The Ancient Monuments Laboratory

Environmental studies

The different disciplines that comprise environmental studies all produce information on aspects of past exploitation of plants and animals. Highlights of the year's work include an assessment of evidence from excavations at the site of the new magistrates court, Kingston upon Hull, Humberside, which, unusually for contexts of this sort, produced very well preserved waterlogged material from graves associated with the Augustinian Friary. Stems and leaves of box (Buxus sempervirens) and seeds of hyssop (Hyssopus officinalis) may have ritual connotation and the full analysis of this site should be particularly interesting.

Another assessment, of plant remains from an excavation at Great Holts Farm, Boreham, Essex, revealed abundant charred remains of spelt (Triticum spelta), barley (Hordeum sativum), and pea (Pisum sativum) from the postholes of a Roman barn. These are thought to represent charred debris from a granary fire and will provide an unusual opportunity to study methods of crop storage. At the same time a late Roman well produced macrofossils of food plants, including some `exotics': hazel (Corylus avellana), walnut (Juglans regia), stone-pine (Pinus pinea), plum/bullace (Prunus domestica), cherry (Prunus avium), olive (Olea europea), and chestnut (Castanea sativa).

The study of the roundwood from military ditches outside the Roman fort at Ribchester (Lancashire) has yielded the first evidence for Roman woodland management in northern England. Hazels and oaks appear to have been coppiced at short intervals with peaks at 7 and 11 years, while fragments of alder showed that coppicing was taking place at even shorter intervals of one to two years.

Pollen analyses at a multi-period (Neolithic - medieval), but primarily Saxon, site at Market Lavington (Wiltshire) indicated that from at least 500 BC the local landscape was very open indeed. A largely pastoral/mixed economy seems to have given way to an intensely arable one in the late Saxon period. The site offers the first biological evidence for viticulture from Saxon through to medieval times, with a wide variety of other crops also being grown, including currant, hemp, flax, rye, wheat, oats, barley, and opium poppy.

A study of the antler implements (from twentieth-century excavations) used to dig the ditches and stoneholes at Stonehenge is to be published by the Trust for Wessex Archaeology. These implements were carefully selected from older red deer stags, and evidence suggests that many were crafted with fire.

The Shires - Leicester, a site of the Roman to post-medieval periods, yielded samples containing plants from gardens, such as columbine, pot marigold, asparagus, and leek in the medieval and post-medieval periods, and a grassland assemblage from the twelfth-thirteenth century.

A major report on the charred plant remains from the deserted medieval village site of West Cotton (Northamptonshire) was completed. Evidence for brewing with oats and barley was uncovered in the form of a dump of sprouted grains of both species from a late Saxon to early medieval mill leat (950-1100). Both types of cereal are thought to have been grown together as a dredge, a mixture which was usually spring sown.

A human skull excavated from a second century AD pit at Folly Lane, St Albans, Hertfordshire, showed unusual mutilations. More than 100 knife cuts were distributed over the skull vault. Scanning electron microscopy was used to aid the study of the cut marks. The distribution and nature of the cuts suggested that their purpose was defleshing the skull rather than scalping, with the skull itself probably the valued object rather than the removed skin and hair. The microscopic study suggested that more than one knife may have been used in this process. In addition, there were four perforations in the skull which appear to have been caused by blows while the bone was living or at least while it was still fairly fresh. It may be that these were the cause of death or they may have been part of the mutilations visited upon this individual after death. A Roman temple was located on another part of the site, and perhaps the skull was displayed there before being buried. This skull is to some extent a unique find, with no close parallels in Roman Britain.

Study of the animal bones from the city of Lincoln has shed light on interesting developments in the agrarian economy between late medieval and early post-medieval times. Measurements of sheep and cattle bones from well dated early sixteenth-century and seventeenth-century deposits show that these animal underwent a size increase at that time, probably reflecting early livestock improvement in a region later famous for its large, long-wooled sheep. Large numbers of young cattle in the early seventeenth century suggest a shift towards a veal and dairy economy.

A collection of animal bones dated between 1702 and 1710 from what is thought to have been an inn at Tunsgate in Guildford (Surrey) has provided an insight into the meat component of early eighteenth-century pub food. This probably consisted mainly of beef and veal, some mutton and pork, and a little chicken and carp.