A morning with Brighton and Hove Archaeological Society

On 1st June I spent the morning with a great group of people who are members of Brighton and Hove Archaeological society.
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  • Setting the scene

    Setting the scene

    behind this fence lays the remains of a medieval flint building, however the team believe that below this evidence shows that there are artifacts that may date back a further 600 years to around 410AD

    Saxon'medieval' time team'history'

  • setting the scene

    setting the scene

    The site is positioned in a field, to the left is an 11th century church, to the right open fields but the team believe other buildings and historic structures are almost certain and one day to be discovered.

    historic'timeteam'history'Saxon'medieval'

  • Setting the scene

    Setting the scene

    A stone wall surrounds the site and as far as the eye can see was believed to be owned by one Saxon family, After 1066 and the Norman conquest its believed that the land was divided into smaller sections and the owners now had to pay their taxes to the Normans. The land was divided again and again over the years and the country side is now developed with residential dwellings of many periods through history

    Land'history'timeteam'Saxon'Medieval

  • Setting the scene

    Setting the scene

    to the left of this photo beyond the hill the ground is of chalk base, its believed that the chalk was excavated and brought over to our site in order to lay a firm foundation to build apon

    History'Normans'Medieval'historical'

  • The Site

    The Site

    Some of the site is covered by plastic sheets, this is to protect areas that have been or are not yet been dug. you can see layers of flint stone this is man made and believed to be part of a wall. we learned today that it may be one side of a grand entrance gate which would have led to the manor house previously discovered and to the left of this photograph.

    archaeology'history'

  • The Site

    The Site

    the top soil has been removed and what is thought may hide another structure. This pit has been left for now

    Archaeology'History'Archaeologicaldig'Saxon'Medieval'

  • The Site

    The Site

    each pit is thoroughly checked inch by inch, all the loose soil and deb re is placed into yellow buckets. then moved to this mound and then checked through again, nothing must be missed. Every single find helps build a picture and as I learned the story unfolds before your eyes... its captivating.

    digsite'archaeology'history'

  • The Site

    The Site

    this 15' long pit had been dug and was believed to be part of the structure, the mindset soon changed, they thought they had missed the structure but it would have to join the wall, later in the day the bottom of the pit changed from soil to chalk at both ends. This meant that they had joined up to the building or buildings they were uncovering

    timeteam'history'saxon'medieval'archaeology'

  • The Finds

    The Finds

    This is a piece of bone, you or I would have disregarded this, however the knowledge of the team is so good, this was cleaned up and I was advised its an animal bone from around 1000 years old, it could have been part of a meal but evidence seems to point to a pen or barn is being unearthed

    History'Timeteam'Archaelogy'

  • Layers

    Layers

    each layer is a period in time, once the top soil is removed below is a chalky stone and unevenly placed structure this is believed to be part of a medieval wall or gate pillar. I was advised that it is not best quality in workmanship so is unlikely to be part of a house but possibly an outhouse or staple or animal pen.

    Layers'history'

  • The Team

    The Team

    The team run by John Skelton all of whom were more than accommodating, their knowledge and experience was outstanding and they were only to happy to come over and show me what they had found and what they thought the item was.

    dig'history'

  • The dig

    The dig

    it was suggested that the area pictured is part of a medieval gate pillar that once would have lead to a lavish garden with a track leading to the manor house. The Middle ages brought status to the Lords and having a grand entrance would have depicted wealth. To know for certain the other pillar would need to be uncovered. John showed me where he thought it may be but that was still to be investigated.

    Medieval'history'dig'

  • The Dig

    The Dig

    The large pieces of flint placed here anything up to 1000 years ago show a loose structure now submerged in soft chalky this is possibly a track . when a track leading to the building becomes to muddy or slippery flints would have been placed to make it passable once more

    flint'history'Medieval'middleages'

  • The Dig

    The Dig

    piece by piece, inch by inch a story unfolds before your eyes. each archaeologist has their own interpretation of who, what, when. and why and its fascinating to listen,

    history'archaeologists'

  • The Dig

    The Dig

    sometimes even the horses came over to see what going on.

    history'middleages'Saxon'

  • The Finds

    The Finds

    Less than an hour into this and one of the team had uncovered 9 suspected pieces of history. and that's just 1 member

    history

  • The Finds

    The Finds

    throughout the morning the trays filled with interesting things

    history

  • The Site

    The Site

    its hard to imagine that each stone that's moved is a part of history and maybe 1000 years ago that was placed in a position and today it was held in human hands once again

    History

  • The Site

    The Site

    each section is part of a story yet to unfold

    history

  • The Dig

    The Dig

    each member had their own little area to work in, a selection of tools a bucket and a tray everything was inspected as they say "no stone was left un turned"

    archaeology

  • The Dig

    The Dig

    each section is worked methodically as they all said to me, you can't miss anything even the tiniest piece of pottery can tell you who lived here and about how long ago, Saxon pots are more primitive than medieval, they look different and feel different,

    digginghistory'

  • The finds

    The finds

    this is a bent rusty nail. looking closely at it you can tell its not something you would see today. I asked how old it was, I was told that that style of nail was used up till the Victorian era, it was suggested its around one to two hundred years old.

    history

  • The Dig

    The Dig

    checking through the waist just in case.

    digginghistory

  • The Finds

    The Finds

    looking at this image you can clearly see the layers, the top is small pieces of stone possibly path, road or somewhere horses or people would use, below the larger pieces is most likely a wall of some sort

    history

  • The Finds

    The Finds

    a piece of flint shaped like a finger and about the same size. I jumped on this as the best find of the day so far... no apparently its nothing of importance

    History

  • The Finds

    The Finds

    a piece of animal bone from a small mammal suggested its from the Medieval period

    medieval

  • the Dig

    the Dig

    checking and checking again

    history

  • The Tools

    The Tools

    the Archaeologists tool kit, or what I saw today a sieve, a small and large scraper, a small brush, gloves a big yellow bucket and foam gardening knee pads for kneeling on and one guy had a spoon, I asked him whats it for and he told me he uses the handle to get into difficult places. i would think there is more.

    archaeologist

  • The Tools

    The Tools

    it is an archaeologists tradition that when you stop work for tea, lunch or even a heavy shower you put all your tools in a pile and put your bucket over the top of them.

    history

  • in the field

    in the field

    just one of the horses hanging around

    horsesgrazzing

  • The Tools

    The Tools

    A sieve on the mound of spent dirt

    History

  • The Dig

    The Dig

    it appears that the site managers roll is to allocate the team their dig area, he also measures depths, he logs and records every stone that is moved and every thing that is found, They are bagged and coded,

    history

  • The Dig

    The Dig

    each member slowly and layer by layer chips away.

    history

  • The Dig

    The Dig

    each member slowly and layer by layer chips away.

    History

  • The Finds

    The Finds

    another piece of animal bone.

    history

  • The Team

    The Team

    stone by stone

    History

  • The Team

    The Team

    checking everything

    history

  • The Team

    The Team

    the pits help as a wind breaker

    186

  • The Site Director

    The Site Director

    doing his rounds,

    archaeoligy' historydigging up the past

  • The Finds

    The Finds

    this is possibly a piece could date back to the iron age. The cracks on the surface tell us it has been used under extreme heat. maybe part of a boiling pot

    history

  • The Finds

    The Finds

    another nail

    historytime teamarchaeoligySaxonMedieval

  • The Site

    The Site

    The 11th century church stands close to where the manor house once was, by the fallen tree in the photo a doorway was unearthed, It would have been a quick access to the church. to the other side of the dig site where the suggested gates are leading to the gardens of the house. all this would tie in quite nicely with the theory of the layout

    history'digging

  • The Finds

    The Finds

    a piece of stone

    History

  • The Finds

    The Finds

    This is a pig or a sheep tooth it could be 1000 years old. again evidence that perhaps this was a barn structure

    history

  • The Finds

    The Finds

    Oyster Shells are everywhere on this site. apparently if you find the side of the shell with a dip in the bottom that is where the shellfish would have been and its a sign that you have found a dining area or a kitchen , if you find the flat top shells then generally you are searching through Medieval rubbish

    history

  • The Finds

    The Finds

    possibly a 1000 year old oyster shell sticking out the ground

    History

  • The Team

    The Team

    getting on bit by bit

    History

  • the Team

    the Team

    sweeping away the dust

    history

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