Did I buy a Yorkie Easter Egg knowing I was starting T soon to save it for the day I got my first dose to make a joke with my 6 year old self who used to love eating Yorkies because they're "not for girls"?
Maybe.
I really enjoyed Cowboys (2020) and Rurangi (2020)
But there were also local variations within this theme, with the early Medieval references being specifically tied to local history; this led to the uses of the Early Middle Ages in Northumberland being much more distinctly local than those in Cambridgeshire.
Both counties therefore referenced the early Medieval past in similar ways, with examples in both counties being associated to surviving building fabric of the period, and using figures from a local/regional past to link to ideas of a righteous, national cause more generally.
Both memorials also depicted St George in Medieval armour, making another reference to a wider English national identity. The use of Bryhtnoth and Hereward alongside St George could therefore be seen as placing the recent war dead within a milennia long past of local men fighting to defend England.
Close-up image of a stained glass window depicting Hereward the Wake fighting in the leaves at Aldreth. Memorial to the Cambridgeshire Regt. Ely Cathedral.
Close-up photograph of a stained glass window depicting Bryhtnoth of Essex rallying his men before the Battle of Maldon. Cambs Regt. Memorial, Ely Cathedral.
Both Bryhtnoth and Hereward are also figures related to the wider history of England, with both from a period following the unification of England, and known for opposing foreign invasions (Bryntnoth defending against Vikings, and Hereward rebelling against the Norman Conquest).
A three-light square-headed window. The left-hand light depicts St George, shown standing above and slaying the dragon below. The central light depicts St Michael, with the crucifixion beneath. The right hand light depicts bryhtnoth of Essex, shown being brought to Ely after death beneath.
A three-light pointed window. The left-hand light depicts St George in the upper pottion and Hereward the Wake fighting at Aldreth beneath. The central light depicts Christ in the upper portion and the crucifixion beneath. The right half light depicts St Martin in the upper portion and Bryhtnoth of Essex rallying his men before the Battle of Maldon beneath
The memorial to the Cambridgeshire Regiment in Ely Cathedral, and that in St Mary's Church both depicted figures related to Ely's Early Medieval past, namely Bryhtnoth of Essex (buried at Ely after his death at Maldon) and Hereward the Wake (whose resistance to the Normans took place around Ely).
Ely Cathedral.
I found a similar use of the local past in the Early Medieval references in Cambridgeshire. I identified 2 memorials referencing the period, both of which were in Ely, a city founded in the early Middle Ages around a seventh century monastery.
The use of St Oswald in Northumberland may therefore be a local variation on a more national theme of using medievalism in war memorials to suggest the dead had died for a worthy cause
Newcastle and District war memorial. A statue of St George on horseback slaying a dragon from above atop a tall platform. A lion is carved into the platform beneath the dates 1914-1918 and 1939-1945.
References to the idea of just and righteous conflict were fairly common on First World War memorials, with images of Crusaders and chivalrous knights (often doubling up as St George) some of the more popular designs for statue and window memorials.
In early twentieth century histories, Oswald's wars with Penda are often depicted as a holy war, meaning his depiction on the memorial would suggest the local war-dead died in a similar righteous struggle.
A two-light stained glass window, depicting St George as a Roman soldier on the left, and St Oswald raising the cross on tbe left. St Peter and St Paul's Church, Longhoughton, Northumberland.
A single-light lancet window depicting St Oswald raising the cross. Whittingham, Northumberland.
These memorials, in the villages of Whittingham and Longhoughton, both depicted St Oswald raising a cross, a reference to his victory over the pagan King Penda of Mercia in the Battle of Heavenfield.
A semi-circular arch looking into the west tower of a church. A font sits in the middle of the tower room, and a lancet window above and behind it. View of the Whittingham Parish war memorial, Northumberland.
In both counties, I found strong links to the local Early Medieval past, in both the siting and content of the memorials. My two examples from Northumberland, for example, were both situated in churches with surviving pre-Conquest fabric, albeit fragmentary.
I talked about some of my work on Medievalism in the First World War memorials of Cambridgeshire and Northumberland, developing some of my dissertation research to specifically discuss the representation of the Early Middle Ages in war memorials.
I had a great time in Leeds discussing my research with others, and meeting other scholars working on Medievalism. As a first-time delegate I was blown away by how welcoming everyone was.
As 2024 draws to a close, I wanted to reflect on one of my favourite parts of the year: presenting my first conference paper at the IMC in July.
A precariously balanced 29-layer Jenga tower
Quite proud of this game of Jenga
Got to dig *somewhere* with interesting archaeology in a commercial world of blank evals and sterile pits and ditches...
You might notice the thread ends in August... it's been fairly boring since then...
All in all, it's been a pretty decent year on the archaeology front, so here's to hoping I find some equally cool stuff in 2025!
An upside-down cow skull partially excavated
An upside down partially excavated cow skull
An excavated cow skull the right way up on top of a baking tray and laid on the ground. Some tools sit in the background.
There was also a rather nice cow skull sticking out of my section about half-way down, which was quite satisfying to dig. It did fall apart not long after I took it out of the ground, but I managed to get some nice pictures first.
Photograph of a large half-sectioned pit, with a cow-skull sticking out of tbe section around half way down.
Moving now to August, I dug another large pit with some interesting contents. It contained a lot of burnt flint, bone, and prehistoric pot, and also had a really distinct shape with near-vertical sides and a flat base.
A bone pin-beater (a long, thin stretch of bone tapering at both ends) held upright with a finger and thumb
A bone pin-beater held sideways by a gloved hand
A cruciform brooch sat on a gloved hand. Where the cross is there is a lump of rusty material.
A cruciform brooch laid on a gloved hand.
Digging an SFB has been on my archaeological bucket list for a while, so I had a great time digging this. I got some nice finds out of it too, including this rather nice pin beater (used in textile production), and this cruciform brooch from one of the post holes.
A reconstruction of a sunken feature building
An SFB excavated in quadrants with a 2m scale across the middle.
A fully-excavayed SFB with two post-holes and a 1m and 2m scale in the centre.
A plan drawing of a fully-excavated SFB.
Not long after I dug a sunken feature building (SFB). They're a type of building common in post-Roman eastern England where a pit would be excavated and a wooden superstructure built over the top. More information on this site's SFBs can be found here www.oxfordarchaeology.com/blog/update-...
A half-sectioned fire-pit revealing a dark fill full of burnt flint. 1m scale above the section.
The general idea is that a fire would be set under a wooden platform with flint on top, and once the platform collapsed due to the fire, meat could be slow-roasted on the flint.
These features don't tend to contain a lot of finds besides the burnt flint, meaning they've usually been interpreted as prehistoric, but recent lipid analysis has revealed they're likely early Medieval cooking pits.
cotswoldarchaeology.co.uk/revealing-li...
A fully-excavaged fire-pit with remains of a wooden platform around the edges.
Fully excavated fire pit with a pile of burnt flint next to it.
Moving into spring and much improved ground conditions, I spent a large portion of April digging this Early Medieval fire pit containing half a metric tonne of burnt flint, remains of a wooden platform, and plenty of evidence for in-situ burning (the red sand around the edges).
A person wearing orange hi-viz holding a piece of leather.
Remains of a leather shoe in a hand.
Remains of a leather shoe held in two hands.
Nearly 1m down, I spotted something thin and flat sticking out of the water at the base, and was rewarded with a piece of leather! Further exploration found a portion of what was probably a Roman shoe - definitely proof that sometimes the best finds come out of the worst holes.
A very muddy hole. An orange spade sticks out from the base.
A quadrant of a pit with a large puddle at the base.
Starting in February, I dug a rather large Roman pit. Initially this was one of the worst things I've ever dug, due to a very high water table turning tne sand natural to quicksand.
As we come to the end of 2024, and by way of introducing myself properly to Bluesky, I thought I'd share some of the more interesting archaeological features I've dug this year.
