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.
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).
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).
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
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.
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.
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.
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!
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.
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.
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.
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-...
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...
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).
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.
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.
