Author: Admin (Page 8 of 16)

For our first MAYA session of 2023 we carried out an archaeological excavation… indoors!  The session was run for us by Dr Julian Richards who has been kind enough to run a number of MAYA sessions for us over the years.  This time we were to uncover the remains of a medieval abbey!

Julian prepared the session by putting down layers of carpet tiles, concealing artefacts between each layer.  He then started off by talking to the MAYANS about the sorts of materials we could find when we carried out an excavation – what would rot over time and what would not rot.  He demonstrated this by a variety of objects made from wood, plastic, glass, cardboard etc, even a rotten old banana skin!

We then started to take up the individual carpet tiles to reveal what was underneath, looking at the finds and trying to work out the nature of the site.  Finally we uncovered the remains of a medieval abbey, including a grave stone which we lifted to discover the remains of a skeleton.  After a discussion about what we can learn from an examination of human bones, we realised that the skeleton was female and the abbey was probably a place for nuns not monks.

Julian then finished by showing us a short film about a community dig at Shaftesbury Abbey, which was the first abbey in the country founded for nuns in 888 by King Alfred, whose daughter was the first abbess.

This was a really exciting and interesting session and we would like to say a huge thank you to Julian and his wife Sue for running it for us!

MAYA’s Christmas Party this year was something really special and different!  It was held in the Saxon long hall at the Avalon Archaeology Park near Shapwick.  We were met by Richard and Natalie who run the site and to start off the day they had organised a picture trail hunt around the centre.  The MAYANS had photos of a variety of carvings and paintings in the different buildings which they had to track down and then mark their position using a gridded map.

After running off some energy we then all moved into the Saxon long hall for a Christmas party feast around the fire pit before our very special visitor arrived, Lizzie Bryant a professional storyteller.  As we settled down around the fire Lizzie preceded to tell the story of Beowulf.  Although this was familiar to some of the group, it was a completely new experience to hear it being told in such an amazing and appropriate setting, and Lizzie had us all spellbound!   

After Lizzie had recounted Beowulf’s victories over Grendel and Grendel’s mother, we stopped for a break where we toasted marshmallows and drank warm apple juice mead around the fire.  Lizzie then finished the afternoon by telling the tale of Beowulf’s final encounter with the dragon.  As the MAYANS left they were given Christmas presents, cards and crackers to take home.

This was a really amazing day!  A huge thank you to Lizzie and to Richard and Natalie for all their help and for inviting us to hold our party in such a wonderful location!

After a break for the summer holidays, MAYA was straight back into excavation again for our September session!  We dug four test pits at Longaller Mill to try and find out more information about the old mill cottages (demolished and completely rebuild it the late 1980’s) and old buildings next to the mill which no longer exist.  Two of the test pits were dug in the hope of retrieving artefacts to try and find out how long the old mill cottages were occupied.  Another was situated on a slight mound near the mill stream to try and find out what this was.  The fourth pit was located on the site of an old building opposite the mill shown on the 1910 OS map.

A variety of finds were uncovered, particularly in the test pit located next to one of the current mill cottages, including building rubble, pottery, glass, clinker and rusty nails.  Similar artefacts were discovered in a test pit at the bottom of the garden, suggesting a rubbish dump or midden.  The test pit on the mound was less productive, suggesting this was geological rather than archaeological.  Some of the more unusual finds included a Victorian glass stopper from an HP sauce bottle, a donkey shoe, and an unusual short chain of metal loops and a buckle, possibly from horse trappings.

The test pit opposite the mill uncovered a beautiful example of a worked chert core in the top soil, but not much else until around 0.3m down they uncovered an intense black layer of cinders, clinker and slag.  This could possibly have been the floor of some kind of metal working workshop, and the building on the 1910 map was perhaps a small smithy for repairing mill machinery.

All four test pits were meticulously recorded by the MAYANS using paperwork designed by Carenza Lewis from the “Time Team”.  The finds will be washed and sorted at one of our sessions later in the year, and a report will be written and submitted to the HER.  It was a day of great enthusiasm and discovery, and introduced the MAYANS to the importance of archaeological recording and post-excavation as well as the excitement of digging!

For our session in July MAYA were invited by Richard, Cheryl and Tara from Context One Heritage and Archaeology to take part in their excavation at Crowcombe Court to try and find the original manor house.  This was a great opportunity for our members as we don’t often get a chance to do some actual digging.

Unfortunately when we arrived it had started to rain and so Richard gave us an introductory talk inside the Church House about the history of the site and why we were there.  After a quick snack and a drink we decided to head outdoors despite the rain, which eventually did stop for a little while.

The MAYANS were given a tour of the site and then we split up into groups to do some digging.  Two small groups set off to start digging test pits to investigate some of the anomalies picked up by geophysical surveying.  The rest of the MAYANS were set to work in one of the main trenches, carefully excavating through a rubble layer which we suspected was on top of the remains of the foundations of the manor house.  After lunch the groups rotated so everyone could experience the different trenches.  Several metal detectorists were also helping out with the excavation and there was always great excitement when they found something in the spoil heaps or in the soil around the trenches.

This was a really great day for our members and we would like to thank Richard McConnell, Cheryl Green and Tara Fairclough for giving MAYA this exciting opportunity.