PCA

Hyde900 volunteers helping Dr Kevin Hayward and PCA to record medieval stone in abundance! We’re hoping to be able to add some more Abbey stones to our map: hyde900.org.uk/hyde-abbey/reuniting-the-stones
#hyde900
@winchester.gov.uk
@pcaarchaeology.bsky.social
#hydeabbey
#winchesteruk

More medieval stone processing for Hyde900 volunteers with Dr Kevin Hayward and PCA - and aided by a kind neighbour with a screwdriver just at the right time - thank you!
#hyde900
@pcaarchaeology.bsky.social
#hydeabbey
#winchesteruk

For #FindsFriday a silver coin from a Late Iron Age site in Suffolk. It’s a rare Icenian issue from c.40–35 BC, only the 5th of its kind. The reverse shows a horse; the obverse a bust with a two-headed snake, an unknown design which adds a new thread to the story of Iron Age coinage!
#Archaeology

A photo of a partly made amber bead held between fingers.

A few tens of millions of years ago this nugget of Baltic amber bobbed across the sea to arrive on British shores. Over a thousand years ago someone picked it up and began to turn it into a bead for a necklace, before losing it on our site at Skipsea. #FindsFriday #Skipsea2025 🏺

A fossil sea urchin (bottom left) and two Iron Age spindlewhorls made of baked clay, found at the base of a prehistoric storage pit at Winterborne kingston in 2024. Modern photo scale in centimetres

Two baked clay spindlewhorls and a fossil sea urchin (echinoid) found together at the base of an Iron Age storage pit during #Durotriges24

📷 July 2024

What will we find at #Durotriges25?

Stay tuned..

#FindsFriday #FossilFriday #FridayFinds #Archaeology #Dorset

The left side of a leopard carved in ivory is shown facing slightly away, with its jaws around prey in copper alloy. The leopard has spots incised into its body, and its tail is curling up around it's back right haunch. Links of a copper alloy chain are attached to the figure where the prey is placed.

#FindsFriday
One of most evocative #Roman London finds ever: leopard as ivory knife handle.
Tiny little thing <6cm long was buried 3-4 C in Southwark w 14 year old girl who originated from southern med.
Inspired @carolawrence.bsky.social time travelling kids' book. 🏺

📷 @pcaarchaeology.bsky.social

a 17th-century ‘onion bottle’

the old Great Kitchen during excavation

This C17th onion bottle from the old Great Kitchen at Westminster School might be the one listed among the belongings of Mr Busby, a schoolmaster who died in 1653. A find that can be linked to a specific person adds an extra layer to the story, making the past feel that much closer! #FindsFriday

For #FindsFriday, this Roman pipeclay figurine of one of the Matres (mother goddesses) feels fitting to share, as this week marked World Maternal Mental Health Day. This would have been kept in a household shrine fertility and protection for fertility and protection
#RomanBritain #Archaeology

For #FindsFriday we're heading way back to the Lower Palaeolithic! This flake was found during a geoarchaeological evaluation in Swanscombe, known for its early prehistoric finds.

It came from Boyn Hill/Orsett Heath Gravels, so it's probably 430,000–350,000 years old! #Palaeolithic #Prehistory

Prehistoric chariot wheel unearthed at Highland golf course - BBC News Archaeologists describe the find near Inverness as "rare".

What a fantastic site.
Chariots, flints and Neolithic buildings.
Archaeologists only a "bit bemused" also
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

The front cover of London Archaeologist Spring 2025, Volume 17, Number 8 featuring a colourful stoneware fire-breathing lion. It was found during excavations which were conducted from 1998—201 8 at Bermondsey Square. The colourful stoneware lion's design includes a spiral- patterned mane with green and honey yellow glazes. It has a hollow body and is thought to have held incense. When lit, smoke would emerge from its mouth to transform it into a fire-breathing lion. It was possibly made in the Fujian or Guangdong (formerly Canton) provinces of south-east China. It reflects the 18th-century British fascination with Chinese imports when such objects like this became very fashionable. The context for the find can be found in Bermondsey Square — Prehistoric and Roman Settlement, Medieval Abbey and Post-Medieval Mansion by Alistair Douglas, published by PCA in 2024.

Our Spring 2025 issue is out!

In Volume 17, Number 8:

Features:

Findspot: The aurochs skeleton from Ewell, Surrey @pcaarchaeology.bsky.social

Author, Author... London Archaeological Prize winner 2024 - Jonathan Gardner speaks to @bwallower.bsky.social

#London #archaeology 🏺

YouTube video by PCA archaeology A Drone’s-Eye View of Roman Gloucestershire

Drone footage of PCA’s ongoing excavation at Moreton-in-Marsh, Gloucestershire. Phase 1 is under construction, Phase 2 is revealing a Romano-British ladder enclosure. Phase 3, just beyond the fence, might uncover the settlement itself!
youtu.be/LEdDdtN5EHI
#archaeology #RomanBritain

This Giant Spider Conch was found recently in a Victorian context in Shadwell, near the East End docks. It may be a sailor’s souvenir or part of a collection from Jamrach’s legendary emporium of shells and strange beasts which was just down the road. #archaeology #FindsFriday (a bit early!)

This once-elegant copper-alloy mount, incised, moulded and pierced with tiny holes, came from a Romano-British pit in the Cotswolds. It was probably attached to a circular object, perhaps made of wood or leather. What could it have been?
#FindsFriday #archaeology #RomanBritain

🚨REMINDER 🚨

The 'Future of Prehistory' dayschool will be on the afternoon of Saturday 5th April

The day will run from 1-5.30pm, is online only and tickets are £10 for members and £20 for non members (plus Eventbrite fee).

Booking and further details: www.prehistoricsociety.org/events/2025-...

A silver torc with intricate braided and engraved patterns. The open-ended design features two sculpted bull heads, facing each other. Each head is adorned with detailed facial features and a twisted collar-like embellishment around the neck. The metallic surface has a slightly aged patina

The unique Trichtingen torc consists of an iron core with a silver mantel. It’s too large and too heavy for human use (6.7kg), it was rather worn by a wooden cult image.
Dating 2nd/1st c. BC.

On display at Landesmuseum Württemberg

📷 me

🏺 #archaeology

My photo shows a hemispherical piled woollen cap (hat). Dark brown in colour, it has The hat has a thick ‘furry’ pile. This was made by sewing hundreds of thin wool threads with small knots onto the woollen surface to give a very dense ‘furry’ appearance. Piled caps like this were time consuming to make and are interpreted as signs of high status, worn by the male elite of the Danish Bronze Age. Cap dimensions: height 15 cm x diameter 17 cm in diameter, width round the edge 55.5 cm. From a man’s oak-coffin grave at Trindhøj in Denmark, dated 1347 BC. On display at the National Museum of Denmark in Copenhagen.

#FindsFriday

A 3,400 year-old woollen cap from the Bronze Age!

So incredibly well-preserved it wouldn’t look too out of place if worn today!

Found in a man’s oak-log coffin grave at Trindhøj, Denmark, in 1861. National Museum of Denmark 📷 by me

#Archaeology

For #FindsFriday, a Mesolithic tranchet axe from a site near Chichester. The site revealed evidence from the Neolithic to the Roman period, a landscape shaped and reshaped over time, with this axe as a small trace of its earliest inhabitants!
#Archaeology #Mesolithic #FlintFriday #Prehistory

My photo shows a rock fragment with a fake cave painting of a figure pushing a shopping trolley and a horned bison (?) with two arrows piercing its hide. Known as ‘Peckham Rock’, this piece of hoax cave wall art together with an authentic-looking label was installed in the Roman gallery of the British Museum by the street artist known as Banksy. I believe ‘Peckham Rock’ is part of Banksy’s personal collection. He loaned it to the British Museum for their 2018/19 exhibition ‘I object’ which is where I photographed it.

Something a bit different for #FindsFriday!

‘Peckham Rock’ hoax cave art with authentic-looking label, installed without permission in the British Museum in 2005, by the street artist known as #Banksy

‘Found’ 3 days later in the Roman Britain gallery! 😳

Marker pen on lump of concrete! 😁

📷 me

For #FindsFriday a silver fibula brooch from a Roman pit in Gloucestershire. The pit also yielded a copper alloy pin and wire. Verdigris from the copper clung to the brooch, making us think it was copper alloy too. But to our delight, a gentle clean with a dry brush revealed the silver beneath!

PCA has uncovered a remarkable Neolithic cremation burial, adding a crucial piece to the puzzle of Neolithic Cambridgeshire. This discovery offers new insights into early funerary practices. Read more here: www.pre-construct.com/news/neolith... #archaeology #neolithic #prehistory

For #FindsFriday on #NationalPerfumeDay, a Roman perfume bottle! The base is stamped S • V (or A). These marked phials came from imperial estates in Spain, France & Italy. Did it once hold an exotic or floral blend? We’ll never know, but smelling good never goes out of style!
#Archaeology

For #FindsFriday, a 'Bartmann' jug from a Stratford site, with a bearded face inspired by the Green Man of folklore.
Tomorrow (15th), Harry Platts shares PCA's excavation results at LAMAS. Visit our stall to see some of the fantastic finds! bit.ly/4issWwt

PCA Warwick have a new site in the Cotswolds which is looking promising! The team have found bone pins, a glass bead, and Romano-British pottery. The site lies on the edge of a settlement occupied from the Bronze Age to the Anglo-Saxon period, which may be the current town’s origins.
#Archaeology

For #FindsFriday, an antler pick, typically used in the Neolithic period. This one from Suffolk, found with late Iron Age pottery, may have been repurposed for agriculture. Similar tools appear at hillforts like Danebury and Maiden Castle, showing continued use in the Iron Age. #archaeology

We’re Hiring: Assistant Project Manager / Project Manager – Winchester

Send your CV and cover letter to Caroline Edwards (CEdwards@pre-construct.com) by 4 April 2025.

More info: www.pre-construct.com/jobs/winches...

It’s World Book Day!
For today only, get 20% off all our publications.

Shop here: www.pre-construct.com/publications/
Use coupon code BOOKS at checkout for 20% off all books.
#WorldBookDay #Archaeology #BookSale

WE'RE HIRING IN DURHAM!
Fancy a career in archaeology? PCA is looking for Trainees and Archaeologists to join our Durham team!
www.pre-construct.com/jobs/durham-...

We’re Hiring! PCA is recruiting Trainees, Archaeologists, Assistant Supervisors, Supervisors, and Project Officers to join our growing Cambridge team.

More here: www.pre-construct.com/jobs/cambrid...

[Image: PCA archaeologists spelling out ‘PCA’ on site – because teamwork is everything!]

A large flint tool stained slightly red by river water held in a latex gloved hand. Behind is a draw full of handaxes and above it a draw labelled Levallois technology.

From our wonderful @uclarchaeology.bsky.social teaching collections, a large Ficron handaxe from Dartford, Kent.
Not so far away from Cuxton, Twydall & @lettyingrey.bsky.social's site of Maritime Academy.
North Kent is the home ground of the Giant Handaxe people
#PaPa
#FindsFriday
#FlintFriday
🏺🦣