British Archaeology (124)

A complete early medieval cemetery comprising five graves with barrow ditches has been excavated near Perth by AOC Archaeology, in advance of agricultural development. The site may be all that remains of an otherwise unknown small Pictish community. The findings of the excavation are outlined and some comparable excavations undertaken elsewhere as university research projects are mentioned. There have been few modern excavations, however, and this is the first such grave group to be completely sampled. LD

Round-up of archaeological news from around Britain. LD

Discusses the potential implications for the future of television archaeology of a recent report by the BBC Trust entitled 'Final Report '“ a review of BBC1, BBC2 and BBC4'. Praising BBC4 for the quality of its coverage of archaeology, the author fears that this will suffer from new prioritisation of arts, music, culture, drama, and rebroadcasting of the BBC's archive material. LD

The cathedral archaeologist at St Paul's in London describes the archaeology and history of the site, including the present building. The account begins with the Roman period, when the site lay within the walls of the western part of the city and a temple of Diana is rumoured to have existed. London's first cathedral was built in AD604. Whilst there is currently no firm evidence that this building was on the present site, the presence of a foundation of at latest 11th century character suggests that where pockets of stratigraphy survive, they may include Anglo-Saxon layers and features. The cathedral was rebuilt in the medieval period, beginning in 1087, and this building was exceptional and innovative in many ways. Its development, including its decline at the Reformation in the 1530s, is outlined before the archaeology of the present building, begun in 1675, is covered. Surviving deposits and remains have the potential not only to elucidate the early history of the cathedral and its site, but also to contribute significantly to our understanding of the evolution of the City of London through 2000 years. LD

Reports on geophysical survey undertaken as part of an ongoing project at the Roman town of Aldborough (Isurium Brigantium) in North Yorkshire, developed as a University of Cambridge Classics Faculty research project. Outlines the background to the research, including previous work in the area, before describing some of the key findings to date. The town is conventionally seen as geographically marginal in the Roman province, and of secondary importance to York. However, survey results are showing indications of a pattern of planning, with major hillside terracing and grand houses with sophisticated design and decoration. Roman Aldborough is thus potentially a place of more significance and interest than was thought, with a distinctive character of its own. LD

Ken Taylor describes in detail how to set up a virtual museum online, something that was achieved by the Brislington Community Archaeology Project in Bristol. Some of the advantages of such a project are that the character and interest of broken objects such as potsherds and corroded metalwork can be brought out, and people can be encouraged to find out about seemingly mundane items. Peter Allen then summarises the positive and negative points of a garden survey undertaken in Bingham, Nottinghamshire. This project was initiated by distributing leaflets to households requesting that artefacts found in gardens should be kept for collection and study by members of the Bingham Heritage Trails Association. The results did show a potential for identifying old, core villages, but the leaflets did not stimulate sufficient interest and there were too few collections for quantitative study. LD

Reports on projects supported by the CBA's Challenge Funding scheme since mid-2009. The scheme itself has been running for fifteen years, supported by English Heritage and Cadw, and encourages voluntary groups, local societies and independent researchers to put forward proposals for original research and study of the history and archaeology of their local surroundings. Projects summarised here comprise: the Damerham Archaeology Project in Hampshire; the Fairfield Project in Somerset; experimental smelting in York by the Traditional Materials and Technology Group; work at Roman Maiden Bradley in Wiltshire; the North West Wales Dendrochronology Project; the Big Anchor project, which aims to create a global tool for the identification of anchors; a study of factories by Wallis, Gilbert and Partners; and the Esher Village Study in Surrey. LD

Quotes some online comments from the public in response to a Daily Mail article following the recent announcement of changes to Time Team, as the start of a discussion on what Channel 4 was trying to achieve when making the changes, and what people want from a television programme on archaeology. LD