archaeology of the east midland class 4: radcliffe autumn 2014
TRANSCRIPT
An Archaeology of the East Midlands
Class 4: A Disputed Land: Angles, Saxon and Vikings in the East Midlands.
Tutor: Keith Challis
east-midlands-archaeology.blogspot.co.uk
Recap: Last Week
east-midlands-archaeology.blogspot.co.uk
• Later Prehistory, Iron Age Landscape and Society
• The Roman Interlude
• Dark Age or Iron Age – A Return
Class Summary
• Viking Origins• Scandinavian Settlement in the East Midlands• Discussion – Repton and the Vikings
• Coffee Break
• Techniques of Archaeological Research 3: Seeing Beneath the Soil
east-midlands-archaeology.blogspot.co.uk
Learning Outcomes
• Know a little about the origins and impact of the Viking incursions into and settlement of England.
• Understand the importance of Repton and Ingleby for our appreciation of Viking activity in all its variety.
• Have an appreciation of the main geophysical survey techniques used in British archaeology.
east-midlands-archaeology.blogspot.co.uk
Section 1: Viking Origins
Viking OriginsThis year came dreadful fore-warnings over the land of the Northumbrians, terrifying the people most woefully: these were immense sheets of light rushing through the air, and whirlwinds, and fiery, dragons flying across the firmament. These tremendous tokens were soon followed by a great famine: and not long after, on the sixth day before the ides of January in the same year, the harrowing inroads of heathen men made lamentable havoc in the church of God in Holy-island, by rapine and slaughter.
Anglo-Saxon Chronicle AD. 793.
east-midlands-archaeology.blogspot.co.uk
The 9th-century grave marker found at Lindisfarne known as the Viking Domesday stone
June 793, Letter of Alcuin Archbishop of York to Ethelred King of Northumbria
Viking Origins
east-midlands-archaeology.blogspot.co.uk
Viking Origins
• Where and How?• Old Norse víkingr – “to go on an
expedition overseas”• Norse raiders, settlers and traders
active from 8th to 11th centuries
• Advanced seafaring skills and technology – longships –
• Raids on coastal sites from late 8th century
• Revenge – opportunity – European weakness and lack of naval force
east-midlands-archaeology.blogspot.co.uk
The Oseberg ship, a well-preserved 9th century Viking ship discovered in 1904 in a large burial
mound at the Oseberg farm near Tønsberg in Vestfold county, Norway.
Viking Origins
• Vikings Campaigns• Raids in northern England and Scotland from
late 8th century.• Many monastic houses destroyed or
abandoned and with them written records of raids
• From the 850s Viking armies begin to overwinter in England. Bigger armies suggest campaigns of conquest
• 866 Capture York, 867 southern Northumbria, 873/4 annex Mercia
• 876 division of Northumbria lands (settlement)• 878 subjugation of Wessex • 886 establishment of Danelaw treaty of Alfred
and Guthrum
east-midlands-archaeology.blogspot.co.uk
Viking Origins
east-midlands-archaeology.blogspot.co.uk
• Where did they end up…
• By late 9th century large parts of Britain settled and ruled by Scandinavians
• In early 11th century kingdoms of Denmark and England united under one king (Cnut)
• Ultimately two Scandinavian houses vie for the English throne in 1066
• Scandinavia (Viking) raiding and settlement widespread throughout north-west Europe, the Mediterranean and inland in north central Europe
• Scandinavia trade links extend into the Middle East and Asia
Viking Origins
• Archaeological Evidence• Churchyard burials with grave
goods• Monuments and decorative
sculpture (hogbacks)• Hoards (local response)
• Distinctive buildings types in north and west (longhouses)
• The great trading sites (York, Dublin)
east-midlands-archaeology.blogspot.co.uk
Section 2: Scandinavian Settlement in the East Midlands
Scandinavian Settlement
• The Archaeological Record
• In EM earliest documented Viking raids on Lindsey on (841) and Nottingham (867)
• Vikings in archaeological record hard to spot
• Churchyard burial/finds• Hogbacks• Settlement form and agricultural practice
arbitrarily attributed to Vikings, but no sound basis of evidence
east-midlands-archaeology.blogspot.co.uk
Scandinavian Settlement
• Placename Evidence
• –by (Village) eg Ingleby: village of the English
• – thorpe (secondary settlement) eg Gunthorpe: Gunnas settlement
• - thwaite (clearing of meadow)• “Grimston Hybrids” ON personal
name with OE Tun – appropriation of an existing settlement?
• Language and naming elements eg Kirk, Beck, Gate, etc
east-midlands-archaeology.blogspot.co.uk
www.britishmuseum.org/whats_on/past_exhibitions/2014/vikings/vikings_live/old_norse_origins.aspx
Scandinavian Settlement
• Warriors or Settlers?• Initial raiding gave way
to conquest and settlement
• A strong trading instinct based on seafaring – but building on existing Anglo-Saxon networks and places
east-midlands-archaeology.blogspot.co.uk
Scandinavian Settlement
• Viking Trade• Classic site Jorvik (York)
evidence for industry and extensive pan-European trade post 866 capture of York
• But extensive pre-Viking trading evidence at York and elsewhere – AS Emporia (York, London, Ipswich, Southampton)
• Increasing recognition of “productive sites” ad hoc and seasonal trading places
east-midlands-archaeology.blogspot.co.uk
Section 3: Repton and the Vikings
Repton and the Vikings
east-midlands-archaeology.blogspot.co.uk
This year went the army from Lindsey to Repton, and there took up their winter-quarters,drove the king, Burhred, over sea, when he had reigned about two and twenty winters, and subdued all that land. He then went to Rome, and there remained to the end of his life…. And the same year they gave Ceolwulf, an unwise king's thane, the Mercian kingdom to hold; and he swore oaths to them, and gave hostages, that it should be ready for them on whatever day they would have it; and he would be ready with himself, and with all those that would remain with him, at the service of the army.
Anglo-Saxon Chronicle 874
Repton and the Vikings
• Discussion
east-midlands-archaeology.blogspot.co.uk
Repton and the Vikings
east-midlands-archaeology.blogspot.co.uk
St Wystan’s Mausoleum (850s)
Repton and the Vikings
east-midlands-archaeology.blogspot.co.uk
Grave 511 The warrior
Repton and the Vikings
• The Mass Grave• A reused AS mortuary
chapel• Discovered and looted
in 1686 – “a humane body 9ft long”
• Surrounded by a charnel deposit
• Closely dated by coin finds to 873/4
east-midlands-archaeology.blogspot.co.uk
Repton and the Vikings
• Heath Wood Ingelby• 59 barrows in four
groups• Associated with in-situ
cremation with grave goods
• Within site of Repton• The pagan part of the
Great Army?
east-midlands-archaeology.blogspot.co.uk
Repton and the Vikings
• Typical barrow• Ring-ditch and
cleared land surface• Sand layer (ritual)• Cremation pyre with
grave goods (some removed?)
east-midlands-archaeology.blogspot.co.uk
Mound 50
Repton and the Vikings
• .
east-midlands-archaeology.blogspot.co.uk
Cremated Grave Goods
•Ritually broken swords
•Personal items
•Nails (ship boards)
Torksey
Dirhams were minted in the Middle East and carried to Torksey by the Great Army
east-midlands-archaeology.blogspot.co.uk
• It’s More Complex than you Think…
• Another Great Army Winter Camp (872/3)
• University of York Investigations
• Viking items and evidence of trade/travel
• An existing Anglo-Saxon “productive site”
• Relationship with Littleborough? on opposite bank of Trent
• Coffee Break
east-midlands-archaeology.blogspot.co.uk
Section 5. Seeing Beneath the Soil
Seeing Beneath the Soil
• What is Geophysical Survey?
• Electrical Techniques
• Magnetic Techniques
• Radar
east-midlands-archaeology.blogspot.co.uk
Seeing Beneath the Soil
What is Geophysical Survey?
• Geophysical surveys are techniques used to measure different physical properties of the surface and subsurface. Some of these properties may reflect buried archaeological features and deposits, many others will relate to a range of other factors.
• It is important to remember that these techniques do not detect archaeology – they detect ‘anomalies’ in the subsurface environment.
• Further investigations are usually required to establish whether the results of a geophysical survey definitely reflect archaeological remains.
east-midlands-archaeology.blogspot.co.uk
Seeing Beneath the Soil
• First recorded use for archaeology in Britain by Richard Atkinson at Dorchester-on-Thames (1946). Precursor of resistance technique and used to locate moist ditches cut into gravel.
• 1950s – 1970s – technological and methodological innovations but techniques still not widespread.
• Late 1980s onwards (esp 1990s +) get ever increasing use and development:– Technological developments (quicker,
higher resolution…)– Nature of British archaeology changed –
developer-led approach requires rapid evaluation of large areas. Geophysics is ideally suited to this.
east-midlands-archaeology.blogspot.co.uk
Seeing Beneath the Soil
• 2000 - 2010 – well established and relatively widely used approach (as reflected in Archaeological Prospection, the Time Team television series amongst others).
• 2010 onwards – automated rapid data acquisition, powered or towed arrays, very high resolution multi sensor techniques which collect huge volumes of data
east-midlands-archaeology.blogspot.co.uk
Seeing Beneath the Soil
Types of Geophysical Survey
We can separate geophysical prospection into active and passive techniques
a) Active techniques, which are based on the
injection of signals into the ground (e.g. an electric current or electromagnetic wave) and measurement of the response on the ground surface.
b) Passive techniques, which rely on physical attributes that would exist even in the absence of measuring device (such as the magnetic field of a buried kiln).
east-midlands-archaeology.blogspot.co.uk
Seeing Beneath the Soil
Survey Methods
• Resistance survey
• Magnetometer survey
• Ground-penetrating radar
• Magnetic susceptibility
• Electrical Imaging
east-midlands-archaeology.blogspot.co.uk
Seeing Beneath the Soil
Magnetic Survey• Magnetic survey equipment measures
distortions in the Earth’s magnetic field.
• These magnetic anomalies can be the result of two main phenomena:
1. Thermoremanence2. Magnetic susceptibility
• In archaeological terms this is likely to relate to: ditches, pits, kilns, hearths, ovens, ferrous debris…
• Data collection is rapid and is therefore the primary technique used in evaluations.
• The surveyor must be completely free of ferrous material – including belt buckles, keys, zips, eyelets on shoes…
east-midlands-archaeology.blogspot.co.uk
Seeing Beneath the Soil
east-midlands-archaeology.blogspot.co.uk
Seeing Beneath the Soil
Earth Resistance Survey• Resistance survey is an active geophysical
technique, involving the passing of an electrical current into the ground and measuring the resistance to the flow of this current.
• The resistance of a material to an electrical current is mainly influenced by its moisture content and porosity.
• Compact, dry features such as walls or metalled surfaces will provide a relatively high resistance response, whilst silted-up ditches and pits will retain moisture and provide a relatively low resistance response.
• The technique is relatively slow and therefore not usually suited to large area surveys. Can be adapted to provide depth estimations.
east-midlands-archaeology.blogspot.co.uk
Seeing Beneath the Soil
east-midlands-archaeology.blogspot.co.uk
Seeing Beneath the Soil
Ground-Penetrating Radar (GPR)
• An active geophysical technique that involves passing a pulse of electromagnetic energy into the ground and measuring the response time as it is reflected back to the surface.
• The pulse of energy is emitted from a transmitter antenna, returning echoes from different interfaces.
• The travel times of the echo are recorded by a receiver antenna and converted to depths.
• Some of the energy is reflected back from the interface between contrasting subsurface anomalies. The rest of the energy continues deeper into the ground to be reflected from another interface deeper into the soil profile.
• Unlike many other techniques, radar produces vertical slices through the ground
east-midlands-archaeology.blogspot.co.uk
Seeing Beneath the Soil
east-midlands-archaeology.blogspot.co.uk
Seeing Beneath the Soil
east-midlands-archaeology.blogspot.co.uk
Laxton Castle, NottsGeophysical Survey Example
Seeing Beneath the Soil
east-midlands-archaeology.blogspot.co.uk
Earth Resistance
Gradiometer
Seeing Beneath the Soil
east-midlands-archaeology.blogspot.co.uk
Radar
Further Study
• Suggested Reading
• Self Study Themes
east-midlands-archaeology.blogspot.co.uk