archaeology of the east midland class 4: radcliffe autumn 2014

An Archaeology of the East Midlands

Class 4: A Disputed Land: Angles, Saxon and Vikings in the East Midlands.

Tutor: Keith Challis

east-midlands-archaeology.blogspot.co.uk

Recap: Last Week


• Later Prehistory, Iron Age Landscape and Society

• The Roman Interlude

• Dark Age or Iron Age – A Return

Class Summary

• Viking Origins• Scandinavian Settlement in the East Midlands• Discussion – Repton and the Vikings

• Coffee Break

• Techniques of Archaeological Research 3: Seeing Beneath the Soil


Learning Outcomes

• Know a little about the origins and impact of the Viking incursions into and settlement of England.

• Understand the importance of Repton and Ingleby for our appreciation of Viking activity in all its variety.

• Have an appreciation of the main geophysical survey techniques used in British archaeology.


Section 1: Viking Origins

Viking OriginsThis year came dreadful fore-warnings over the land of the Northumbrians, terrifying the people most woefully: these were immense sheets of light rushing through the air, and whirlwinds, and fiery, dragons flying across the firmament. These tremendous tokens were soon followed by a great famine: and not long after, on the sixth day before the ides of January in the same year, the harrowing inroads of heathen men made lamentable havoc in the church of God in Holy-island, by rapine and slaughter.

Anglo-Saxon Chronicle AD. 793.


The 9th-century grave marker found at Lindisfarne known as the Viking Domesday stone

June 793, Letter of Alcuin Archbishop of York to Ethelred King of Northumbria

Viking Origins


Viking Origins

• Where and How?• Old Norse víkingr – “to go on an

expedition overseas”• Norse raiders, settlers and traders

active from 8th to 11th centuries

• Advanced seafaring skills and technology – longships –

• Raids on coastal sites from late 8th century

• Revenge – opportunity – European weakness and lack of naval force


The Oseberg ship, a well-preserved 9th century Viking ship discovered in 1904 in a large burial

mound at the Oseberg farm near Tønsberg in Vestfold county, Norway.

Viking Origins

• Vikings Campaigns• Raids in northern England and Scotland from

late 8th century.• Many monastic houses destroyed or

abandoned and with them written records of raids

• From the 850s Viking armies begin to overwinter in England. Bigger armies suggest campaigns of conquest

• 866 Capture York, 867 southern Northumbria, 873/4 annex Mercia

• 876 division of Northumbria lands (settlement)• 878 subjugation of Wessex • 886 establishment of Danelaw treaty of Alfred

and Guthrum


Viking Origins


• Where did they end up…

• By late 9th century large parts of Britain settled and ruled by Scandinavians

• In early 11th century kingdoms of Denmark and England united under one king (Cnut)

• Ultimately two Scandinavian houses vie for the English throne in 1066

• Scandinavia (Viking) raiding and settlement widespread throughout north-west Europe, the Mediterranean and inland in north central Europe

• Scandinavia trade links extend into the Middle East and Asia

Viking Origins

• Archaeological Evidence• Churchyard burials with grave

goods• Monuments and decorative

sculpture (hogbacks)• Hoards (local response)

• Distinctive buildings types in north and west (longhouses)

• The great trading sites (York, Dublin)


Section 2: Scandinavian Settlement in the East Midlands

Scandinavian Settlement

• The Archaeological Record

• In EM earliest documented Viking raids on Lindsey on (841) and Nottingham (867)

• Vikings in archaeological record hard to spot

• Churchyard burial/finds• Hogbacks• Settlement form and agricultural practice

arbitrarily attributed to Vikings, but no sound basis of evidence



• Placename Evidence

• –by (Village) eg Ingleby: village of the English

• – thorpe (secondary settlement) eg Gunthorpe: Gunnas settlement

• - thwaite (clearing of meadow)• “Grimston Hybrids” ON personal

name with OE Tun – appropriation of an existing settlement?

• Language and naming elements eg Kirk, Beck, Gate, etc


www.britishmuseum.org/whats_on/past_exhibitions/2014/vikings/vikings_live/old_norse_origins.aspx


• Warriors or Settlers?• Initial raiding gave way

to conquest and settlement

• A strong trading instinct based on seafaring – but building on existing Anglo-Saxon networks and places



• Viking Trade• Classic site Jorvik (York)

evidence for industry and extensive pan-European trade post 866 capture of York

• But extensive pre-Viking trading evidence at York and elsewhere – AS Emporia (York, London, Ipswich, Southampton)

• Increasing recognition of “productive sites” ad hoc and seasonal trading places


Section 3: Repton and the Vikings

Repton and the Vikings


This year went the army from Lindsey to Repton, and there took up their winter-quarters,drove the king, Burhred, over sea, when he had reigned about two and twenty winters, and subdued all that land. He then went to Rome, and there remained to the end of his life…. And the same year they gave Ceolwulf, an unwise king's thane, the Mercian kingdom to hold; and he swore oaths to them, and gave hostages, that it should be ready for them on whatever day they would have it; and he would be ready with himself, and with all those that would remain with him, at the service of the army.

Anglo-Saxon Chronicle 874


• Discussion




St Wystan’s Mausoleum (850s)



Grave 511 The warrior


• The Mass Grave• A reused AS mortuary

chapel• Discovered and looted

in 1686 – “a humane body 9ft long”

• Surrounded by a charnel deposit

• Closely dated by coin finds to 873/4



• Heath Wood Ingelby• 59 barrows in four

groups• Associated with in-situ

cremation with grave goods

• Within site of Repton• The pagan part of the

Great Army?



• Typical barrow• Ring-ditch and

cleared land surface• Sand layer (ritual)• Cremation pyre with

grave goods (some removed?)


Mound 50


• .


Cremated Grave Goods

•Ritually broken swords

•Personal items

•Nails (ship boards)

Torksey

Dirhams were minted in the Middle East and carried to Torksey by the Great Army


• It’s More Complex than you Think…

• Another Great Army Winter Camp (872/3)

• University of York Investigations

• Viking items and evidence of trade/travel

• An existing Anglo-Saxon “productive site”

• Relationship with Littleborough? on opposite bank of Trent

• Coffee Break


Section 5. Seeing Beneath the Soil

Seeing Beneath the Soil

• What is Geophysical Survey?

• Electrical Techniques

• Magnetic Techniques

• Radar



What is Geophysical Survey?

• Geophysical surveys are techniques used to measure different physical properties of the surface and subsurface. Some of these properties may reflect buried archaeological features and deposits, many others will relate to a range of other factors.

• It is important to remember that these techniques do not detect archaeology – they detect ‘anomalies’ in the subsurface environment.

• Further investigations are usually required to establish whether the results of a geophysical survey definitely reflect archaeological remains.



• First recorded use for archaeology in Britain by Richard Atkinson at Dorchester-on-Thames (1946). Precursor of resistance technique and used to locate moist ditches cut into gravel.

• 1950s – 1970s – technological and methodological innovations but techniques still not widespread.

• Late 1980s onwards (esp 1990s +) get ever increasing use and development:– Technological developments (quicker,

higher resolution…)– Nature of British archaeology changed –

developer-led approach requires rapid evaluation of large areas. Geophysics is ideally suited to this.



• 2000 - 2010 – well established and relatively widely used approach (as reflected in Archaeological Prospection, the Time Team television series amongst others).

• 2010 onwards – automated rapid data acquisition, powered or towed arrays, very high resolution multi sensor techniques which collect huge volumes of data



Types of Geophysical Survey

We can separate geophysical prospection into active and passive techniques

a) Active techniques, which are based on the

injection of signals into the ground (e.g. an electric current or electromagnetic wave) and measurement of the response on the ground surface.

b) Passive techniques, which rely on physical attributes that would exist even in the absence of measuring device (such as the magnetic field of a buried kiln).



Survey Methods

• Resistance survey

• Magnetometer survey

• Ground-penetrating radar

• Magnetic susceptibility

• Electrical Imaging



Magnetic Survey• Magnetic survey equipment measures

distortions in the Earth’s magnetic field.

• These magnetic anomalies can be the result of two main phenomena:

1. Thermoremanence2. Magnetic susceptibility

• In archaeological terms this is likely to relate to: ditches, pits, kilns, hearths, ovens, ferrous debris…

• Data collection is rapid and is therefore the primary technique used in evaluations.

• The surveyor must be completely free of ferrous material – including belt buckles, keys, zips, eyelets on shoes…



Earth Resistance Survey• Resistance survey is an active geophysical

technique, involving the passing of an electrical current into the ground and measuring the resistance to the flow of this current.

• The resistance of a material to an electrical current is mainly influenced by its moisture content and porosity.

• Compact, dry features such as walls or metalled surfaces will provide a relatively high resistance response, whilst silted-up ditches and pits will retain moisture and provide a relatively low resistance response.

• The technique is relatively slow and therefore not usually suited to large area surveys. Can be adapted to provide depth estimations.



Ground-Penetrating Radar (GPR)

• An active geophysical technique that involves passing a pulse of electromagnetic energy into the ground and measuring the response time as it is reflected back to the surface.

• The pulse of energy is emitted from a transmitter antenna, returning echoes from different interfaces.

• The travel times of the echo are recorded by a receiver antenna and converted to depths.

• Some of the energy is reflected back from the interface between contrasting subsurface anomalies. The rest of the energy continues deeper into the ground to be reflected from another interface deeper into the soil profile.

• Unlike many other techniques, radar produces vertical slices through the ground




Laxton Castle, NottsGeophysical Survey Example



Earth Resistance

Gradiometer



Radar

Further Study

• Suggested Reading

• Self Study Themes


archaeology of the east midland class 4: radcliffe autumn 2014

Education

century viking ship

viking originswhere

scandinavia viking

viking incursions

s viking armies

viking domesday stone

settlement of england

england united