Category: News (Page 4 of 5)

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.

Our MAYA June session was something really special!  We went by coach to Stonehenge for a guided tour led by Dr Julian Richards, one of the country’s leading Stonehenge experts.  After an introductory talk, Julian led us on a walk across the surrounding landscape.  We walked along part of the Stonehenge cursus, and explored several of the Bronze Age barrows.  Julian had brought along replicas of a number of artefacts, including those which were found in the Amesbury Archer burial, which he demonstrated by one of our MAYANS re-enacting the burial on top of the round barrow!

We then set off for the monument itself.  Julian had brought along a copy of his book “The Amazing Pop-Up Stonehenge” which includes a model of the how the monument had looked with all the stones in place.  This was a very useful prop when he was explaining about the stones and the alignment of the monument.  At the end of the day several MAYANS bought the book and Julian signed it for them.

After we had walked around the monument we stopped for a picnic before heading back to the visitors centre.  The MAYANS shopped for souvenirs and then afterwards Julian took us around the reconstructed Neolithic houses.  By this time it had started to rain so after thanking Julian for a fantastic day we headed back to the coach.

This visit was made possible by the Somerset Archaeological and Natural History Society’s Gray Fund who very kindly paid for the coach to take us there.  We are extremely grateful to SANHS for giving our members this wonderful opportunity.

For our May session the MAYANS explored some of the fascinating archaeological sites on the Quantock Hills.  The session was run for us by Dan Broadbent and Jon Barrett from the Quantock Hills Landscape Partnership.  We met Dan and Jon at Dead Woman’s Ditch where Dan showed us some LiDAR images from a recent survey of the Hills.  The LiDAR survey had revealed some new archaeological features and the MAYANS were off to find them!

We set off down the road in the direction of Dowsborough hillfort, and then struck off into the undergrowth to try and find a circular anomaly that showed up on the LiDAR.  After some searching around we managed to find it!  A completely new and previously unidentified archaeological feature!  The MAYANS stood in a circle to outline the structure which we discovered was made out of stones.

We then set off to look at other anomalies on the LiDAR which Dan thought were charcoal pits.  Sure enough we discovered these too and scraped back the undergrowth to reveal dark charcoal patches in the soil.

After this we headed up to Dowsborough hillfort for lunch, and then Jon showed us how to grind up charcoal and add honey and water to make ink.  We then split into small groups to design our own hillforts using the ink we had made with sharpened sticks to draw with!

This was a fantastic session and everyone thoroughly enjoyed it!  A big thank you to Dan and Jon for organising such a great day!

To read the full PDF please use the arrows next to the page number at the top of the document.

For our March session the MAYANS were invited to the Avalon Archaeology Park near Shapwick.  The session was run for us by Dr Richard Brunning from the South West Heritage Trust.  We started out with an introductory talk by Richard and then a guided tour around the site.  Some of our members had been here before but for most of the MAYANS this was their first visit and it was amazing to see how much further work had been done on the site, mostly by volunteers.

Unfortunately most of the unfinished Iron Age roundhouse had blown down in the recent storms, although the porch was still standing.  Richard said they would be starting to build the roundhouse again soon and talked about how it would be constructed.  We then moved on to the Roman dining hall and Richard showed us how they had started to make the mosaic for the floor … and later in the morning the MAYANS would be able have a go at making tesserae themselves!

We all then got into the Viking longboat and Richard talked about its construction and how amazingly far the Vikings would sail in vessels such as this.  We ended up in the Saxon long hall with its welcoming fire as it was a very cold day!  After a quick snack we then split into two groups, one to make tesserae and the other to try their hand at coin striking.  Both activities were a great success and it’s wonderful to think that some of the MAYANS tesserae will end up in the finished mosaic!

A huge thank you to Richards for giving our MAYANS such a wonderful experience!

MAYA’s first session of 2022 was a visit to the Iron Age hillfort and Norman motte and bailey at Castle Neroche.  We had a good turn-out of members who braved the early February cold weather!  After an introductory talk we started to explore the earthworks.  We had a printout of an earthwork survey of the site and talked about how archaeologists used this to record the 3-D banks and ditches on a 2-D piece of paper.

Castle Neroche has a hidden secret which we were able to introduce the MAYANS to… it is the site of a secret underground WWII radio station!  There is nothing left to see above ground now apart from wires sticking out of some of the trees which were the aerials for the radio station.  A geophysical survey had been carried out several years ago to locate the base and we were able to show the MAYANS the results.  We spent some time trying to spot all the wires in the trees before moving on to discover the Norman motte and bailey.

The motte has a very deep ditch around it which made it very impressive.  The view from the top was amazing and we talked about how difficult it would be to attack such a well defended location.  After a drink and a snack we made our way down through a series of small platforms and ridges to the far side of the motte where we discovered some amazing carving of dragons made out of fallen trees.

We then made our way back to the car park to thaw out in warm cars!  A big thank you to all the volunteers who came along to help and a special thank you to Mr Chris Webster from the South West Heritage Trust for all his help with the guided tour.

MAYA’s November session was run for us by Caroline who had taken part in YAC’s online training course about Archaeology and Photography.  This was our first session back in the Museum of Somerset after starting up again after lockdown.  It was great to be back at the Museum again and the staff made us feel very welcome.

Caroline began with a PowerPoint about the history of photography and what to think about when composing and taking a photograph.  The MAYANs had brought along some items to photograph, things that were particularly personal to them.  We started out by talking about these items and wondering what archaeologists hundreds of years from now would be make of them… would they be able to work out what they meant to us and what kind of people we were?  The items included teddies, toy soldiers, village magazines, tiny old glass bottles, bags and masks.  It was fun to imagine that all these things were found by future archaeologists and wonder what kind of picture they would build up about us as individuals and our community.

After a short break we then took photos of the things we’d brought, thinking about how to arrange them, whether or not to use a scale and what sort of background to use… ending up by everyone photographing each other and then all taking selfies!

This was a very different and fun session and a great one for our first time back indoors.  A big thank you to Caroline for organising it for us and to the Museum for welcoming us back!