Cotswold Archaeology: During our excavations at the site of former HMP Blundeston, Suffolk, a very well preserved later Early Medieval brooch (c. 8th-11th century) was recovered from an unstratified layer. Brooches from this period are extremely diverse and have been intensively studied by researcher Dr Rosie Weetch, our example being classifiable as her type 15B – ‘disc… Read More » The post Blundeston brooch appeared first on Cotswold Archaeology ..read more

Cotswold Archaeology: Last week for International Women’s Day we celebrated the extraordinary women that make up our team. We asked five of our colleagues to share their stories of working in archaeology and to include the good, the bad, and the muddy! Jo Caruth I have been working in archaeology for nearly 40 years now and it… Read More » The post Women of History appeared first on Cotswold Archaeology ..read more

Cotswold Archaeology: As part of the HS2 archaeology programme, CA and our COPA partners recently completed work at a small site near Buckingham. This is the former site of a watermill with potential late Anglo-Saxon origins, which continued to operate until the early 19th century. A review of historical records by the Buckinghamshire Archaeological society (BAS), on… Read More » The post HS2 Discoveries: Buckinghamshire watermill with Anglo-Saxon origins appeared first on Cotswold Archaeology ..read more

Cotswold Archaeology: When Domesday Book was compiled in 1086 following the Norman Conquest, it was to assess the value of William the Conqueror’s new kingdom. Land holdings were listed, but of the potters who produced the ceramics used across England only three groups were recorded, one of which was at Haresfield, Gloucestershire, a parish spanning the Cotswold… Read More » The post Making a living on the Severn Vale: the invisible potters of Domesday appeared first on Cotswold Archaeology ..read more

Cotswold Archaeology: Last year, Cotswold Archaeology and a team of local volunteers excavated seven test pits within Great Yarmouth’s historic town.  Excavated finds included copper ship’s nails, fragments of 16th-century pottery (including a piece of Cologne or Frechen jar with oak-leaf decoration and a sherd of bi-colour Dutch pottery) and carved stone, but the most impressive was… Read More » The post Great Yarmouth stained-glass rose explained appeared first on Cotswold Archaeology ..read more

Cotswold Archaeology: Introduction Post-excavation research into the finds made during our 2021 excavations at Burwell has thrown up some exciting results. In 2021 we reported on the discovery of what we thought was a medieval personal seal matrix for officiating documents (Fig. 1)…. but read on! We now believe it to be a magical charm or love-amulet. This has… Read More » The post Love in the fens: a medieval magical amulet from Burwell, Cambridgeshire appeared first on Cotswold Archaeology ..read more

Cotswold Archaeology: With it being National Apprenticeship Week, we wanted to share the apprenticeship programme here at CA, which we offer in collaboration with Cirencester College. Our scheme takes attendees up to a grade of Archaeological Technician Level 3, and currently we have three apprentices working towards this – Alex, Horatio, and Rory, who are enjoying learning… Read More » The post National Apprenticeships Week: Meet CA’s Apprentices appeared first on Cotswold Archaeology ..read more

Cotswold Archaeology: A fragment of wooden axle from a cart or possibly a chariot has recently been identified for us by dendrochronologist Michael Bamforth – Research Associate at the University of York, and Honorary Research Fellow at the University of Sheffield. The axle fragment was uncovered during our 2021 excavations near Eastbridge, Suffolk, ahead of advance tree… Read More » The post Rare Iron Age axle found in Suffolk appeared first on Cotswold Archaeology ..read more

Cotswold Archaeology: When this rather amorphous lump of copper alloy arrived at our Cirencester office from our site at Eckington, Worcestershire, we weren’t expecting a lot of it. It wasn’t until the metal finds were x-rayed that we did a double-take. A Roman rectangular plate brooch could clearly be seen, with the body and ear of an… Read More » The post Surprises don’t always happen in the field: beautiful enamelled brooch is revealed during conservation appeared first on Cotswold Archaeology ..read more

Cotswold Archaeology: Recent excavations by the CA field team ahead of a road scheme near Harlow, Essex, produced a wealth of finds, including an assemblage relating to what appears to have been a settlement site of Early Iron Age date (c. 700-400 BCE). The vast majority of artefacts were ceramic, such as pottery sherds and loom weights.… Read More » The post ‘Neat as a pin’: an Early Iron Age find from Harlow, Essex appeared first on Cotswold Archaeology ..read more