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  • 20th August 2020
Find of the Month – Historic Wall Paintings

This month we have something a bit different to share with you. Whilst our Find of the Month blogs tend to feature interesting archaeological finds discovered by our field team, we also have staff specialised in recording historic buildings. These projects usually take place when a building of historic interest is refurbished, developed or demolished....

  • 17th July 2020
Animals & Ancestors: Bones from the Pyre

What do animals mean to you? For our second blog in the series about prehistoric landscapes, Liz Pearson, our Environmental Archaeologist, explores the tale of two Bronze Age burials, their unusual choice of animal companions and relationship with the land. From the edge of the woodland we see four people lay the body of a...

  • 16th July 2020
Online Resources: Archaeology Data Service – read our reports online

Many of our recent archaeological reports can be read online, as can reports by other units working in Worcestershire and for elsewhere in the country. Archaeological Data Service (ADS) is the main digital archive in this country, and you can access it yourself via their website. As we mention on our website, and when we...

  • 13th July 2020
The Thinning of the Wildwood?

Fascinating stories are found in the smallest of archaeological clues: charcoal and pollen. Recent analysis of a Bronze Age burial site at Meriden, in the West Midlands, illuminates this prehistoric landscape and the choices made by our ancestors 3,500 years ago. To kick off this blog series, our Environmental Archaeologist, Liz Pearson, sets the scenery...

  • 27th May 2020
Find of the Month – March 2020 – Spark Plugs

An unusual find from the Worcester Porcelain factory where you would normally think of richly decorated find pottery such as in January’s find of the month, but it tells an interesting WWII story of how a small component made a big difference in our lives. Our archaeologists were working on a site by The Royal...

  • 12th May 2020
From muddy boots to laptops – Worcestershire Archaeology’s new trainees

  Now in it’s fifth year, our trainee scheme is well established. Martina, Chris and Roland joined our archaeology team in early March 2020 – ideal timing to gain experience on our busy programme of fieldwork projects. Err… or not, as it turned out. Yep, you’ve guessed it: a global pandemic and national lockdown was...

  • 22nd April 2020
Archaeology 50: Crowngate Centre, Deansway, Worcester

In our series of blogs by former County Archaeologists the excavations at Deansway under what is now the Crowngate Centre came up  quite a few times. This is still the largest excavation ever undertaken in the City and the findings are still significant even after 30 years. It also played a big  part in the...

  • 8th December 2019
Archaeology 50: Victoria Bryant

We come up to date with our look back at 50 years of County Archaeologists in Worcestershire with Victoria Bryant. Victoria took over from Malcolm Atkin as Head of Worcestershire Historic Environment & Archaeology Service and oversaw the merger with Worcestershire Record Office and the move to The Hive. I joined Worcestershire County Council in...

  • 4th December 2019
Beyond recognition? Find of the Month – November 2019

A lump of rusty old iron – nothing to write home about, or is it? Unlike copper and bronze, iron quickly rusts and easily distorts beyond recognition. With the recent discovery of Iron Age ironwork at a site south of Worcester, we thought it was time to explore the tricky topic of identifying iron artefacts....

  • 21st November 2019
Archaeology 50: Malcolm Atkin

Malcolm was County Archaeologist for 16 years, 1993-2009, and he shares his memories with us. I arrived in 1993 and had the privilege of being the last County Archaeologist of the old county of Herefordshire and Worcestershire and the first of the reborn Worcestershire. A lot of time was spent managing this huge change but...