigating a site. Responsible
metal detecting can reveal objects indicating ancient
activity in the area. An evaluation trench may be cut in specific places to get an idea of what might be in the area. A resistivity meter sends an electrical current deep into the ground. A buried stone wall will resist the current giving a positive reading. A deep pit will give a negative reading. The buried evidence than appears as a plan. This is a type of geophysical survey. These are some of the ways of finding evidence of ancient remains. |
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Buried remains in the countryside can show up as crop marks in a field. The dark green circles in the growing wheat field at Minster, Thanet (top left) probably indicate the site of prehistoric burial mounds or barrows. Unfortunately the ancient mound of rock and soil has usually been ploughed away through modern farming. But the deep circular ditches survive and crops will grow stronger here where their roots can grow deep into the ground. Bottom centre shows the double ring ditch of a Bronze Age barrow excavated at the Thanet Earth site, near Monkton, Thanet. At its centre was an inhumation burial (bottom left) – the skeleton of an adult male, with ceramic beaker, small dagger blade and an archer’s stone wrist guard. Reconstruction prehistoric cremation burial © Worcestershire County Council; artist Steve Rigby. |
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There are many ways that big and small things become buried in the ground – both in the past and now – a never ending process. Top left
shows deep foundations of a substantial Roman building on the south side
of Canterbury, near the River Stour. Bottom centre is an artist’s impression of the effects on the town of Pompei when Mount Vesuvius erupted in AD 79. |
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Various activities over the centuries have resulted in a build up of layers as illustrated in this diagrammatic section through an excavation. Often in the past, metalled roads and clay floors (top photo) in people’s homes and workshops were resurfaced – layer upon layer of evidence. See how Roman builders used soil and rubble to level the ground and later, how an abandoned Roman building has collapsed. As a modern example of this kind of decomposition, the black and white photos record the decay of an abandoned 20th century farm building in Derbyshire. Over a period of 20 years weathering and rampant vegetation reduced masonry to a layer of rubble. Collectively we call these layers stratigraphy. |
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This is very much a one-off! It is probably a commemorative mug for a special event. |
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Everything is dated by association with something else. We can liken the layers of rubbish in a bin to layers of ancient ‘rubbish’ on an excavation. In general, the bottom layer will be the first to be made and therefore the oldest (or earliest evidence). The top layer will be the last to be made and therefore the most recent (or latest evidence). |
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With the
principle of most recent at the top and oldest at the bottom, all things
found in between (buildings, objects) are dated according to what is found
above, below, with or alongside them. This is dating by association. |
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As they work, archaeologists look for changes of shape and colour in the ground indicating where something has happened in the past. Top photo shows Anglo-Saxon graves at the Buckland site, near Dover. There were around 500 inhumations in the cemetery. The graves were rectangles dug into the natural white chalk, the bodies placed inside and covered with soil. Bottom photo shows an archaeologist trowelling the surface of a clay floor in the medieval Whitefriars kitchen area, Canterbury. You can see the depth of the orange clay layer. |
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Archaeologists usually remove the remains they find as they work down through a site and in so doing they are ‘destroying’ the site. So it is very important to record the evidence in situ (while in place) as they go along. Thousands of records may be made on an excavation. Later at post excavation stage, all the plans (horizontal views) and sections (vertical views) of the layers and features are brought together for analysis and interpretation. Putting the sections in order is something like compiling a family tree and linking up the plans is like doing a jigsaw. The aim is to build an overall picture of what was happening on the site at different periods of its past. Drawing a scale plan (left, Buckland, Dover) usually at 1:10 or 1:20, writing notes (centre, Canterbury Whitefriars) and photography (right, Canterbury Whitefriars) are three of the recording methods used on site. |
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A Home Office license is required to be able to deal with human remains. Top photo shows a young woman, probably Roman, from the Thanet Earth site, who almost certainly died in child birth (the infant’s head is visible in the pelvic area). A complete skeleton may hold evidence of gender, age at death, diet and pathological disorders (resulting from disease or lifestyle). Cause of death can rarely be identified from dry bones alone. However the skull (right) of an adult male from the Anglo-Saxon cemetery at Buckland, Dover has a fatal wound caused by a sword or axe blow. The crushed bone in the front of the skull has been caused by the weight of soils and other material above the grave. Scale: 10 cms. More about dealing with human remains |
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Archaeologists call the man-made and natural objects they discover finds – a collective term. The complete ceramic jugs in the photo were found at the bottom of a cess tank belonging to medieval Whitefriars, Canterbury. The soft cess broke their fall! Top right shows a tray of various fragments. The label has the excavation site code and context number – where exactly on site the finds came from. The finds are marked with the code and number. This information is very important as it allows cross referencing between site and finds and between records. |
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Soil samples may be taken from an excavation to look for small or microscopic fragments of plants and animals. Archaeologists call this environmental evidence. The archaeologist, right, is sieving a sample using a fine mesh. The archaeologist, left, is trawling through samples of 11th century cess from a communal cess pit serving a number of simple Canterbury dwellings. It was a very productive exercise telling us a lot about early medieval diet. The organic food remains had survived because the pit was in waterlogged soil (near the River Stour, Canterbury). Bacteria which usually destroy organic materials do not survive in waterlogged conditions. |
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The image shows interpretations of the evidence for the Roman town of Canterbury (top) and Canterbury as an Anglo-Saxon settlement (bottom). The black and white reconstruction of a Roman heating system (right) is based on finding evidence for roof tiles, pilae stacks (square tiles shown in situ) and box flue tiles (built into walls). Comparisons will also be made with more complete similar sites elsewhere. In the basement of Waterstones bookshop, St Margaret’s Street, Canterbury you can see stacks of pilae like the ones pictured here. They are part of the Roman public baths where there were hot and warm rooms. The Roman and Anglo-Saxon reconstructions are a result of at least ten major excavations and many minor ones in the centre of Canterbury. |
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Some materials are extremely durable and survive well. The mosaic is made of tesserae of fired clay, ragstone and limestone. Pottery – although often in fragments – can survive for thousands of years. Bottom right shows a Roman oven made of clay brick and tile, found at the Canterbury Whitefriars site. |
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Some materials are extremely durable and survive well. Top row, L to R: gold Anglo-Saxon bracteate (pendant) in excellent condition; silver Anglo-Saxon coins; corroded copper alloy object with shield emblem visible by X-ray. Bottom row, L to R: glass Anglo-Saxon cone beakers; animal bone Roman toggle; stone Bronze Age archer’s wrist guard. |
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Bacteria that destroy organic materials will thrive when air, warmth and moisture are present in soil. The photo shows remains of a pair of Roman boots found in an inhumation grave in Canterbury. Iron hobnails from the soles have survived but the leather uppers have decomposed through bacterial action in the soil. Scale: 10 cms. |
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This is an adult female from the Anglo-Saxon cemetery at Buckland, Dover. Bone contains mineral (calcium) and organic (collagen) matter. In neutral soils the calcium component of bone will normally survive well. Soft tissue – skin, organs etc – will decompose. A gold bracteate (pendant) and beads around the neck of this woman suggest she was clothed when buried. The fabric has decomposed. At her left hand is a circular ivory band with five garnets inside; this is probably the frame of a leather or fabric pouch which has also decomposed. By her left foot is an iron weaving ‘sword’ and glass vessels lie at her feet. Scale: 1 m. The red and white arrow indicates North. Orientation is important as the position of the deceased may indicate mortuary custom. |
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The site photo shows evidence for an Anglo-Saxon home or workshop – a rectangular shape lined with large circles of black soil where wooden posts once stood and smaller circles in between where the upright branches of wattling panels stood. Wattle and daub was a common construction method used in the ancient past, lumps of clay daub being pressed against the woven branches for weather proofing and insulation (see end wall in reconstruction). Archaeologists may find fragments of the daub in the rubble around the structure. There is usually no evidence for the roof – so it is likely that the material used has since decomposed. But we know that medieval timber framed buildings were often thatched and so it is reasonable to suggest that this was also the practice (at least in the south east) in Anglo-Saxon times. Scales: 1 m, 1.5 m. |
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Organic materials can survive when air, moisture or warmth are absent as destructive bacteria need all three to survive. The leather medieval shoe soles and 20th century postman’s bag pictured were found in silts on the bed of the River Stour in Canterbury where there was no air present (anaerobic conditions). Therefore destructive bacterial action could not take place. The wooden Bronze Age boat discovered in Dover (top right) also survived because it was waterlogged. The bottle of port was found in an 18th century Canterbury grave. The bottle was corked and airtight. When the cork was removed the port smelled fine but soon smelled rank on exposure to the air! |
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"How do you know where to dig?"