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Archaeology
for children
at Cressing Temple 2007 Results. |
Phase Three of the Dovehouse Field children's archaeological excavations (2007) was completed on the 23th of August. Over the five sessions over 300 children worked enthusiatically on uncovering an unbelievable range of finds and features.
In the SE corner was a tiled hearth composed of C15th style pegged roof tiles many of which had been robbed out to be re-used elsewhere. The base of a brick wall was discovered running out of the western section. The bricks of a type common in the early 1600's point to a building or structure close by.
Remnants of a tiled hearth.
Many structural elements such as bricks, tiles, mortar were uncovered including some fine numbered tudor window mullion bricks and also the base of a brick pillar - the type used to support floors over cellars. There were many Tudor style rose-headed wrought-iron nails - usually associated with boarding for roofs or doors. The presence of many pintle hinges and padlocks all indicate a stable block or similar building was nearby in the Victorian or early C20th times.
Long cross mediaeval silver
coin.
There were a large range of coins dating from Ceasar and Cunobelin c.AD43 right up to the 1970's. There were even some slot machine tokens! The majority however were of the 13th and 14th centuries and many were 'long cross' coins. A common question is "How comes all these coins are mixed together?" There can be two answers: either the ground has been disturbed many times and we know this to be the case here or that during the hot summers, great cracks open in the parched clay soils and the objects simply fall down deeper. Sometimes this is called 'self-sorting' and can very difficult on an archaeological site where the features are all very similar.
Sheeps cranium buried by a modern farmer?
There were some strange burials. That of an isolated sheeps head was most probably very modern - the bone was still fatty. However the burial of a human skull in a brick lined cyst was probably of the 15th or 16th century judging by the bricks. The male head was isolated and the mandible (lower jaw) was broken in half and the other half missing. It was not uncommon to exhume graves to make way for new burials and rebury the fragments found elsewhere.
Photo of the skull and jaw taken by one of the children.
The large brick-built coffin in the centre of the site contained the near-complete skeleton of an adult male probably in his late 40's or 50's. His teeth were all present and the prominent mastoid process on the skull helped to age and identify his gender. It was noticed during the excavation that his right fibula (lower leg bone) was curved as though he may have suffered with rickets. None of the other bones showed this particulat trait so it may have been congenital or as a result of a trauma when he was very young.
That the grave had been disturbed before there could be no doubt. What remained of the coffin was only two bricks high and the capping was makeshift of the tiles from the earlier hearth. The bricks were similar to those in the garden wall thought to be of around AD1620.
The body was laid east to west with his head to the east and for this reason I believe he was a priest. Come Judgement Day he would sit up to face the congregation who would all sit up to face the rising sun.
Barry Hillman-Crouch
MStPA DipFA BScHons HND.
