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ONE OF THE MOST SIGNIFICANT DEVELOPMENTS in early-medieval northern Britain was the re-emergence of fortified enclosures and settlements. As in western England and Wales, the fort rather than the hall formed the most prominent material manifestation of power of an elite and their client group. While fortified sites dominate our knowledge of the form that central places of power and governance took in the early-medieval period in northern Britain, our historical sources reveal little about the character, longevity and lifespan of many of these important nodes of power, and archaeological investigation has also tended to be limited. Hence only a handful of forts in northern Britain provide well-dated and investigated sequences for what are critical sites for understanding the character of post-Roman society in the north. As part of the Leverhulme Trust-funded Comparative Kingship project, a suite of new radiocarbon dates was produced using archived material from excavations at the now-destroyed early-medieval hillfort of Clatchard Craig in Fife, eastern Scotland (NGR NO 2435 1780); one of the most complex early-medieval forts yet identified in northern Britain. Some 35 years ago, Joanna Close-Brooks oversaw the publication of a report on the hillfort based on excavations which had occurred more than two decades earlier in response to the quarrying of this multivallate hillfort.5Due to the imprecision and scarcity of radiocarbon dating, a broad 6th to 8th + century ad chronology for the defences and occupation of the interior was obtained. With higher precision AMS dates and a new Bayesian model, a much tighter sequence of dating has been produced suggesting the development and destruction of the monumentally enclosed phase of the site centred on a much shorter period in the 7th century ad. The new chronology for the site, which suggests the fort was constructed and destroyed within a few generations at most, has important implications for the role of fortifications, and the character of warfare in early-medieval society. The burning of the fort suggests a catastrophic and rapid end to a site that is likely to have been constructed by the Pictish elite. The fort may have been a victim of the tumultuous and pivotal events of the latter half of the 7th century when southern Pictland came under Northumbrian control before being wrested back into Pictish overkingship in the aftermath of the Battle of Nechtanesmere of ad 685. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In advance of the demolition of the fire-damaged structures fronting High Town, at the northern end of the development boundary, remnants of two 16th-century timber-framed buildings were recorded.[18] Elements of panelled timber wall frames, filled with wattle and daub, survived in the western structure. The earliest appear to be the NW corner of a structure indicated by foundation (2026) (Fig 7) and the NE corner and E side of a building defined by Group 2119. Clay-bonded wall foundations are commonly found in Hereford in medieval buildings but positively dating our feature was problematic, largely due to its reuse in several phases of later building and the lack of any further associated clay-bonded foundations. The well's backfilling certainly occurred during the Victorian period or later and may have been replaced by a further well (2033), located to the north, associated with later buildings whose post-medieval foundations reused elements of the medieval foundations and in some instances were keyed into or cut through the earlier foundations (Fig 6). [Extracted from the article]

THIS PAPER EXAMINES the archaeological evidence for hand spinning in medieval Britain from c 1200 to c 1500. Ceramic, stone and baked clay spindle whorls have dominated the excavated finds, but a new corpus of lead-alloy spindle whorls, recorded through the Portable Antiquities Scheme and Scottish Treasure Trove, is presented here. Analysis of the metal whorls' distribution, manufacture, dating and decoration is provided, illuminating the wide social and economic contexts in which they were used. From memento mori of pious spinners to sexually potent objects representative of lubricious gossips, the ubiquitous spindle whorl was a universal tool that had a powerful agency. The artefacts are small finds embodying daily life but also tie into the wider national economy of the High and Late Middle Ages. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses archaeological discoveries made by the Portable Antiquities Scheme (PAS) in medieval Britain and Ireland. Topics include features of early medieval coins circulated in England in the 5th century, the excavation of a bronze bowl, ceramic vessel, and coin pendants from a 7th century female burial in Norfolk, England, and the analysis of medieval commercial locations such as Saltfleetby and Skidbrooke.

The article discusses the highlights of archaeological fieldwork and studies involving medieval Britain and Ireland conducted in 2015. Topics explored include the discovery of 11th century land reclamation deposits from the excavation in Poets' Corner Yard of Westminster Abbey in London, England, unusual characteristics of the lead coffins found within the main excavation region, and brief historical background of the construction and structure of St. Mary's Abbey located in York, England.

THE CHURCH OF ST MARY, Prittlewell is now superficially a late medieval building, but it has long been recognised that the N wall of the chancel contains fragments of Anglo-Saxon work, while the nave retains early Romanesque fabric. It is demonstrated here that these early structures represent two discrete axially aligned churches. The Anglo-Saxon church at Prittlewell has been assumed to date from the 7th century, but comparison with similar church buildings points instead to a 10th-century date, suggestive of an absence of continuity between the 7th-century ‘princely’ burial discovered nearby and the foundation of the church. There is no documentation of the church before the Domesday survey, but it is tentatively suggested that a church at Prittlewell was founded in the 10th century as a successor to the nearby minster at Wakering, whose fortunes were then in decline. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

HISTORICAL, ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND GEOMORPHOLOGICAL data indicate that many of the coastal dune formations of Britain and Ireland underwent significant accretion in the medieval and post-medieval periods. The changes wrought by sand-blows to settlement and agriculture were far-reaching, and in some cases devastating. Contemporary attempts to stave off their effects were in many cases the prelude to settlement shift and abandonment. The desertion of sand-inundated settlements has left a rich but fragile archaeological resource concealed under coastal sand-dunes. Exposure, deflation and erosion remain serious challenges to the management and conservation of these landscapes. Archaeological methods applied in sand-dune landscapes are reviewed, with the aim of outlining the range of techniques and approaches available for research and management. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This section of the journal comprises two core sets of reports linked to work in 2014: on finds and analyses relating to the Portable Antiquities Scheme (PAS) and on site-specific discoveries and reports in medieval Britain and Ireland (MB&I), with a selection of highlighted projects. For the PAS report, reviews on coin and non-coin finds and on specific research angles are presented. For MB&I, the Society is most grateful to all contributors (of field units, museums, universities, developers, specialist groups and individuals) who have provided reports on finds, excavations, field-surveys and building analyses for 2014. For MB&I, see below for the format and content of the Fieldwork Highlights section and for contact details of the compilers. The annual Specialist Groups Reports appear in the Society’sNewsletter. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This section of the journal comprises two core sets of reports linked to work in 2013: on finds and analyses relating to the Portable Antiquities Scheme (PAS) and on site-specific discoveries and reports in medieval Britain and Ireland (MB&I), with a selection of highlighted projects. For the PAS report, reviews on coin and non-coin finds and on specific research angles are presented. For MB&I, the Society is most grateful to all contributors (of field units, museums, universities, developers, specialist groups and individuals) who have provided reports on finds, excavations, field-surveys and building analyses for 2013. Note that while we can advise on content, we are not able to abstract from interim reports. Please also note that in certain cases the National Grid Reference has been omitted from reports to protect sites; do notify the compilers if this information is to be withheld. For MB&I, see below for the format and content of the Fieldwork Highlights section and for the contact details of the compilers. The annual Specialist Groups Reports now appear in the Society’s Newsletter. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

THIS ARTICLE presents a summary and interpretation of burial practices in Scotland in ad 400-650. Due to the dearth of documentary sources, mortuary archaeology provides a window on the changes occurring at the juncture between prehistory and history. Yet previous work has generally approached burial as evidence for a single aspect of this transition: the conversion to Christianity. Rather than signalling ethnic or religious affiliation, it is argued that graves should be understood as acts of structured deposition which enabled new relationships to be forged between the living and the dead at a local level. The composition of the grave with stone, sand, timber and earth can be seen as a form of furnishing cognate with the use of grave goods elsewhere in Britain and the continent. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This section of the journal comprises two core sets of reports linked to work in 2012: on finds and analyses relating to the Portable Antiquities Scheme (PAS) and on site-specific discoveries and reports in medieval Britain and Ireland (MB&I), with a selection of highlighted projects. For the PAS report, reviews on coin and non-coin finds and on specific research angles are presented. For MB&I, the Society is most grateful to all contributors (of field units, museums, universities, developers, specialist groups and individuals) who have provided reports on finds, excavations, field-surveys and building analyses for 2012. Note that while we can advise on content, we are not able to abstract from interim reports. Please also note that in certain cases the National Grid Reference has been omitted from reports to protect sites; do notify the compilers if this information is to be withheld. For MB&I, see below for the format and content of the Fieldwork Highlights section and for the contact details of the compilers. The annual Specialist Groups Reports now appear in the Society's Newsletter. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

BOTANICAL DATA FROM EXCAVATIONS are one of several sources of evidence that can be brought to bear on studies of medieval agriculture, food, diet, trade and environment. Reliable reconstructions of these aspects of medieval life are dependent on the quality of the datasets currently available for study. Here these are assessed and lacunae highlighted. The focus lies on sites where macro-remains of food and agricultural products have been found (eg seeds, grains, chaff and fruit stones). The research has raised several areas of concern, some of which relate to changes in the funding of archaeological projects since 1990 (the rise of development-led archaeology). Research priorities are formulated and suggestions for good practice recommended. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This section of the journal comprises two core sets of reports linked to work in 2011: on finds and analyses relating to the Portable Antiquities Scheme (PAS) and on site-specific discoveries and reports in medieval Britain and Ireland (MB&I), with a selection of highlighted projects. For the PAS report, reviews on coin and non-coin finds and on specific research angles are presented. For MB&I, the Society is most grateful to all contributors (of field units, museums, universities, developers, specialist groups and individuals) who have provided reports on finds, excavations, field-surveys and building analyses for 2011. Note that, while we can advise on content, we are not able to abstract from interim reports. Please also note that in certain cases the National Grid Reference has been omitted from reports to protect sites; do notify the compilers if this information is to be withheld. For MB&I, see below for the format and content of the Fieldwork Highlights section and for the contact details of the compilers. The annual Specialist Groups Reports now appear in the Society's Newsletter. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It is now widely accepted that the Anglo-Saxons were not just transplanted Germanic invaders and settlers from the Continent, but the outcome of insular interactions and changes. But we are still lacking explicit models that suggest how this ethnogenetic process might have worked in concrete terms. This article is an attempt to present such a model from an archaeological perspective, but with an interdisciplinary approach. The focus is on the role of the native British population and its interaction with immigrant Germanic groups. As a result, the model envisages two broad phases in the creation of the Anglo-Saxons: an ethnically divided conquest society in the 5th/6th centuries in which immigrants and their descendants practised a form of 'apartheid' in order to preserve their dominance; and a phase of increasing acculturation and assimilation of the natives in the 7th/8th centuries that laid the foundations of a common English identity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses medieval archaeological finds from 2010, focusing on records of the Portable Antiquities Scheme (PAS) and other discoveries made in Great Britain and Ireland. The authors describe the PAS's aim to record archaeological finds discovered by the public, and the 1996 Treasure Act allowing museums to acquire finds. The authors discuss the death of PAS archaeologist Geoff Egan and describe medieval coinage recorded in 2010 as well as other finds such as runic inscriptions and pilgrims' badges. Also presented is an index of 2010 archaeological finds and projects in Great Britain and Ireland, along with brief reports about each project including a 9th-century industrial site in Northumberland, England, a Viking-Age settlement in Orkney, Scotland, and Nevern Castle in Wales.

This study probes the destruction of material culture to illuminate the introduction of Norman political authority into northern England. A brief overview of Norman destruction of churches provides the background to a review of the potential relationship of Anglo-Saxon monuments with memory and identity, in the context of recent discussions of monument reuse. Durham and York, the Anglo-Saxon monastic sites at Wearmouth/Jarrow, Lindisfarne and Jedburgh, and a selection of local churchyards provide case studies. It argues that some monuments seem to have been deliberately targeted, but a wider range of factors, all ultimately derived from changing political circumstances, can be identified that explain why sculpture was removed and reused. The paper serves as a platform for further debate about the significance of monuments in the Middle Ages, and as a contribution to the broader discourse within archaeology about their social meanings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Excavation at Bantham Ham in 2001 examined a sequence of post-Roman occupation with radiocarbon dates centred on the late 5th and 6th centuries. Despite the limited area of exposure, a major and unusually well-preserved assemblage of Mediterranean amphorae was recovered; among sites in the British Isles, the quantity of ceramics is second only to that from Tintagel. This assemblage is of great significance in the study of links between western Britain and the Mediterranean in the post-Roman period, raising questions about the date, duration and character of trading patterns, and about their late-Roman antecedents. Associated finds of vessel glass and evidence of ironworking are discussed; the glass is interpreted as reflecting elite drinking rituals. Study of well-preserved bone, shell, charcoal and charred plant macrofossils allows consideration of aspects of the economy and environment of the site. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Historic Building Investigations and selective excavations carried out during recent conservation works have shed new light on St Mary's Guildhall, Boston (Lincolnshire), built by an internationally significant religious fraternity in one of the most important ports of medieval England. Dendrochronological dating of the guildhall indicates a construction date of c 1390. This is significantly earlier than had previously been supposed and suggests a close link between the construction of the guildhall and the grant of a royal licence of incorporation to the guild in 1392. It makes the guildhall one of the earliest securely dated brick buildings in Lincolnshire and is important evidence of investment during a period when Boston was experiencing severe economic decline. Multidisciplinary analysis of the archaeology of the building and some of the guild's surviving documentary records enables a reconstruction of the original form and function of the guildhall and its now-lost material culture. Comparative analysis of Boston with other surviving provincial guildhalls begins to shed light on the emergence of a distinctive type of public architecture in pre-modern England. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents a report of the 2010-2011 activities of the Society for Medieval Archaeology. Information about the society's address, trustee, and council members is presented. Also presented is a summary of the society's objectives to further study of British history and a description of the society's activities related to medieval archaeology in Great Britain, Ireland, and Europe, including their publication of the journal "Medieval Archaeology."

This paper examines patterns in the placement of apotropaic objects and materials in high- to late-medieval burials in Britain (11th to 15th centuries). It develops an interdisciplinary classification to identify: (1) healing charms and protective amulets; (2) objects perceived to have occult natural power; (3) 'antique' items that were treated as possessing occult power; and (4) rare practices that may have been associated with the demonic magic of divination or sorcery. Making comparisons with amulets deposited in conversion-period graves of the 7th to 9th centuries it is argued that the placement of amulets with the dead was strategic to Christian belief, intended to transform or protect the corpse. The conclusion is that material traces of magic in later medieval graves have a connection to folk magic, performed by women in the care of their families, and drawing on knowledge of earlier traditions. This popular magic was integrated with Christian concerns and tolerated by local clergy, and was perhaps meant to heal or reconstitute the corpse, to ensure its reanimation on judgement day, and to protect the vulnerable dead on their journey through purgatory. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses medieval archaeological projects and discoveries in Great Britain and Ireland that took place during 2007. Several groups present reports on their activities for the year. The Castle Studies Group held an Annual Conference in April 2007, took part in a conference commemorating the 700th anniversary of the death of King Edward I of England, and studied châteaux forts in the Languedoc region of France. The Finds Research Group held a meeting in May 2007 and discussed finds from Wharram Percy and Whitbey Abbey at a meeting in October 2007. The Medieval Pottery Research Group held a conference and annual general meeting (AGM) in June 2007 in which the movement of pottery across medieval Europe was discussed.

The article presents a compilation of reports related to medieval archeology societies in Great Britain and Ireland in 2006. They include information on the conference and seminars conducted during the year by Medieval Settlement Research Group (MSRG), Medieval Pottery Research Group, and Finds Research Group. Also included are information about the archeological objects that were discovered and recorded in 2006, and details of archeological structures and excavations which include the remains of the Cluniac priory, and the Bishop's Palace and Manor in Exeter, England.

The article presents the annual report of the council of the Society for Medieval Archaeology in Great Britain for the year ended March 31, 2007. The report includes the Society's statement of financial activities, balance sheet, and notes to the financial statements for the year that provide information on the preparation of accounts and the basis of income, value added tax, expenditures and investments of the society. The independent report of the account examiner to the council is also presented, with details on the respective responsibilities of trustees and examiner and basis of audit opinion.

A SURVEY of archaeological ceramic thin sections held by institutions and individuals in the United Kingdom was undertaken in the early 1990s by the City of Lincoln Archaeology Unit and funded by English Heritage. Over 6,000 thin sections of Anglo-Saxon or medieval date (or reports on their analysis) were located. For the Middle to Late Anglo-Saxon and the post-Conquest Periods, these studies have confirmed that pottery production was carried out in a limited number of centres and that most pottery, including handmade coarsewares, was therefore produced for trade. The distances over which pottery was carried vary from period to period but were actually as high or higher in the Middle to Late Anglo-Saxon Period as in the 13th to 14h centuries. However, for the Early Anglo-Saxon Period (and the Middle Anglo-Saxon Period outside of eastern England) the evidence of ceramic petrology is equivocal and requires more study. These 6,000–odd thin sections represent a resource which could be used for various future studies, some of which are discussed here, and as an aid to their further use a database containing information on the sampled ceramics, their location and publications of their analyses will be published online through Internet Archaeology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents the annual report of the council of the British Society for Medieval Archaeology for the year ended March 31, 2005. The Society has no current investments. It did not acquire gains or losses other than those for the current and previous years. All of its activities were classed as continuing. Voluntary income and donations were reported for as received by the Society.

The article discusses the changes and improvements within the "Medieval Archaeology" journal of the Society for Medieval Archaeology in Great Britain. The improvements include the free accessibility of volumes 1-50 online through the Archaeology Data Service, the publication of colored illustration in the journal's online version, and the introduction of the Martyn Jope Award that will rewarded for the best novel interpretation, application of analytical method or presentation of new findings published in the journal. The changes will also include certain modifications in the journal's house-style and appearance.