| Our first walk of Autumn 2024 |
| 6/10/2024 |
After our summer break we gathered again at Wimpole for our first field walking day of the Autumn. The weather was good, there were lots of walkers and the ground visibility OK. The ploughed surface made walking a little difficult but we completed Clay Pits West in one go.
There were not vast numbers of finds and most of them were post med in date. One interesting find was part of a Hamilton bottle, used in the 19th C for mineral waters and other fizzy drinks - described as egg-shaped in appearance. There were some small pieces that looked medieval in date, like the part of a handle on the right. However, lots of GRE, some transfer printed ware and clay pipe stems formed the bulk of the finds. | |  |
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| An unusual find has emerged as we process finds |
| 16/8/2024 |
| What looked like an ordinary bone from a small animal (sheep?) when examined as we processed the finds suddenly became of interest when we noticed cut marks across the end. On research it appears this may be an Anglo Saxon stamp for decorating pottery. Examples have been seen which show similar shaped oval marks on vessels from the Anglo Saxon period. More research needed. However it does highlight how important a close examination of finds is for what might otherwise have been discarded. | |  |
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| Our excavations are over but the work of documenting begins |
| 28/7/2024 |
The digging work is complete but we are backfilling trenches
and recording section and plans. We are also processing the
more interesting finds. Our metal detectorists did us proud,
producing some nice finds like the Elizabeth 1 silver half
groat shown in the photograph. This is listed as a Fifth
Issue of her coins, dated to 1582 - 1600 with two pellets
behind her bust replacing a rose symbol seen on some other
coins. It was minted in London.
Although we did not recover
as much pottery as we did last year from the black hole in
the south-west corner, we still had some interesting finds
to add to our collection of Wimpole finds. | |  |
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| Today's best find |
| 20/7/2024 |
Yet again, another day of intriguing finds. The photograph shows a miniature pipkin-like pot which came from the lower levels we are now reaching. It stands 5.4cm tall, the rim is 5cm diameter and there are 3 small feet. The strange feature is the 3 small holes in the base, suggesting some sort of draining action perhaps. It is unglazed and very much hand thrown.
Other finds were a pilgrims badge in the shape of a scallop, either in lead or pewter, plus an Elizabeth 1 silver half groat. Both finds courtesy of our splendid metal detecting team.
Today was a very busy day with members of the CBA/CAS visiting along with a member of the MOLA geophysics team checking to see whether the geophys was confirmed by our digging. Tomorrow should be our last day but we may carry on next week if we do not finish our planned work. We are taking Monday off to rest our weary bones!!! | |  |
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| The Wimpole excavation day 7. |
| 19/7/2024 |
Today, as we get deeper into the archaeology, some nice finds are starting to emerge. Today's star find has to be the Neolithic polished axe. The photograph shows the axe which was broken in antiquity and remodeled, possibly as a scraper. The cutting edge is largely complete, with no chips to suggest it had been used for any length of time, if at all. It could be that the axe broke across a fault in the flint at a very early stage of its life. Imagine, having spent ages polishing the axe to an incredibly smooth finish, to have it break.
Tomorrow is the archaeology event at Wimpole where we hope to see lots of people and interest them in what we are doing and have found. | |  |
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| Our first interesting find |
| 15/7/2024 |
| Our digs progressed below the topsoil today and some interesting finds are beginning to appear. The photograph shows one - a piece of slate inscribed with some musical staffs. For the uninitiated these are the 5 lines/4 spaces used to write musical notes on when composing music of all sorts. In some ways this harks back to the slates at Mr Ratford's house where the slates were used to teach children to write and spell. We were shortened today by rain but hope to be back tomorrow where further progress may produce more interesting finds. | |  |
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| First day of the Wimpole dig |
| 21/7/2024 |
| Today was our first day of the latest Wimpole excavation. Not much was found but we are only just removing the the turf and the first layers of topsoil. A surprise was a fossil sharks tooth, presumably originally in the gravel used for the paths. Cambridge is not best known for its fossil shark teeth, although we have plenty of gryphea (or Devil's toenails as they are known locally). We had a reasonable number of visitors as the photograph shows. Lets hope for more interesting things tomorrow. | |  |
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| Our final spring walk at Ickleton |
| 12/5/2024 |
At last the sugar beet had germinated enough for us to complete the field at Ickleton. In warm sunny conditions it felt strange to be walking this late in the spring but that illustrates how delayed everything is this year.
Our finds were the usual Ickleton mixture of flints (struck and burnt), medieval wares including a foot from a pipkin (or similar vessel), a handle and possible Late Stamford ware ridged rim. Also the usual post med wares - redwares (glazed and unglazed), stoneware and a ridged manganese ware base.
This will be our last field walk until the Autumn season but we do have our summer excavation to look forward to. | |  |
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| Recent AGM news |
| 6/5/2024 |
At our recent AGM several events took place in addition to our normal business. One was the presentation of the Val Whittaker Prize to Thomas Prince for his work entitled "Two Acheulean handaxes from Kariandusi, Kenya". The prize was presented by our President Paul Spoerry, as shown in the photograph. The second was a lecture by Paul and was the last act as he retires as our president after a number of years service. He was presented with a cheque to put towards something archaeological and made a life member of CAFG. Best wishes Paul as you move into a new phase of your life.
Luckily we have a very suitable replacement in Stephen Macaulay who has taken over from Paul as leader at Oxford Archaeology. Stephen is well known to us and has had a continuing role engaged with other local communities. Welcome Stephen and we hope to carry on with our long-standing relationship with OA. | |  |
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| Still no field walking availability |
| 26/4/2024 |
| This coming Sunday (28th April) is not possible due to probable bad weather and the non-availability due to the crop not progressing fast enough. We are hoping to perhaps be back in early May (earlier if things progress faster). |
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| Field walking at last - Ickleton again |
| 24/3/2024 |
| At last the weather remained good while we walked at Ickleton this weekend. As the photo showed the finds were mostly post-medieval with the odd piece of medieval date. The overwhelming impression of the field was the quantities of flint lying about. We did pick up some, as the photo shows, but they are mostly primary flakes with no tools. There was a single piece of burnt flint. When confronted with masses of flint like this, identifying worked flint is a major task and possibly we did leave some on the field. | |  |
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| Looking at an old find |
| 23/3/2024 |
Recently while searching old finds, this wig curler came to light. The dumb-bell shaped object in a kaolin clay has a stamp on each end as the photo shows. The letters are W and B which are surmounted by a coronet. This curler dates to the latter half of the 18th C and the initials stand for William Burstow who worked out of Blackheath Hill, Greenwich in the 1740's. The large number of his products, both in Great Britain and the American colonies suggests he had somewhat cornered the market at this time.
Wig wearing was all the rage in the late 17th C but had fallen out of fashion by the turn of the 19th C,. These wigs required frequent cleaning and reforming of the curls which were formed around hot wig curlers. Other curlers were made from wood, typically of cane, boxwood and some other woods. The wigs themselves often used human hair but also used horsehair, cow, goat and sheep hair depending on the price of the wig. | |  |
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| Two more Sundays, two more rained off days |
| 18/3/2024 |
| Meterologists tell us that East Anglia has had as much rain in the first two weeks of March this year as we had in the whole of March last year. Don't we know it!!! Winter 2023/24 has been one of the worst periods for field walking in perhaps the last two or three decades. However, we will try again this coming Sunday (24th) and see whether we can get some field walking in before we break for Easter - keep your fingers crossed. |
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| More leg exercise in the muddy conditions |
| 3/3/2024 |
| Back in the Eltisley mud this weekend, conditions had not really improved for walking but the ground visibility was still OK. There were few finds, as the photograph shows, and they were mostly post-medieval in date. They did include a small fragment of a blue Westerwald vessel and more stoneware. The usual glazed red earthen ware predominated, but there was a flowerpot looking unglazed rim. Also a small battered piece of a Staffordshire slipware wall - only a couple of pieces of unglazed sandy ware may be medieval in date. As we move away from the village centre the finds are getting less, suggesting the village never extended very far to the east of the manor house. | |  |
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| Our first Autumn walk |
| 6/10/2024 |
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| Spot the wellington boots!! |
| 28/2/2024 |
| One of our field walking members sent in this photo to illustrate the muddy conditions at Eltisley. We are going to try again this Sunday so if you plan to come then Wellington boots are the order of the day. Recent statistical information indicates just how wet it has been this winter - don't we know!! | |  |
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| A sticky (and foggy) day at Eltisley |
| 27/2/2024 |
| What a day!! Started off in the fog, then brightened up - all the while trudging through the glutinous muddy surface. Although there was some grass growth, quite thick in places, the surface visibility was OK. Not many finds of note, as the photograph shows. Mostly post med but with the odd piece of medieval-looking pot and some shell tempered ware. The ceramic rod shown could be a handle but was an unusual find. | |  |
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| In the Footsteps of Fox |
This year marks the centenary of the publication of Cyril Fox’s seminal book: ‘The Archaeology of the Cambridge Region’. In November 2023, the McDonald Institute and Madgalene College hosted an international conference to celebrate Fox’s contribution to archaeology. CAFG was invited to provide two posters based on our work, which were displayed in Magdalene College, along with around 12 others from the UK and abroad, until the middle of December. The posters investigate how our fieldwalking results from two areas on chalklands (Fulbourn and Ickleton) and two on mainly claylands (Wimpole and Childerley) compare with Fox’s expectations relating to the effects of local geology on
human activity.
In the Footsteps of Fox - Part 1
In the Footsteps of Fox - Part 2
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