4.14 The Ancient Monuments Laboratory
Environmental Studies
Work over the past year has been carried out on a wide range of sites. Reanalysis of the animal bones from the Late Neolithic site of Durrington Walls, Wiltshire, has led to the recognition of unusual marks of burning associated with erosion on many of the numerous pig humeri, astragali, and calcanei, suggesting the roasting of large joints of meat or even whole pigs. The 'feasting' that this indicates accords well with the assumed ceremonial function of the site. Variability in the condition of other pig bones suggests that the site might have had a domestic function as well, perhaps at different times of year.
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Four of the pig bones and one cattle bone had flints embedded into them, one identified as the tip of an arrow head. This is surprising in view of the fact that all five bones belonged to domestic animals; it might suggest some form of ritualised hunting, but there are other possible explanations. A wattle hurdle possibly connected with fish trapping was recovered from the side of a tidal palaeochannel at Carr House Sands in Hartlepool Bay, Co Durham, and has been dated to cal BC 3780-3540 (4890 year old stems of hazel (one was alder); examination of the outermost ring indicated that the hazel had been cut in late winter or early spring.
A careful programme of sampling at Thornborough Farm, Catterick, North Yorkshire, produced relatively few fish bones, as is usual for most Roman sites in England; those that were found included species such as red mullet, cat fish, and ?wrasse, probably imported from further south, possibly from as far as the Mediterranean. The lack of head bones suggest that they had been imported, preserved, with the heads already removed. Other 'exotic' finds from Roman Catterick include a bear shinbone and a macaque skull. These faunal remains supplement other sources of information such as pottery and amphorae that provide evidence of trade within the Roman Empire. Further evidence of Roman trade was provided by over 100 stone pine (Pinus pinea) nuts and cone scales, and two whole charred dates from a second-century Roman enclosure at Ortons Pasture, Rocester, Staffordshire. These unusual finds come from one of two pits situated near a small square building; the other pit contained remains of fruit including grapes, apple/pear, hazel nuts, and sloes. Some evidence of monumental masonry was found and a ritual interpretation is suggested for the site.
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Animal bones from The Lanes, Carlisle, Cumbria, dating from the second to fourth centuries AD indicated that, as is usual for late Roman sites, beef provided most of the meat supply. Pork and mutton were also consumed but to a much lesser extent. Most of the cattle bones were from mature animals presumably kept primarily for traction and breeding and only secondarily for meat. A number of groups of chopped cattle long-bone and tarsal fragments probably result from some kind of rendering of beef bones for tallow or concentrated stock; similar groups, dubbed 'soup kitchen deposits', have been found at number of Roman sites in England, Holland, Germany, and Switzerland. Bones of white-tailed eagle were also found; these birds are now rather rare and found mainly in remote areas, but were more widespread and successful urban scavengers in the Roman and medieval periods.
Research has continued on the nature and identification of faecal spherulites. These are minute spheres of radially crystallised calcium carbonate produced in the gut of various animals and preserved at sites with more alkaline deposits. Their survival in sufficient concentration indicates the presence of animal manure from, for example, stables or middens; they have been found at a number of sites already, including Anglo-Saxon West Heslerton, North Yorkshire.
Animal bones from the now ruined Benedictine abbey at Eynsham, Oxfordshire, have shed light on the diet of the monks and the wider economy of the establishment. In general the kinds of food eaten underwent surprisingly little basic change between the eleventh century and the dissolution of the abbey in the sixteenth century. Despite regulation of meat consumption, large quantities of beef were consumed throughout the five centuries of the life of the abbey, and there must have been many days in the year when meat was eaten. Fish was already eaten by the monks of the Anglo-Saxon abbey of the early eleventh century, and in the centuries after it was refounded following the Norman conquest this continued, as would indeed be expected in a religious house. Herrings were the most common of the small fish, but eels and other freshwater species such as dace and chub were also eaten in quantity. Of the larger fish, the main species in the earlier centuries was pike. Eynsham is the first site in southern Britain where exploitation of freshwater fish has been demonstrated. Over time, the pike at Eynsham declined in size, almost certainly an effect of increased exploitation. Other large fish eaten include conger eel, cod, and ling. One way in which Benedictine dietary rules were followed was for eggs to be substituted for meat at many meals and on fast days, confirmed by numerous eggshell fragments on the kitchen floor.
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It has recently been recognised that late medieval thatch survives in the lower layers of the thatch in a number of late medieval thatched buildings, blackened but otherwise in surprisingly good condition. The remains of weeds found mixed in with wheat, rye, and barley straw in this thatch include whole plants, flower heads, fruit, fronds, and stems of charlock, corncockle, poppy, stinking mayweed, wild carrot, plantain, red bartsia, bindweed, field peas, tares, moss, bracken, and many other plants. This list corresponds with weeds mentioned in early husbandry treatises, some of which, such as wild carrot and great plantain, are not today associated with arable fields, which might indicate changes in habitat tolerance. These remains are likely both to provide further information about late medieval agriculture, and to help in the interpretation of the weed seed assemblages found in earlier archaeological samples. It is important to ensure that this unique botanical record is not lost when roofs are rethatched.
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An investigation of ancient DNA is revealing important new evidence of disease among the medieval villagers from Wharram Percy, North Yorkshire. Eight skeletons from this site showed signs of infectious disease, in the form of destruction of the bones of the hip or spine, suspected as cases of tuberculosis. This was confirmed when biochemical analysis indicated the presence in the bones of minute traces of bacterial DNA from the micro-organism responsible for tuberculosis. Tuberculosis is generally transmitted from person to person, but can also be acquired from infected cattle or contaminated meat or milk products. At Wharram Percy, meat and milk products were important in the diet, and people lived in close proximity to their animals peasant dwellings housed both human and bovine inhabitants. It is impossible to tell from the nature of the bone lesions whether the person suffered from the form of tuberculosis contracted from cattle or from the human form of the disease, but further DNA analysis might provide the answer.
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Archaeometry
Environmental Studies
Technology
Conservation