Description
In this issue:
– Alderney’s Roman fort
– Anglo-Saxon burials: Oakington
– Cave archaeology: Yorkshire and Lancashire
– Norfolk and Suffolk: historic warrens
Plus: News, Reviews, Comment, Sherds, Odd Socs, and more!
From the Editor:
Cave archaeology has a long pedigree. Romantic images of our earliest ancestors sheltering in caverns led to many being stripped of their stratigraphy in the 19th century ‚ when recording techniques were still in their infancy. New work has revealed remains that escaped antiquarian attention, shedding light on a once-vibrant world under the uplands.
Research in Oakington, Cambridgeshire, is unearthing an Anglo-Saxon Fenland community. The project has battled to bring modern villagers face to face with their forebears by securing a permit to excavate skeletal remains openly. Now everyone can share in the investigation of a settlement and cemetery, complete with rare examples of 6th-century infant burial rites.
Alderney has been famous for its fortifications ever since the British government ordered it transformed into a new Gibraltar. But the oldest of its defences has long defied dating. ‘The Nunnery’ has a groundplan that is otherwise uniquely Roman, yet archaeologists who studied it in depth tended to conclude it was Medieval. As recent excavations progressed, stripping ivy from the walls demonstrated that clues to the site’s origin do not just lie underground.
Finally, a survey of the Brecklands is piecing together the elements of a forgotten luxury industry. For centuries, rabbit fur and meat were prized goods. Massive artificial warrens were overseen by wardens living in fortified lodges and tasked with protecting their furry charges from predators and violent bandit
gangs. Join us for a rabbits-to-riches tale.
Cover Date: Dec-2011, Volume 22 Issue 9