Durham Archaeol J 16

Discusses a small bronze figure, known as the `Piercebridge' bronze after the site where it was discovered.

Reports an analysis of the black coating on a copper alloy cruciform brooch, found during a 1991 excavation at Andrews Hill, Easington, Co Durham. The surface composition of the metal was studied using energy dispersive x-ray fluorescence (EDXRF) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). Suggests that a shakudo technique was used to blacken the copper.

Excavations along the Market Place frontage revealed that the area had been substantially cellared and rebuilt in the post-medieval period, although some elements of earlier structures had been incorporated. Set back from the Market Place, a terrace had been constructed and occupied during the medieval period. A series of late-sixteenth-century deposits, which contained a large assemblage of medieval material, were excavated to the rear of tenement strips fronting onto Saddler Street. Limited evidence for property boundaries and tenement development was also uncovered. Outside the City Wall evidence for the piecemeal exploitation of the river plain in the medieval period for iron smelting was retrieved, along with evidence for cultivation during the medieval and post-medieval periods. Includes reports on:

a total of eleven vessel and nine window fragments were recovered, ranging in date from the late medieval period to the twentieth century

reports the recovery of a `C' type wound wire-headed pin

a total of 173 sherds were recovered from heavily disturbed midden deposits spread onto the bridge

where the majority of the identified fragments are of cattle or sheep