Anglo-Saxon Kent Electronic Database (ASKED)
Sue Harrington, Stuart Brookes, 2008. https://doi.org/10.5284/1000069. How to cite using this DOI
Data copyright © University College London unless otherwise stated
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Primary contact
Dr
Sue
Harrington
University College London
Gower Street
London
WC1E 6BT
UK
Resource identifiers
- ADS Collection: 832
- DOI:https://doi.org/10.5284/1000069
- How to cite using this DOI
Anglo-Saxon Kent Electronic Database (ASKED)
Sue Harrington and Stuart Brookes, 2008
Overview
The following tables make up the ASKED database. Their fields are described in detail below:
Site table
| Parish | Modern (post 1974) parish within which the site is located |
|---|---|
| Site name | The name by which the site is most commonly known or as used in the excavation report |
| Site ID | Unique site identification of 3 letters, derived from the parish and the site name, either the first 3 letters of the site name or an acronym of the constituent names, for example BAR is Barfreston; BBS is Broadstairs Bradstow School. For full listing see supplied wordlist: site names and codes |
| Easting | 6 figure reference |
| Northing | 6 figure reference, combines with easting to give centroid for the site |
| Site type | The default entry is 'cemetery' |
| County | Pre-1974 County, West Kent or East Kent, that is west or east of the River Medway |
| Excavation date | Specific date or date range for interventions into the site |
| Elevation | In metres above sea level |
| Drift geology | Predominant drift geology below the site |
| Date from | Taken together with the 'Date to' field, these give a broad date range within which the site was in use, based on analyses of the grave goods. Some entries are within 50 year bands, others may cover the whole period. Absolute dates are used only to facilitate searching the database and are fully open to revision in the light of subsequent research. |
| Date to | See above |
| Excavated by | Surname of the excavation director or acronym of the field unit |
| Comments | More detailed information on the type of cemetery and excavation history |
| Collections | Location of the site material as identified in the period 1998-2000. See Appendix 3 for the full list. |
| SMR no. | Sites and Monuments Record number |
Grave table
| Site ID | See Site Table Fields |
|---|---|
| Grave number | The individual grave number as recorded in the publication or site archive. In the case of multiple inhumations the suffix / is attached to denote this, followed by a lower case a, b, c and so on for each individual, for example 21/a; 21/b, with /a the earliest burial if a stacked multiple inhumation. |
| Sex | Entered as M for male; F for female; U for unknown. Where doubt has been expressed in the report this is entered as, for example, F? The sex entry is solely determined by osteoarchaeological analysis. This may be at variance to the gender entry. |
| Gender | Entered as Masculine, Feminine or Unknown. An attribution of masculinity or femininity based solely on grave goods. This may be at variance to the sex designation. Masculinity is determined solely by the presence of one or more weapons. Feminine markers are determined as two or more beads, two or more brooches, or combinations of two or more single artefact types that are assumed to be feminine objects, for example, a single bead and a key, a pendant and a finger ring, or a single brooch and two beads. More subtle combinations might be apparent through further analyses and a construction of rigid binary opposites is not intended. |
| Age | The age at death, commonly a range term, as determined by osteoarchaeological analysis, for example 20-25; 45+. Where the report only gives 'adult' this is entered as such. However, the excavator terms 'child' or 'juvenile' might imply any age from 3-16, therefore cannot be interpreted as an accurate assessment |
| Age band | A grouping term based on the age at death using the following bands: 0-2 infant; 3-6 child; 7-15 juvenile; 16-24 young adult; 25-44 adult; 45+ old adult |
| Structural evidence | Yes/no field indicating the presence or absence of above ground structures to the grave where noted in the original report, for example a barrow or marker post. No further details are provided and the researcher is referred to the original publication. |
| Description | A seldom used text field with general notes about the grave and the individual, particularly any revisions to the grave numbering |
| Date from | Taken together with the 'Date to' field, these give a broad date range within which the individual was probably buried, based on analyses of the grave goods. Some entries are within 50 year bands, others may cover the whole period. Absolute dates are used only to facilitate searching the database and are fully open to revision in the light of subsequent research. |
| Date to | See above |
Object table
| Site ID | See Grave Table field | |
|---|---|---|
| Grave no | See Grave Table field. Objects entered under grave number OA are Other Artefacts, out of context. | |
| Object | Identifying name of the artefact - see supplied wordlist: Artefact designations | |
| Quantity | How many of these objects are present. For unique objects the default is 1. For multiples of the same object, for example beads, the quantity is entered. Where X is entered, this indicates an unknown number of multiples. | |
| Object type | A set of grouping categories: Personal effects, Weaponry, Grave Equipment etc, Textile Making Equipment, Tools (other). See Appendix 2 for individual object ascriptions. Objects can fall within several groups, depending on their use in the burial. The Personal Effects category covers all of those objects associated with costume and everyday objects around the body, including knives, boxes and bag collections. The Weaponry category covers all of those objects associated with militarism, such as swords, spears and shields. Grave Equipment etc. covers coffins, nails and miscellaneous material inserted as part of the burial ritual. Textile Making Equipment is included as a category as this underpins one of the original research issues. It includes weaving beaters and spindle whorls, together with thread boxes, which are textiles related. Tools (other) covers productive objects, regardless of how they are used in the burial, such as awls and shears. | |
| Type | An unevenly constructed dataset that was assembled (2000) before the publication of more recent typological material on buckles and beads. Where typologies are known and have been used in excavation reports, this data has been entered directly. For unpublished material, standard typologies were followed, but these entries must be regarded as provisional. Consult Artefact Designations list to see if a typology has been used or run a general query for an object to see if there are any typological entries. Where possible, descriptive information has been included in note form and reference is made to the type sites for the project, Buckland Dover (DBU) and Mill Hill Deal (MHD), where comparisons are obvious. | |
| Provenance | LocalThis term was applied to any artefact that could have been produced domestically within the community, locally to the community or could have arrived via short distance exchange within the region. It covers tools and domestic artefacts, such as knives and hand-made pottery. It assumes that the making and deposition of the artefact were contemporary within a generation. The application of this term asserts that most of the ironwork was the result of localised production.Anglo-SaxonThis term is used as the default and is a general statement covering cultural material of the period 410-700 AD, with a wide distribution and little regional variation. Examples are swords, most shield bosses, strap ends and leather bags. This term is also used to cover more stylised material with very unclear provenances, for example copper alloy buckles of the seventh century. It includes material requiring more detailed typological analysis.There is a great deal of potential overlap between the terms local and Anglo-Saxon. Particular artefacts in a category could be locally made, imitating others that were imported. Generally, there is insufficient information on which to base such distinctions. Weapons could be the product of a local smith, but equally well may have been status objects given and received under particular circumstances, from a centralised source. Where regional provenances for particular weapon types have been suggested in publication, for example Group 3 shield bosses are most common in Kent, these have been given instead. Anglian; Kentish; Saxon; Upper Thames ValleyThese terms were applied to artefacts where discrete regions are known to be the main area of distribution and possible manufacture, for example Anglian girdle hangers and Kentish small square-headed brooches. Its use denotes artefacts of insular stylistic development, regardless of material content, such as imported garnets in Kentish disc brooches.Romano-BritishThis term denotes artefacts that were part of the indigenous culture and were still in active use at the time of deposition, for example, penannular brooches of the fifth century.Curated/Roman; Curated/JutlandicThe term Curated was applied to objects that were made significantly earlier than their period of deposition in the burial. Additionally, indicated by /, the period or geographical area from which an object originated is given. Examples are Jutlandic brooches, such as that in GIL48, and Roman shale spindle whorls.Kentish/Frankish; Kentish/JutlandicThis denotes artefacts found in both areas, probably coming from the second named area into Kent. It suggests also that the artefact may have been made in Kent, as a stylistic development of Continental proto-types. An example is of this is the shield on tongue buckle.ImportedArtefacts that were probably not made in the Anglo-Saxon areas of lowland Britain, such rock crystal spindle whorls, are designated as imported. This term suggests that they may have come via trading, exchange or the movement of people through migration. Imported:Imported followed by : indicates the best estimate of a possible source, for example Imported:Baltic for amber beadsImported/Frankish, or /Thuringian, or/Byzantine, followed by / specific source
The area with which objects are known to be mainly associated is indicated after Imported/, for example Imported/Frankish for radiate headed brooches. This may be followed by a more specific source, if identified in a published text.
| |
| Comments | Additional information, not included in other fields. An asterisk * denotes an estimated weight, derived from comparable finds | |
| Position in grave | Used in combination with Orientation and Position on Body to locate the object in relation to the individual skeleton, where possible.
The locations are illustrated right and listed below:
Right top, Right middle, Right bottom, Above, Head, Shoulders, Chest, Waist, Knees, Feet, Below, Left top, Left middle, Left bottom, In fill |
 |
| Orientation | Up, Down, Horizontal, Other | |
| Position on Body | On, Beside, Under, Unknown | |
| Mat_comp_1 | The primary raw material constituent of the artefact. Iron is entered as Fe, copper alloy as Ae. For full listing see supplied wordlist: raw material types In the case of an uncertain constituent, ? is added to the provisional identification. | |
| Weight_MC1 | In grams of the primary raw material constituent | |
| Mat_comp_2 | Subsidiary raw material composition of the artefact | |
| Weight_MC2 | In grams of the secondary raw material constituent | |
| Mat_comp_3 | Tertiary raw material constituent | |
| Weight_MC3 | In grams of the tertiary raw material constituent | |
| Textile fragment | Presence/absence field, with no further detail. For full records consult the specialist textiles database at http://archaeologydataservice.ac.uk/archives/view/clothing_eh_2007/ | |
All ASKED datasets provided via the ADS are licensed under a Creative Commons CC BY 3.0 license
