Archive

Welcome back to our dig diary! In this instalment we will be looking at some of the burials found on site, including a cemetery located on the eastern side of the site. Content Warning: This blog post discusses archaeological burials, including human remains and funerary practices. If you prefer not to see the images of...

In 2022, after the identification of a possible Civil War bastion (read about this discovery in part 2 of the blog series), a small area was excavated on the west side of the castle. This was ahead of some routine maintenance work. The trench we excavated was about 6m square. When fully excavated, we cleaned...

Gathering data for archaeological purposes has traditionally involved string lines, measuring tapes and pencils. This blog explores a digital technique that is now widely used within archaeological practice: photogrammetry. To best illustrate its uses, we will focus on Hartlebury Castle as a case study. Photogrammetry: what, how and when? So first, what is photogrammetry? It...

Prehistoric wood is archaeological gold dust. So, what do you call Worcestershire’s first Iron Age wooden trackway and a whole wetland landscape? Exceptional. This is not an archaeologist’s dream, but a site excavated for Worcester Six Business Park. Despite the unassuming location (alongside Junction 6 of the M5), in 2019 we uncovered human activity around...

An Iron Age enclosure dating from about 2,250 years ago has recently been excavated by our archaeologists. We have excavated many Iron Age settlements over the years, but this one differs from other sites we’ve worked on. The location is on the site of a new roundabout being constructed by Worcestershire County Council at the...

A hint of Saxon archaeology, medieval town plots, a lime kiln, pits, ditches and more – a fair wishlist for any town centre excavation! We’ve recently excavated an area in the medieval core of Calne, in north Wiltshire, on behalf of Orion Heritage and Churchill Retirement Living. Now fieldwork is finished, finds and environmental analysis...

Walking through the landscape – a pastime for some and lifestyle for others. Drawing on excavations of an Iron Age site, our Environmental Archaeologist Liz Pearson continues our exploration of prehistoric landscapes. In this blog, she traces the footsteps (and hoof prints) of ancient herders from the past to present day. A stream of animals...

A small, small-find. You will have seen in previous Finds of The Month posts we have reported on Neolithic/early Bronze Age tools and pottery excavated from our some of quarry sites.  This post is about one of our archaeology team’s smallest, intact small-finds – a beautiful biconical bead. What we found. Firstly, we found a...

Find Of The Month is actually finds of the month Two polished stone axe heads found on the same site On one of our regular sites in Staffordshire, our archaeologists found not just one, but two Neolithic polished stone axe heads. It is not that common to find one on a site, so finding two is...

The Archaeology Service work on through Introduction During these times of social distancing restrictions since late March 2020, what has happened to our Archaeology Services?  Are they still in the field?  What are they doing?  If they are working, what have we done to make sure they are safe? You can read how some of...