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Metal detector finds
Just north of Lincoln, South Carlton sits on a limestone ridge called the Cliff, which runs right through Lincolnshire. In the past, Anglo-Saxon finds have been made all along this ridge, indicating that the high ground was of some importance during the Saxon period. A local metal detectorist Andrew Riddle discovered some interesting 6th-century finds on a farm near South Carlton, which included brooches and even a shield boss. Time Team was invited in to try to discover what was going on under the farmer's fields.
Digging 'hotspots'
Starting with the general area in which the metal detectorist made his finds, the geophysics team soon highlighted 'hotspots' for the Team to dig. A fieldwalking survey was also organised over the surrounding landscape to seek out any concentrations of finds that could indicate past activity. Very soon the trenches were opened and the investigation work stepped up a gear.
Small cemetery
Time Team discovered a small Anglo-Saxon cemetery in the metal-detected area. In the trenches, three burials were found, each containing grave goods.
Two of the burials, which were sited close to each other, contained females. One was buried in traditional style with a pottery vessel and a beaded necklace, while the other was buried with a shield and knife. The third burial contained a male who was slightly crouched and had one hand extended and placed over a broken vessel. All of the finds indicated a 6th-century date for the cemetery.
Fieldwalking
The fieldwalking to the west of the site discovered Saxon pottery in enough quantity to suggest an associated settlement was nearby. Meanwhile, the geophysics team outlined an enclosure south of the cemetery. Excavation here discovered Bronze-Age pottery, of the kind associated with the 'Beaker culture', named after the pottery vessels that are found in their burials.
One of the most controversial issues in archaeology today is metal detecting – which is how the South Carlton site was originally discovered.
At the extremes, there are two schools of thought. One holds that our heritage should be managed only by qualified professionals; the other says that it should be open (within minimal constraints) to everyone. Most people's views fall somewhere between the two, believing that our past belongs to all of us: highly qualified academics and armchair enthusiasts alike. The key is to manage our archaeological heritage responsibly. Unfortunately, not everyone agrees on the same issues.
Although Time Team has done much to encourage the responsible use of metal detectors in conjunction with professional excavation, there are some professionals who will not use metal detectors as a matter of principle. It all harks back to the days of 'treasure hunting'. Though many detectorists now work closely with archaeologists, there is a huge market in artefacts for private collection and sale. This is directly opposed to the traditional archaeological view that artefacts should be valued by what they can tell us about the past and not by what they are worth financially.
Mick Aston has long been outspoken on this issue. He feels passionately that we have to respect our past, and has little time for those who take the cavalier approach of hunting for 'treasure' and digging up artefacts that lose most of their potential meaning when removed from the context in which they are found.
'You often get people who own metal detectors purely to find treasure,' he says. 'The problem is they find things and dig them up without any recording. We end up with a lot of objects completely out of context and then it's the archaeologist who has to come in and sort out the mess.'
What does Time Team think of metal detectors?
The archaeologist Teresa Hall directed a fieldwalking survey of the fields around the main South Carlton site location. This method of archaeological survey is very popular on sensitive sites because it is non-destructive, can cover large areas and can also produce highly informative results in locating areas of human activity.
The process involves superimposing a grid of ten-metre squares over the area being surveyed. Once marked out with pegs, each square is given a unique reference number. The field walker then slowly walks over each square and picks up any artefacts that are visible on the surface. These finds are bagged and marked to indicate which square they came from. Once the fieldwalking has finished, all the discoveries are plotted onto a distribution map, which then highlights areas containing a high density of finds, possibly hinting at the location of archaeological remains nearby.
'It's actually quite difficult here because the field hasn't been ploughed and it's just stubble,' said Teresa, who would prefer a freshly harrowed area. 'We're finding scatters of early pottery that could indicate areas of activity, but I'm sure we'd be finding more if the field had just been ploughed.'
Metal worker Ulfric has been reconstructing a Saxon shield boss for this programme's cameo. 'It's not been that easy because I'm making it in a farmyard – usually I'd be in my workshop,' he says. 'The main difficulty has been getting the temperature high enough in the open air. I need to heat the metal regularly (it's called 'annealing') so that it can be worked without splitting.'
Using a heavy-gauge, mild steel plate, Ulfric first forms a cone and then gradually forges the shield boss into shape with repeated sessions of hammering and heating.
'The end result is an exact replica of one of the bosses found in the field here,' he says with a smile. 'Not bad, I'm happy with it.'
Alex Protherough is a production runner for Time Team. This is his first year with the programme and he's quickly gained a reputation for being on the ball. 'I started out by getting some work running for commercials,' he says. 'Then a friend of mine helped me get registered with an agency, and from that the longer-term jobs started coming in. Time Team is one of those jobs that has a filming season from February until October, and then all of the post-production work on top.'
Alex's job involves all the 'fetching and carrying' that's needed to ensure the filming runs smoothly. His day can involve driving celebrities to work in one of the Time Team 4x4s, setting up scaffolding platforms, erecting tents, collecting water for pot washers, delivering sandwiches, off-road driving, keeping an eye on health and safety, and even trying to track down an emergency replacement computer hard drive in the middle of nowhere. All the time he wears a communication headset, which has someone calling for him on it almost all the time.
'The best part of the job has to be the people, crew and archaeologists alike,' says Alex. 'It's always good when we all get together after being away for a few weeks between shoots. The best location for me was Green Island in Dorset. It was really nice to get a boat to work in the morning and it was a good-looking location.'
Most Time Team programmes involve local archaeological societies and other groups getting involved in the excavation. These enthusiasts make an invaluable contribution to the process by either digging or working with finds. For this episode both the Navenby Archaeological Group (www.oden.co.uk/nag) and the Washingborough Archaeological Group came along to help with washing and processing the finds.
Liz East, chairperson of NAG, enjoyed the experience. 'It's been really nice to help out,' she said. Local councillor Marianne Overton, who also worked with the groups, found that the Time Team experience had a positive effect: 'It's been really good for us to get involved in the production and also quite inspiring in lots of ways.'
To find out the location of your local archaeological group, check out the listings on the Council for British Archaeology website (www.britarch.ac.uk).
Channel 4 is not responsible for the content of third-party sites.
The Salisbury Hoard by Ian Stead and Colin Renfrew (Tempus, 2000) hardback/paperback £17.99/£12.99 ISBN: 0752414046/752414720
A modern Beowulf-like real-life saga of archaeological detection, leading
to a unique prehistoric hoard. The Salisbury Hoard is the most remarkable
hoard of prehistoric metalwork ever found in Britain, but knowledge of
it was almost lost with artefacts scattered by metal-detectorists, dealers,
auction houses and collectors. Thanks, however, to the dogged persistence
of Dr Stead well over half the hoard has now been recovered and acquired
by the British Museum, where it will be displayed as one of the most important
finds of the century.
The Anglo-Saxons edited by James Campbell, Eric John and
Patrick Wormald (Penguin, 1991) paperback £16
Three experts have collaborated to produce this complete, illustrated
guide to the Anglo-Saxons, from their arrival in England to their conversion
to Christianity and defence of Britain against Viking attacks.
An Archaeology of the Early Anglo-Saxon Kingdoms by C J Arnold (Routledge, new edition 1997) paperback £17.99
The key introduction to Anglo-Saxon studies and the polemics spurring
research in this field. The book deals with the major questions concerning
how Christian medieval England emerged from the chaotic and pagan Dark
Ages.
Anglo-Saxon England and the Norman Conquest by H R Loyn (Addison Wesley Longman Higher Education, 1991) paperback £20.99
More than 30 years since its first edition, this book still remains a
standard text on the social and economic development of Anglo-Saxon England
from the first settlements in the fifth and sixth centuries AD to the
immediate aftermath of the Norman Conquest. It draws on surviving legal
and literary sources, as well as the latest findings of archaeologists,
numismatists and art historians.
The Archaeology of Anglo-Saxon England edited by Catherine E Karkoy (Garland Publishing, 1999) hardback £50
This volume offers comprehensive coverage of the archaeology of Anglo-Saxon
England, bringing together essays on specific fields, sites and objects,
and offering the reader a representative range of both traditional and
modern methodologies and interdisciplinary approaches to the subject.
Individual sections deal with settlement archaeology, the archaeology
of church and monastery, death and burial and women and the material record.
The Anglo-Saxon World by Kevin Crossley-Holland (Oxford University Press, 1999) paperback £6.99
The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle translated and edited by Michael Swanton (Dent, 1996) paperback £12.99
The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle is the first continuous national history
of any Western people in their own language. This translation is the most
complete and faithful yet published, with extensive notes referring the
entries to current knowledge as well as to maps and genealogical tables.
The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle translated and edited by Michael Swanton (Exeter University Press, 1999) £5.99
A basic translation without the notes, maps and tables that accompany
the above.
Kings and Kingdoms of Anglo-Saxon England by Barbara Yorke (Routledge, 1990, new edition 1997) £18.99 ISBN: 041516639X
Wessex in the Early Middle Ages by Barbara Yorke (Leicester University Press, 1995) £25 ISBN: 071851856X
The Anglo-Saxons by Barbara Yorke (Sutton Publishing, 1999) £5.99 ISBN: 0750922206
Barbara Yorke's work in assembling the evidence for a Jutish kingdom in south Hampshire featured in a running debate between Time Team's Robin Bush and Anglo-Saxon cemetery expert Helen Geake during Live 2001. The first two of her books listed here cover this subject in depth, while The Anglo-Saxons reviews the main events of the period 400 to 1066 and the legacy left by the Anglo-Saxons.
Channel 4 is not responsible for the content of third-party sites.
Saxon Women Warriors
www.lothene.org
Lothene Experimental Archaeology is an Edinburgh-based group involved in researching and recreating aspects of life in Scotland in the past. The group was one of those used by Time Team for the Roxburgh programme in the 2004 series to recreate an 11th-century medieval market. As well as covering aspects of everyday life in Scotland during this period, their website contains a large amount of information on the Anglo-Saxons. It is particularly strong on women warriors, and has an extensive section on Women as warriors in history, from 3500BC to the 20th century. There is a section on Saxon and Viking women warriors.
Anglo-Saxon Archaeology
www.gla.ac.uk/archaeology/resources/
Anglo-Saxon/index.html
Glasgow University's collection of links to websites on Anglo-Saxon archaeology.
Anglo Saxon England: A guide to online resources
http://www.the-orb.net/encyclop/
early/pre1000/asindex.html
Part of the ORB Online Reference Book for Medieval Studies, this website has perhaps the best set of web links covering everything from original Anglo-Saxon texts to bibliographies, maps and teaching resources.
Anglo-Saxon England
www.mnsu.edu/emuseum/prehistory/
vikings/angsaxe.html
Includes, among much else, a map of Anglo-Saxon Britain and a detailed bibliography, with a special emphasis on King Cnut.
Angelcynn Anglo-Saxon Living History 400-900 AD
www.angelcynn.org.uk
Excellent website run by the Angelcynn Anglo-Saxon re-enactment society. Contains material on the history, warfare, weapons, armour, clothing and appearance of pagan and Christian Anglo-Saxons, with details on their culture, myths and religion, information on various finds, useful links and an invaluable Anglo-Saxon glossary.
Anglo-Saxon cemeteries
www.gla.ac.uk/Acad/Archaeology/resources/
Anglo-Saxon/cemeteries/index.html
This website contains pointers to a series of resources relating to early Anglo-Saxon cemeteries. Jeremy Huggett, who maintains the site, carried out PhD research involving an analysis of social aspects of burial. As part of this work an early Anglo-Saxon cemeteries database was assembled, consisting primarily of cemeteries from central and central southern England. The database is available on the site, together with a distribution map of the major cemeteries included and discussions on various aspects of early Anglo-Saxon burials.
Early Manuscripts at Oxford University
http://image.ox.ac.uk/
This site provides access to digital facsimiles of more than 80 early illuminated manuscripts now in institutions associated with Oxford University.
Sutton Hoo Society
www.suttonhoo.org
Sutton Hoo is a group of low grassy burial mounds in south east Suffolk. In 1939, excavations brought to light the richest burial ever discovered in Britain, an Anglo-Saxon ship containing the treasure of one of the earliest English kings, Rædwald, King of East Anglia. Further excavations, completed in 1992, proved the site to be a complex collection of burials, some royal, others possibly the victims of judicial execution. Most recently, excavations in advance of building work in 2000, uncovered the remains of another, earlier cemetery. Full details about visiting one of Britain's most important archaeological sites are available on this website, which offers an online interactive tour of the site. Details of how to join the Sutton Hoo Society are also provided on the website.
Regia Anglorum
www.regia.org
Anglo-Saxon, Viking and Norman re-enactment society, used by Time Team on the 2001 live, who modestly describe themselves as 'probably the best early medieval (or Dark Ages) re-enactment society in the world'. Their website includes a short history of Anglo-Saxon England and the entertaining virtual village of Wichamstow, with a wealth of information about everyday life in the Anglo-Saxon world.