Wharram Percy Digital Archive
Stuart Wrathmell, 2012. (updated 2022) https://doi.org/10.5284/1000415. How to cite using this DOI
Data copyright © Wharram Research Project, English Heritage unless otherwise stated
This work is licensed under the ADS Terms of Use and Access.
Primary contact
Dr
Stuart
Wrathmell
Divisional Manager, Heritage
West Yorkshire Archive Service
PO Box 5
Nepshaw Lane South
Morley
LS27 0QP
England
Resource identifiers
- ADS Collection: 1031
- DOI:https://doi.org/10.5284/1000415
- How to cite using this DOI
Wharram Percy Finds Catalogue
Finds Overview | Search Finds Catalogues
Finds Overview
The artefacts recovered from Wharram Percy over the 40 years of excavations numbered over 110,100. Over such a long period excavation, recovery and recording techniques inevitably changed and developed a number of times. Details of the excavation techniques can be found in the published volumes and in the site archive. A brief discussion of the final small finds recording system is included in Wharram VII, 2 (a copy of which is included in the main archive), and of the pottery analysis methodology in Wharram VIII, 60.
Initially artefacts were numbered by finds tray ('Old Finds Number' in some of the catalogues), and only later were they allocated individual numbers, the Small Finds Number ('SF Number' in the catalogues) which, combined with the Site Code and context number, gives a unique identification. All finds were cleaned, labelled and bagged on site. Post excavation work (in and/or through the AM Lab) has included Xrays (for the iron, non-ferrous and some of the bone and ivory artefacts) and further conservation where necessary - where these records exist, they are stored in the main archive.
Artefacts have been checked, and some re-packaged, during post-excavation work. Most artefacts have been studied by specialists, with full catalogues and reports on selected items produced during the publication preparations. Selection has been based either on context or the intrinsic importance of an individual object.
The Faunal Data
Limitations with the faunal data (an estimated 110,600 fragments were recovered) were acknowledged during the analysis. In particular it should be noted that animal bones were largely recovered during hand-excavation, as screening during the excavations was not undertaken systematically. This will have led to a bias in favour of the larger bones and larger taxa. In addition, a full retention policy was not adopted for bones (unlike the artefacts), although the level of discard is now difficult to quantify. Certainly some bones from Sites 60 and 69 were disposed of prior to analysis by a specialist.
Environmental Sampling
At the beginning of the Wharram Research Project charcoal and charred seeds were collected on a selective basis, i.e. where concentrations of charred material were observed in the soil, samples were taken and analysed by specialists (see reports published in 1979 by Keepax and Arthur: Wharram I,133-135). Over the following years this approach led to the analysis of several large grain deposits, such as the deposit from Quarry 61 by Mick Monk (Ancient Monuments Laboratory Report No. 2750, 1979) and grain dumped in the millpond on site 71 (Julie Jones (2003), later published in Wharram X, 151-219). It was not until 1990, after a site visit from Wendy Carruthers during excavations at the South Manor area, that a routine sampling program was implemented which included sampling a wider range of features, such as a Late Saxon 'black loam' deposit, ditches and a corn-drier (Carruthers in Wharram VIII, 184-94). By the time the 16th-century barn was excavated in 1990, a full one metre grid-square sampling regime was used to ensure that as much information as possible was recovered from this exceptionally wellpreserved in situ burnt deposit (Carruthers in Wharram XII, 287-312).
Sample processing - Because, over the years, a number of different specialists were involved in post-excavation analysis (including J.R.B.Arthur, P.J.Paradine, Mick Monk, Gordon Hillman, Julie Jones, A. al Azm and Wendy Carruthers) a variety of methods of floatation have been used to recover the charred plant remains. On the whole, details such as whether the samples were bucket-floated or machine floated will not have made much of a difference to the recovery, and the important factors such as mesh sizes remained fairly constant (where the information was recorded); 250 micron meshed sieves were used to recover the flots and the residues were retained on 1mm meshes. Flots and some residues were usually sorted by the specialist under low-power binocular microscopes and the extracted charred, mineralised and waterlogged plant remains were placed in tubes and well-sealed containers. Where sub-sampling was carried out in the concentrated grain deposits this has been discussed in the individual reports.
Archived charred plant remains - Large charcoal fragments were not often analysed, but have routinely been recovered from the post-1990 flots and remain in the archive in the hope that a Wharram 'woodland resources' project might be carried out in the future. Hand-picked samples from the earlier excavations are also included in this assemblage, both structural timbers and fuel from hearths etc.
The large number of well-preserved flots from the 16th-century barn have only been partially studied, since the burnt stored grain and pulses in the samples were too abundant to be fully analysed. Although each of the grid-squares was analysed, only one of the three vertical spits was selected, so roughly 2/3 of the deposit remains unsorted. This material presents an excellent opportunity for future workers to examine stored crops precisely-dated to the year 1553.
All of the charred plant remains discussed in the published reports have also been retained in the archive, as have sorted flots. Sample residues, however, have been discarded.
Human Remains
The bulk of the human skeletal material was reported by Simon Mays in Wharram XI, 77-192. The material is currently in the care of English Heritage, awaiting a decision on its future retention or reburial.
Retention Policy (other than human remains)
A full retention policy was maintained throughout the excavation as the study included the site's post medieval history, and also because of the lack of stratigraphy. In agreement with English Heritage, and in accordance with their policies, a discard policy for stone and clay tile has been drawn up based on the retention of type series and objects of intrinsic interest.
ADS Inclusion
Given the quantity of data produced from the study of the artefacts, only the data currently held digitally have been disseminated via the Archaeology Data Service (ADS). These data are primarily from the latest published volumes, but some more complete catalogues, such as pottery, have also been included. Catalogues from published sites and volumes have been amalgamated into a single catalogue for each artefact type. All finds catalogues on ADS have an introductory page detailing what data are held within the catalogue. All other data are held with the main archive.
