Monthly Archives: January 2015

VM_365 Day 196 Bronze Age looped palstave axe from Manston

Archaeology, Bronze Age, Uncategorised, VM_365 Project

VM_196

The image for Day 196 is another of the bronze objects found in a late Bronze Age hoard at Manston, the same group of objects as the pegged spear head shown in Day 194.

The axe has both a slot to fit a wooden haft and a loop that could be used to secure the axe head to the haft with some form of binding.

Axes and other objects like those in the group were cast in two part moulds and often the join between the two sections of the mould can be seen as a fine extrusion line  along the central axis of the object. The casting may also include ornamental patterning or ribbing as can be seen in this example.

The ability to manipulate the production of bronze and cast it into objects like these has been seen as a skill that gave power and mystique to the bronze workers in Bronze Age society.

VM_365 Day 195 Another reconstructed Jar from the Roman Kitchen at Broadstairs

Archaeology, Broadstairs, Roman, Roman pottery, Thanet archaeology, Uncategorised, VM_365 Project

VM_195

The image for Day 195 is of another vessel from the Roman Kitchen found in the remains of a Roman building excavated at Broadstairs, a Knife-trimmed necked-jar in a grey-black Native Coarse Ware with grog and sand filler. The diameter around the exterior of the rim is 240 mm. and the surface is fired grey with patchy black and pink surfaces. This particular style of vessel can be dated to around 170-250 AD.

One hundred and twenty fresh sherds from the vessel were recovered from the thick deposit of pottery, making up nearly three quarters of this pot. Previous VM_365 posts have shown how vessels from the thick layer of pottery in one context have been reconstructed and this is the last of large jars that has been carefully pieced together by one of the Trust’s volunteers.

Like many of the other pots recovered from this deposit, the vessel appears to have been deliberately destroyed. A series of holes has been punched along the widest part of the body, as if the pot was systematically pierced with a thin rod or blade. Reconstructing the vessels has shown this pattern of holes punched with  sharp object to be preserved in the distribution of sherd breaks in several of the larger pots and a moratorium recovered from the deposit.

 

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

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

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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 193 Drawing by Thanet Heritage Pioneer Dr David Perkins

Archaeology, Thanet's Heritage Pioneers, Uncategorised, VM_365 Project
After Sketches of Historic Thanet 1993.
After Sketches of Historic Thanet, 1993.

Today’s VM_365 image  for Day 193 is a reproduction of one of the illustrations produced by Dave Perkins, the first Director of the Trust for Thanet Archaeology and a founding member of the Isle of Thanet Archaeological Society.

Dave Perkins began as a gifted volunteer on the Lord of the Manor excavations in the mid 1970’s, progressing through his own intellectual efforts to become instrumental in founding the Trust and becoming the Isle’s first professional archaeologist, to eventually achieving his Doctorate in Archaeology from University College London in 1999.

Dave Perkins had originally been trained as an artist and illustrator and was a great believer in the power of drawings and images to inform and educate people in the subject of archaeology, an aim that lives on in this VM_365 project.

Sketches of Historic Thanet, from which this image is drawn, was Dave’s lively and informative introduction to the archaeology and history of the Isle of Thanet where he was born in 1939 and where he died in 2010.

References

Perkins, D. 1993. Sketches of Historic Thanet. Second Edition. Isle of Thanet Archaeological Society.

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 191 Candelabra design Roman Painted Plaster

Archaeology, Minster, Roman, Uncategorised, VM_365 Project

VM 188

The image for Day 191 of the VM_365 project shows another example of a fragment of painted plaster from the Roman villa at Minster. Other examples of fragments of painted plaster have been featured on Day 178, Day 182 , Day 185 and Day 188.

This fragment shows part of an elaborate candelabra type design painted in yellows and white against the smooth red background, a darker red outline can just be seen on the left hand side of the motif. The greenish blue paint on the right hand side may represent part of a border or alternativley may be part of a foliage design. Candelabra designs are well known in the Roman world and examples of similar themed designs have been found at Verulamium and London.

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 189 Antiquarian images of Ozengell artefacts

Anglo Saxon, Archaeology, Ramsgate, Thanet's Heritage Pioneers, Uncategorised, VM_365 Project

VM 186

Our image for day 189 of the VM_365 project is of a set of artefacts from a grave at the Anglo Saxon cemetery at Ozengell near Ramsgate, illustrated with pen and watercolour drawings by F.W. Fairholt, to accompany Charles Roach Smith’ s publication Collectiana Antiqua. This image shows that the archaeological investigation of a site can be a long process, in this case spanning a century and a half.

The Ozengell site was first discovered in 1847 and has continued to be explored by excavation until the present day. The practice of archaeological recording and illustration have developed over time and investigation at a site like Ozengell has spanned the development of several new technologies. The objects illustrated in this publication are recognisable and comparable with parallels from this and other sites that were excavated in later periods when illustration was more developed and photography commonplace. Archaeological records represent a growing body of data that can be revisited over time so that new information can be compared with past finds and it is a testament to the quality of Fairholt’s work that these drawings remain a useful resource for understanding this important site.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

VM_365 Day 188 More painted plaster from Minster – Artist(s) unknown

Archaeology, Minster, Roman, Uncategorised, VM_365 Project

VM 365 191

For Day 188 of the VM_365 project the image shows another fragment of the painted plaster from Minster. This time showing a delicate yellow painted swag painted overpainted on a dark blue grey background. The centre of the swag is filled with a lighter  blue grey pigment. An abstract leaf is  picked out in green paint under the end of one of the finer swags, which are probably meant to suggest the stems of a plant.

Perhaps we should pause to consider the artist who painted these freehand patterns. Each of the patterns is painted using a ‘fresco’ type of technique where the paints are bonded into a fine layer of plaster skim over the thick coat that covered the walls below. These thin plaster layers and all the patterns would have had to have been applied and painted in a single process, perhaps in sections over the space of a whole room, and then over the extensive area of the villa.

Although to our eyes the painting can sometimes appear gaudy, there are sections of delicate painting that indicate skill and control of pigments and drawing. Perhaps there was a team of painters with some delegated to covering large areas of ground with colour washes, borders and easily produced geometric patterns and borders.  Perhaps only a master-painter would have been trusted to produce the finer free hand elements and the figurative work that lifted the panels into a higher artistic plane.

In later centuries the master painters of Fresco painting have become household names, yet the paintings and painters who contributed to the Minster Villa, although perhaps equally skilled, are largely forgotten.

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.