Archaeologia Aeliana Series 5

Some of the most spectacular parts of the central section of Hadrian's Wall were threatened by quarrying in the 1930s and 1940s. The paper, written by one of the participants in the controversy, describes the way in which the conflict was successfully resolved.

The third-century AD circular stone tomb beside Dere Street bears a relief taken by many to be a fox, but considered by the author to represent a bucranium, a common Roman funerary symbol but one rare in Roman Britain. A second sculpture, on the opposite side of the tomb to the first, represents a pine cone, another widespread motif in Roman funerary contexts. It is suggested that the superstructure of the tomb was not of stone throughout but consisted of an earth tumulus, like the rest of the known burials at High Rochester.

A geophysical survey was carried out at the Roman fort of Housesteads using magnetometry and resistivity techniques. The survey has identified field systems to the west of the fort and an area of settlement to the south enclosed by ditches and the Vallum. A possible bath-house has also been identified. The authors consider that the planning arrangements reflect a decision by the military to designate land use around the fort. Includes

The Bamburgh Hoard, recovered between 1999 and 2002, contains over 300 Anglo-Saxon stycas dating to the period c. 830--855. The paper summarises present knowledge of the styca coinage and its production and examines the make-up of the hoard. New die-combinations are recorded and attention is drawn to a British element in the coinage.

The Cartulary of the Cistercian monastery of Newminster contains a detailed boundary charter for the Northumberland township of Sturton Grange, near Warkworth. This is one of very few medieval boundary charters for a complete township in Northumberland. The paper sets the charter in its historical context, and then attempts a detailed reconstruction of the boundary perambulation. It is shown that much of the boundary can still be located, and some sections seen in the landscape. A field name surviving virtually unchanged since the twelfth century is identified, as is a tongue of land called a `lynga' in the charter, together with the rediscovery of a spring named in a thirteenth-century charter. The changing medieval landscape, with pressures on the remaining woodland and open pasture, can also be traced through subsequent medieval charters and agreements.