Category Archives: Thanet archaeology

News items about Thanet archaeology

VM_365 Day 194 Pegged spearhead from Manston dating to the Late Bronze Age

Archaeology, Bronze Age, Thanet archaeology, Uncategorised, VM_365 Project

VM_194

The image for VM_365 Day 194 is of a Late Bronze Age pegged spear head, dating to the period 1150 – 600 BC.

This type of spear head is found in a region spanning the Thames Valley, Cambridge Fens and the east Midlands and of course in East Kent. These pegged spearheads have considerable variation in dimension and detail and can be anything from 10 to 40cm in length.

The leaf shaped blade extends from a circular central shaft, which is hollow socket at the top end, where the spear shaft would have been fitted, secured with a pin through the holes on opposite sides of the shaft. The blade in this example is slightly worn around the edges from corrosion.

This example was found with other tools and pieces of scrap bronze in a group at a site at Manston. The slightly glossy appearance to the surface is caused by a conservation treatment applied to prevent any further corrosion.

VM_365 Day 192 One tool, many styles in range of Mid Iron Age vessels

Archaeology, Broadstairs, Iron Age, Margate, Thanet, Thanet archaeology, Uncategorised, VM_365 Project
Comb and impress decorated Middle Iron Age sherds from Thanet
Comb and impress decorated Middle Iron Age sherds from Thanet
Today’s image for Day 192 of VM_365 shows several sherds of decorated Early-Mid Iron Age ceramic vessels, dating from c.550-350 BC.
All the sherds are from relatively high quality vessels, finewares or sub-finewares , which have been decorated with either comb-point, comb-finished or impress-decorations.
The sherds were all found on excavations in Thanet, (shown clockwise from top left) from Margate, South Dumpton Down near Broadstairs and two from Fort Hill and Trinity Square in Margate.

The images illustrate the variety of decorative styles that could be created using a comb, or with a regular impressed pattern,

and illustrate the care that was taken over decorating the better quality pottery vessels in this period in prehistory.

VM_365 Day 190 Roman baby feeding bottle spout

Archaeology, Roman, Roman pottery, St Nicholas, Thanet, Thanet archaeology, Uncategorised, VM_365 Project

VM 190

The image for VM_365 Day 190 shows two views of a small ceramic object, found in an excavation at St. Nicholas in Thanet, which has an interesting and perhaps unexpected origin.
The image on the right  shows that the object is hollow, so likely to be some form of spout. At the bottom right of the flat end are four little ceramic pins, that were used to key the spout on to the body of a vessel .
The object can be identified from other examples as a spout from a baby feeding bottle, dating to the Mid Roman period, probably the later second century AD.  Baby feeding bottles of many different shapes and forms are known from many periods in history. The spout would have been be attached to a small round-bodied pot, which was comfortable hold in the palm and fingers, probably with a flat base to allow it to put down to stand without spilling the contents.
This object is perhaps one of the most interesting examples of the way that humans have created objects to supplement or even replace natural processes. In this case the object may have been used in circumstances where perhaps natural feeding was not possible, extending the potential of a baby to survive and grow.
The pottery fabric  suggests that the vessel may have been made by Romanised indigenous people, rather than by Roman Gauls or even Romans from Italy.  Perhaps the pre-Roman people had their own ways to feed babies, but in this case they seem to have adopted Romanised version of the baby feeder.

VM_365 Day 187 Neolithic round based vessel from Courtstairs

Archaeology, Neolithic, Prehistoric pottery, Ramsgate, Thanet archaeology, Uncategorised, VM_365 Project
VM 189For today’s VM_365 image, on Day 187, we have another of the Neolithic vessels from Courtstairs, near Pegwell Bay, whose dating was supported by the  carbon dated cow skull shown for Day 186.  The picture shows a small, nearly complete round-based coarseware bowl, sadly without its rim.
The first pottery manufactured in the Neolithic period often had rounded bases, meaning that they would not stand on their own without being held upright or propped on some form of frame. It is likely that this property emerged from the round based collecting baskets which were the skeuomorphic models for the vessel shapes and the decoration that was added to them.
Humans developed tools to extend the capabilities of their limbs and organs, creating and experimenting with new objects and implements. We may, with hindsight, trace innovations as a progression of developments toward the most modern examples we know. However, when a new material is being explored, many uses and variations may be experimented with until the whole range pf possible functions and properties are developed.
Innovations eventually become embedded in our experience as the obvious and expected properties of a manufactured object, like a flat bottom in a pottery vessel, which may have appeared unlikely and unnecessary to the early innovators.

VM_365 Day 181 13th century medieval pitcher from Manston

Archaeology, In the Store, Medieval, Ramsgate, Thanet archaeology, Uncategorised, VM_365 Project

VM 181

The image for Day 181 of VM_365 is of the near-complete profile of an Early Medieval pitcher in Canterbury sandy ware fabric. The surface of the pot is decorated with two or three broad incised horizontal  wavy-line decoration which extends around the body.

The vessel is unglazed which is an indicator of its early date in the sequence of Canterbury sandy ware pitchers.  The preferred dating for this vessel is 13th century, c.1125-1150/1175 AD. The pottery was excavated near Manston in Thanet in 2003.

VM_365 Day 171 A feast of flintwork, blades from Neolithic site at Pegwell

Archaeology, From the Archives, Neolithic, Ramsgate, Thanet archaeology, Uncategorised, VM_365 Project
Selection of flint baldes from Neolithic site at Pegwell Bay
Selection of flint blades from Neolithic site at Pegwell Bay

Today’s image for VM_365 Day 171 is of a selection of blade flakes from the flintwork that was found in an excavation on a site at Courtstairs, near Pegwell Bay in 2007.

Although only one stretch of conjoined pits forming a curving line were exposed in the excavation, the finds from the site showed that a sample of the second Neolithic Causewayed enclosure to be found in Ramsgate area had been revealed.

Most of the finely worked flint dated to the Earlier Neolithic period, however a significant proportion was residual, with only a few contexts containing only fresh-looking single period lithics.  Other contexts had a mix of fresh and earlier residual material.

Many blade flakes were recovered from the pit fills, some contexts producing significant quantities. Finely worked blades and bladelets which had been soft hammer-struck from blade cores were particularly common, with serrated blades frequently represented.

The flintwork form this site is a rich source of information on the craft and technology in use in this period and there will be more to come from this site in future VM_365 posts.

 

 

VM_365 Day 170 Reconstructed Iron Age comb decorated jar

Archaeology, Iron Age, Margate, Prehistoric pottery, Thanet archaeology, Uncategorised, VM_365 Project
Late Iron Age 'Belgic' comb decorated jar.
Late Iron Age ‘Belgic’ comb decorated jar.

The image for VM_365 Day 170 is of the reconstructed profile of a Late Iron Age jar with a beaded rim and combed surface decoration. This pot was found broken into many pieces in the lower fill deposits at the base of a storage pit, during an excavation on the site of Margate Football club in 2003.

The vessel is made from a grog tempered  fabric, meaning that crushed pot has been used as a filler to stiffen the clay in the body of the vessel. Pots of this type were common in the later Iron Age period 50BC to 25AD.

Vessels with these characteristics are often classed as ‘Belgic’, after Julius Caeser’s assertion that the Iron Age tribes of southern Britain, including Kent, were related to the tribes of Belgae, who lived around the northern coast of Gaul between the west bank of the Rhine to the Channel

The comb decoration has only been applied to the upper section of pot. The area below the rim was decorated with a circuit of horizontal combed lines, then the shoulders and sides of the pot were covered using a series of arching strokes from just below the horizontal line toward the middle and lower part of the vessel.

The comb decoration was common in the Late Iron Age period and there are several variations represented in the application of the decoration among the vessels found in Thanet.

VM 365 Day 164 Earliest Iron Age red oxide painted pottery from Minnis Bay, Birchington

Archaeology, Birchington, Iron Age, Prehistoric pottery, Thanet archaeology, Uncategorised, VM_365 Project

VM 164

Today’s image is of a sherd of Earliest Iron Age pottery with a bright red finish applied to its outer surface.  Around 900 BC, in the earliest phase of the Iron Age, a new technique was adopted by potters where  vessels were decorated by applying  iron-oxide powder as a slip to the outer surfaces.

Like the finger tip decoration  that was applied to bronze age on vessels that was shown on VM_365 Day 155, this technique is a skeuomorph, using the inspiration of one decorative form as a reference to create another decorative style.   The  process evolved with the deliberate intention of  emulating the bright colour of freshly made and polished bronze vessels.

The technique was only applied on thin-walled fineware bowls, which were most ike the bronze models. The sherd shown in the image is from a bowl found at Minnis Bay, Birchington which can be  dated broadly to around 900 to 600BC .

VM_365 Day 163 Moulded shoulder vessels characteristic of Early to Middle Iron Age period

Archaeology, Iron Age, Margate, Prehistoric pottery, Thanet archaeology, Uncategorised, VM_365 Project
Early to Mid Iron Age fineware bowl with moulded shoulder, with sherds from similar vessels

Early to Mid Iron Age fineware bowl with moulded shoulder, with sherds from similar vessels

Today’s image for VM_365 Day 163 shows some examples of a characteristic of pottery from the Early to Mid Iron Age period, dating around c.600-500 BC. This earliest phase of Early to Mid Iron Age pottery is epitomised by fineware bowls that have complex, moulded shoulders. The vessel form was based on examples that were coming in to Britain from North East France and other areas of the continent.

A fairly complete example of a vessel with this characteristic shape from Fort Hill Margate is shown at the top of the image. The four sherds below are from a series of other vessels  showing variations of forms with the characteristic moulded shoulder that is typical of this period.

Vessels with this distinctive shape would not be easy to make, requiring careful and firm moulding at the shoulder junction. The pots frequently break at this point because the pieces of clay that make up the vessel’s body, formed of coils or slabs,  are sometimes poorly joined together.

The bowl and sherds shown in the VM_365 image show how small, but very characteristic pottery sherds and fragments can be used to identify the potting traditions form a specific period that are represented among the many sherds that may be present among the finds recovered from an excavated feature, or in the assemblage of pottery from a site.

The VM is grateful to Nigel Macpherson Grant for the images and information for today’s post.

VM_365 Day 142 Anglo Saxon bronze casket handle from Sarre

Anglo Saxon, Archaeology, In the Store, Sarre, Thanet archaeology, Uncategorised, VM_365 Project
Bronze casket handle from Anglo-Saxon grave at Sarre
Bronze casket handle from Anglo-Saxon grave at Sarre

The image for Day 142 of VM_365 is of a bronze handle, which may have been attached to a casket placed in a grave at the Anglo-Saxon cemetery at Sarre. The small amount of intact bone that remained in the grave (G. 286) suggested that it contained an adult. Other finds associated with the burial were small muticoloured glass beads  in a range of sizes that probably once formed a necklace.

The handle shown in the image is made from a bar which is rectangular in section along most of its length, but at either end has been bent, beaten and filed to form hooks with a more rounded section. The hooks terminate with blunt points at the end of each of the sinuous loops. The hooked ends  would have passed under two loops fixed to whatever object it was attached to, allowing it to be carried by the main bar of the handle.

 

The handle was found  along with Iron objects and other copper alloy items including the bronze key that was shown in VM_365 Day 35, leading the excavator Dr. David Perkins to suggest that the various objects might have been fittings associated with a casket.  The handle would have been mounted on the top, with a lock plate like the one shown in VM_365 Day 51 mounted on the side, perhaps operated with the key that was in the grave.

The image below shows a reproduction of a Viking Era casket which may be similar to the one in the grave at Sarre:

https://jorvikingi.files.wordpress.com/2014/08/dsc_0021.jpg
Reproduction (Viking era) casket with similar handle structure. Source: https://jorvikingi.files.wordpress.com/2014/08/dsc_0021.jpg