Bristol Dig Berkeley

As the first two weeks have passed in Berkeley, Gloucestershire, the University of Bristol archaeology students are half way there, and we begin our final two weeks. Much has happened on the site this year, and to give a general overview on the beginning of the excavation and the upcoming end, I have spoken to site leaders at both the Paddock and Jenner garden. Paddock Update 21/05/13 The Paddock site leaders: Stuart Prior and Sian Thomas What were the main discoveries of the past two weeks? We have learnt that the Anglo-Saxon building is actually Saxo-Norman; it has two phases, first Late Saxon then Early Norman. Underneath the Saxo-Norman building is unquestionably Anglo-Saxon. We have also discovered that the Norman building in the north west corner of the trench has an identical plan to Robert Fitzharding’s 12 th century house in Bristol, however the Berkeley building is of a smaller size. Fitzharding rebuilt Berkeley Castle and his further generations stil...

This quiz is a chance for you to test your knowledge about Berkeley Castle, the Jenner Museum and the excavation in general. Highlight under the question to see the answer, no cheating though! Please comment below to tell us your score, we would love to know. 1.        Which king was imprisoned and reputedly murdered at Berkeley Castle in 1327?          Edward II a.        Allegedly how was it believed he was killed?        A red hot poker inserted into his rear b.       And where is he buried?         Gloucester Cathedrale 2.        Whose bed-spread is on display in the china room in the castle?          Elizabeth I 3.        What rare animal tusk is on display ...

Today is Edward Jenner’s 264 th birthday! He is celebrated today as the pioneer of vaccination to one of the most lethal diseases known to mankind.    Edward Jenner Edward Jenner was the pioneer of the smallpox vaccination. Smallpox was one of the most feared and most dangerous killers of Jenner’s time and was considered as deadly as cancer and heart disease is today. It wiped out 10% of Britain’s population, rising to 20% in towns and cities where infection spread quickly. It was rumoured amongst country lore that people who caught cowpox from their cows would not catch smallpox. Intrigued by this, Jenner made observations in his local area that led him to investigate the use of cowpox as a means to prevent catching smallpox. A dairy-maid, Sarah Nelmes came to Jenner with fresh lesions on her hands and arms which he diagnosed as cowpox rather than smallpox. Jenner realised that this was an ideal opportunity to test the protective properties of cowpox by giving ...

You've asked for more information on the possible stone built Norman house, and here it is! As we've mentioned in a previous blog post we have made the exciting discovery of a building constructed of stone towards the west end of the Paddock trench. Although we cannot know for sure the dimensions of the building, dating to the twelfth century, Dr Stuart Prior predicts that it measures at least 6m north to south and 12 - 15m from east to west. The end gable fronts onto High Street which we will not be able to excavate as a wall is currently enclosing the area. Also, the wall on the southern edge of the building has now been shown to have been robbed due to the presence of a robber trench running along next to it. If this is the case the area of the building may be larger than first thought. A similar stone built house, or hall, was uncovered in Tower Lane, Bristol. This also dates to the twelfth century and measured 18 by 9m with walls that were over a metre thick. The bui...

This afternoon Florence Hunter and Abbi Robertson, members of our social media team, conducted an interview with site director, archaeology Professor and Worcester sauce aficionado Mark Horton. Read on for the results. Q:What drew you to archaeology and what is your favourite archaeological period? A: I was first interested in archaeology when I was nine or ten, just fascinated by everything in the past, I went on my first dig at 14/15 and carried on digging ever since. What's that, 40 years of digging plus! Q:Archaeological period? A: I Generally do the last two thousand years, historical archaeology. But I'm not restricted in what I do. I work all round the world, Sri Lanka, East Africa, North America and here at Berkeley.  Q:As a Professor at the University of Bristol, what area of archaeology do you specialise in? A: I mainly specialise in the period where we have historical documents. The period commonly described as historical archaeology. Where ...

Unforgiving weather conditions have interrupted excavations throughout the Berkeley castle dig today with the strong winds and incessant showers redirecting the majority of our efforts towards post excavation techniques, practices and activities. The paddock trench has been off limits today and the students have been busy in the social media HQ to begin work on organising and classifying some of the previous years of archaeological research.   A small group of our students have spent their day logging context sheets. These reference databases are vital to the post excavation process as they enable archaeologists to access their data with as much ease as possible even long after the trenches have been filled back in. Others are using archaeological drawings to create a stratigraphic sequence of the trench in the Paddock. These sequences can then be used to work out the relative relationships between the varying stratigraphic sequences that are evident throughout the...

We have been back digging today after a weekend of rest and relaxation. Henry Webber and his team have been carrying out geophysics on site, using magnetometry and resistivity. They are looking for any archaeological potential in an area which has been previously unexcavated. In the Jenner Garden, they have been finding lots of black burnished ware pottery within the demolition layer. They have also found a large amount of slag. Digging also continues within the paddock, with the various features continuing to be uncovered. We have some exciting stuff happening tomorrow, with a visit from Norman Hammond, who is a Professor at Boston University and also writes for the Times. The social media team are also conducting the first tours for the public around the paddock trench.  Unauthorised metal detecting We have had issues in the past with unauthorised metal detectorists entering the Berkeley site at night time after we have left. These detectorists are called ‘nighthawks’ and the...