Archaeology Features

Medieval Jug - Roman Altar - Palaeolithic Burin - Ancaster Excavations - Visits Then and Now

A Medieval Jug

This is a painting by Mrs Ethel Rudkin of a medieval jug found at Toynton All Saints near Spilsby in c1954.

Mrs Rudkin made an early study of pottery and pottery kilns in the Toynton All Saints and Bolingbroke area. She conducted excavations of kilns and classified pottery from the Middle Ages up to the Post-Medieval era. She was able to reconstruct several pots from the fragments she found and she also recorded them through paintings, such as this. Many of the pots - and several of her paintings - are now in the care of the Lincolnshire County Council Museum Service.

Cover illustration from Lincolnshire History & Archaeology, Volume 38, 2003

A Roman Altar

This fragment of an altar was found at Ancaster during excavations by Channel 4's Time Team. It had been re-used as part of the stone lining of a grave in the late Roman Christian cemetery there. This surviving portion represents the top and left-hand side of the front face of the original altar. It measures 33cm high, 52cm wide and 12cm thick. The inscription in well cut Roman capitals reads DEOVRID(...)/SANCTI(...), which translates as 'To the holy god Viridius...'

Steve Malone in Lincolnshire History & Archaeology, Volume 37, 2002

A Palaeolithic Burin

A burin found near the River Lymn at the southern edge of the Lincolnshire Wolds. It a is a long slender blade (about 10cm long) which among other tasks enabled early man to open up large animal bones to get at the marrow, a very convenient source of protein. Using this method a bone would be deeply scored with the point of the burin and then the weakened bone could be relatively easily broken into splinters and the marrow taken out.

The way the burin was made was ingenious. One early technique was by snapping off a series of small splinters, which were removed from one corner, down the edge of the flake to form a sharp chisel-like feature.

The burin was to develop into one of the most important tools. From ths humble beginning the Stone Age artificer was able to scribe through not just bone but also wood, horn and ivory. A special burin was developed for the artistic amongst them, an engraving tool called a 'beak burin'. One of the country's earliest artistic images, a horse head inscribed on a bone found at Cresswell Crags, Derbyshire, was probably created by one of these special tools.

T William Bee in Lincolnshire History & Archaeology, Volume 38, 2003

A Most Rewarding Excavation - to make a Garden Feature!

A report in Lincolnshire History and Archaeology No. 26 (1991) describes an excavation in Ancaster which reads like a Time Team Special. The dig took place in 1980 and the report written by Tom Lane of Archaeology Project Services. The excavation was begun when a human skull was found by builders whilst digging the foundations of a new bungalow. No more bones came to light in the foundation trenches but what was to become the new garden was throroughly examined and it produced more human remains.

Ancaster is rich in Roman remains dating from its period as a simple fort through to its growth to become a small town and a considerable amount of exploration took place in the late 1960s to 1980s.

On the bungalow site there were substanbtial walls but since there were plenty of large nails, Tom assumed that the upper walls were of timber. They were certainly plastered and decorated. As is often the case there was evidence of infant burials under the floors including one that was in a stone lined grave. Some bones were built into a wall of a later building.

Some of the exposed walls became a feature of the new garden when it was landscaped. Most likely, if the excavation had taken place in more recent times, the advice wlould have been to cover it up to prevent deterioration from weathering. Needless to say a number of dwellings in Ancaster boast Roman remains in their gardens and who would not like to have them on display!

The photograph shows the quality of the walls at the time of the dig.

The Archaeological Notes in the SLHA Journal keep us in touch with all that's unearthed in Lincolnshire.

Visits Then and Now

The Annual Reports of the Lincolnshire Architectural and Archaeological Society contained lists of comments on churches visited. In the 19th century it was fashionable to consider the Gothic style far superior to any other and their reports reflect this. Their annual meetings, lasting several days, involved calling at as many churches as possible.

The 1872 report has a lengthy comment on All Saints Tealby. The entry commences with the tower.

The etching of Tealby arch shown here is credited to J L Fytche, a very active member of the Society.

SLHA arranged a visit to several churches in 2006. How was this different? Part of the report of this 21st century visit reads:

The photograph by Mark Acton shows the tower at Glentworth. The single vertical opening below the bell chamber gave the sexton a view of the churchyard enabling him to toll the bells at the moment of interment.

The 1872 visits were to study the entire church but in 2006 our visit was more selective, providing a comparative study of a special feature. Another difference was the mode of transport. In 2006 a coach was hired but the antiquaries of 1872 used railway and horse-drawn carriages. The stop for lunch would have been the same - the local hostelry.