Post-Medieval Archaeology 42 (2)

Two trenches over the ramparts of the seventeenth-century fort built to defend Harwich Haven revealed five construction phases, including what may have been the brick fausse-braye wall reported by the Dutch in their attack on the fort in 1667. A reappraisal of the documentary records indicates major improvements in the 1680s to the turf and shingle fort, the significance of which had been previously misunderstood. The clay tobacco pipes associated with this refurbishment are the first sizable well-dated assemblage of the period to be published in the region.

Archaeological investigations at Parliament House in Edinburgh included the recovery of artefacts from a void discovered during building works. This space had been used as undercourt jail cells in the late nineteenth century, a time of penal reform. The assemblage contains items representing domestic, light industrial and clerical activities, as well as personal items such as children's toys and women's clothing. The Victorian penal code, contemporary accounts of prisoners, warders and chaplains, and historical and criminological studies are argued to suggest that they reflect not only the Prison Board's attempt to enforce conformity but also prisoners' and prison employees' resistance to the system.

Reports post-medieval finds, with brief notes and colour illustrations of some of the more notable. PP-B

Notes the discovery of an assemblage of beads and bead-making waste during excavations. Briefly describes the assemblage, suggesting that the workshop may have had links to Nicholas Crispe, an entrepreneur with involvements in the early English colonies in America, the East India company, and the African slave trade. It is suggested that some of the beads recovered may have been of a type intended for consumers in either North America or Africa. PP-B

Notes on the excavations. PP-B