We’ve had an amazing find this week from a site in Suffolk
The coin is an Icenian Bury E type silver unit, of which Talbot (2017) records only 4 known examples. The reverse die of this coin (the side with the horse) is known on three of them, two of which are sub-classified by Cottam and Rudd (2022) as type 30, and the other with this die is a type 31. The remaining Bury E type has a similar (but different) reverse die and is sub-classified by Cottam and Rudd (2022) as type 29. This new coin appears to represent the fourth recorded example of that particular reverse die.
However, the obverse die on this new coin is completely unrecorded, showing a right facing bust (usually thought to be a god) with a two-headed snake in an S-shape in front. This is a different style to the other Bury E types, which usually have ‘roundels’ in front and around the bust. The double-headed snake designs are only really seen on the Bury A and H types, which Cottam and Rudd date c.55-50 BC, while the Bury E types are dated c.40-35 BC, so this coin might potentially require a slight re-think on the dating sequence of those coins.
The Bronze Age vessel we found in April at Cholsey has now been micro-excavated, with potentially fascinating results.
The beautifully decorated cremation urn was found deliberately buried in the centre of a droveway running through the site in Oxfordshire as an apparent votive offering.
Scans confirmed it held a cremation, and the precise 3-dimensional model produced was used to inform our micro-excavation and sub-sampling strategies. The radiographer identified a possible metal object in the urn so we were excited to see what this might be!
.
The ‘metal’ object turned out to be a very dense pebble of pyrite, a mineral named after the Greek ‘pyr’ meaning ‘fire’. The urn also contained a piece of struck flint – a plano-convex knife with semi-invasive retouch around all edges. These types of implement were frequently used as grave goods during the Early Bronze Age, this one having been placed after the cremation process with the deceased’s ashes by the mourners. They seem to be quite personal objects and may even acted as a kind of insignia or token of their identity – interestingly this one doesn’t seem to have been used very much and may even have been made specially for the funeral. It is particularly impressive as it seems to have incorporated, or been crafted around, the oval inclusion in the middle which makes it even more striking!
Together these two items raise the exciting and fascinating possibility that they could form part of a strike-a-light, or ‘fire-kit’, attested to in prehistoric mortuary contexts throughout Britain. There is the suggestion of a use-notch on one end of the stone and the rough split edge would produce sparks when struck the flint; these types of knives are known to have been used to make fire in this way.
Strike-a-light kits consisted of a ‘striker’ – a piece of flint, a ‘strike-stone’ – an ironstone such as this and tinder, for example moss, which depending on soil conditions may leave no trace. Evidence suggests that these kits occur most frequently with the burial of adult males; additionally they’re often known to be associated with high-status burials. They have been argued to be symbolic inclusions in a cremation, rather than related to their use, which could explain the minimal wear patterns so far observed.
However, these artefacts will now undertake the next stage of their journey: closer examination by our lithics and stone specialists who may be able to shed more light on the matter! We’ll keep you posted!
A delightful recent find from one of our sites in East London! This is a late 19th century spittoon; these went out of fashion when tuberculous became rife in the 1910s.
We’ve had another exciting find from one of our evaluations this week!
This semi-complete urn, with decoration which commonly occurs on middle and middle-late Bronze Age pottery, and also (although less commonly) on post Deverel-Rimbury late Bronze Age pottery, contained a cremation along with these two copper-alloy objects.
One of these, a hollow hexagonal tube approximately 15mm long, appears to have been cast, and may be part of an implement such as a socketed axe or small socketed hammer. The second item, a flat, irregularly shaped piece of plate scrap, measures approximately 31mm across at the widest point and has a rectangular cross-section; this item was recovered from near the base of the vessel and will require further analysis for a more precise identification.
The association of the urn with an adjacent ring ditch is unlikely to be coincidental and the vessel may turn out to be one of a number of such deposits on the site in which other metalwork has been buried. We’ll keep you updated if this turns out to be the case!
