We recovered a white metal medal during recent investigations in Gloucester. These medals, 39mm in diameter, were awarded to those who took a pledge of abstinence from alcohol. On one side the medal reads “Band of Hope Medal – Prevention is Better than Cure – I Promise to Abstain from All Alcoholic Drinks as Beverages”. The reverse has an image of hands shaking and an open Bible with the words “Wine is a Mockery – Strong Drink is Raging – Thy Word is Truth.”
The Band of Hope was first proposed by Rev. Jabez Tunnicliff, a Baptist minister in Leeds, following the death in June 1847 of a young man whose life was cut short by alcohol. While working in Leeds, Tunnicliff had become an advocate for total abstinence from alcohol. In the autumn of 1847, with the help of other temperance the Band of Hope was founded. Its objective was to teach children the importance and principles of sobriety and teetotalism. In 1855, a national organisation was formed amidst an explosion of Band of Hope work. Meetings were held in churches throughout the UK and included Christian teaching.
The Band of Hope and other temperance organisations of the period fought to counteract the influence of pubs and breweries with the specific intention of rescuing ‘unfortunates’ whose lives had been blighted by drink and teach complete abstinence.
by Sean Rice
Token found on siteBand of Hope token reference image
We have a wonderful rare find from Bermondsey Square – a moulded Chinese stoneware lion sejant figurine from a late 18th century domestic context.
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This has been tentatively identified as an incense stick holder, 香插, xiang cha (‘incense device for insertion’) or possibly 香台 xiang tai (‘fragrance platform’). It’s 6cm tall and almost intact except for the missing lower jaw which may have once held a ball. It has applied spiral, snail shell-like objects on its head and along its back to represent the lion’s mane. A damaged small hollow cylinder, possibly an incense stick holder, was applied to the base at the back of the figurine between the fore and hind legs. In experiments carried out recently in the PCA London Offices, it was found that a joss stick can stand nicely in the presumed holder. There is also a rectangular space between the creature’s front legs and into its hollow body. If a joss stick, or possibly a small briquette of incense, is placed there, the smoke comes out of the creatures mouth, which was probably the intention.
Ceramic lion figurines have been made in China since the Tang Dynasty period (AD 618–907), although the Bermondsey find is more likely to date from the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911 AD) and was probably made in the Fujian or Guangdong provinces.
Incense holders familiar to those of us lucky enough to have visited the Far East and seen them in use in temples are far larger, in order to accommodate multiple sticks, and are generally called ‘censers’ 香爐 xianglu…- there are very many specific terms for these important ritualistic items! The Bermondsey Square figurine is likely more secular, being a small table-top or travelling size incense holder to keep away insects such as flies and mosquitoes while at a desk writing or eating at a table.
The lion figurine, which has been erroneously called Fo-Dogs or “Dogs of Buddha” since C.A.S. Williams (1932) wrongly termed these items, may possibly also represent one of the many mythical creatures in Chinese iconography. In Chinese culture, the lion, not native to the region, symbolizes power, wisdom, and superiority.
Lion figurines could also take the form of water droppers (shuizhu or shuidi) used for adding water to ink stones for calligraphy as part of a stationery kit. These have a cavity in the body and a hole on the spine, whereas this example is hollow with openings at the mouth and between the front legs. Excavations at the Huai An ( 怀安 ) kiln in Fuzhou City, Fujian Province uncovered Tang Dynasty period lion figurines and water droppers as kiln wasters, while a couchant find from the Philippines was dated to the 14th century. Dating the Bermondsey lion figurine is somewhat problematical from published examples, although the item was found with pottery dated c. 1730–50 and indicates a mid-18th-century or earlier date.
How the item was utilized and viewed by its users in Bermondsey can only be guessed at and the find may have simply been an ornamental import from a fashionable source, reflecting the passion at the time for all things oriental!
A great find from Joel this week! This unusual, decorated chalk spindle whorl came from an Iron Age ditch at St Neots, Cambridgeshire. Chalk objects like this are very fragile and rarely survive.
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!
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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!
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