Ask the Archaeologist
Is there anything you have ever wanted to ask our Archaeologists? Well here is your chance, email Discussion Forum to question our panel: Peter Noble, Norman Redhead and John Roberts
Do we have any idea what the Mellor Medieval Aisled Hall might look like yet?
The short answer at the moment is no! What we have found is an emerging pattern of postholes and postpits with associated finds which can be dated to the medieval period. Some of these postpits seem to be aligned and it is possible that we have four lines of postpits from the same period. If you look at the area of the Old Vicarage garden which was excavated in 2005/2006 however you can see that there are many other features in the same area, not least of which is the terminal end or gateway of the prehistoric Inner Enclosure Ditch for the Hilltop Settlement and many more which we have not been able to put a date to. A large part of writing up the Academic Report for the season will involve analysing the detailed plans of the site excavation, looking for features which might be related and comparing these with the ground plans of known examples of similar buildings elsewhere. This is tied in with expert analysis of the associated finds to narrow down the dates so that we will know just when the building was standing. The fact that the 2006 excavation in the Old Vicararge garden uncovered so many complex and exciting features, combined with the work involved in setting up the Mellor heritage Project and waiting for the results of analysis has delayed the preparation of the 2006 excavation report but we hope to have it finished and report will be ready for publication in June of 2007.
What should I do if I find something in my own garden which looks like it might be interesting?
Every year thousands of objects are discovered by people whilst out walking, gardening or going about their daily work and these discoveries offer an important source for understanding our past. The Portable Antiquities Scheme is the way that these discoveries can be recorded and if they prove particularly interesting, investigated. The Finds Liaison Officer is the person who should be contacted to report any discoveries, for the Mellor area (which covers Cheshire, Great Manchester & Merseyside) this is:
Frances McIntosh
National Museums Liverpool Dock Traffic Office, Albert Dock Liverpool Cheshire L3 4BA
T: 0151 478 4259
F: 0151 478 4066
Email: frances.mcintosh@liverpoolmuseums.org.uk
How do you know where to dig?
Archaeologists try to consider all other options before they actually excavate. Excavation can only be carried out properly once as it actually destroys the evidence it is investigating, so we need to try to be really sure of what we are looking for before we open up the ground. At least one thing will have indicated that we might find archaeology, this could be: Something marked on an old map or historic document; A place name which suggests that a building stood there (The Old Vicarage) or some activity took place there (Mellor Mill); Traces of evidence on the surface like earthworks or crop markings; Ariel photographs which only show things up from a certain height, angle, time of day or weather condition such as light snow; or Finds which might have turned up when the area has been built on or farmed. Even then we will try to carry out further investigation to gather as much information as possible, like Metal Detection, Geophysics, Fieldwalking and even comparing the site to others to look at possible similarities. Only then will we actually start digging!
Have you found any gold?
As a famous Archeologist once said " Treasure isn't the most important thing in Archaeology" although that might have just been a slightly miffed Archaeologist as everything was turning up in someone else’s trench…
How do you know how old it is?
If the ground is undisturbed then the oldest things should be at the bottom and the newest things at the top, with anything in between forming some sort of layers. This page on the children’s section of our website gives an idea of the layers at Mellor:
A particular object found in one of the layers can be investigated in different ways, depending on what it is made of, to give us a more accurate idea of how old that object is, this might include:
Writing (on coins or inscriptions)
Carbon Dating (for wood or charcoal)
Chemical Analysis (for pottery or metal, when certain ingredients in the making of things were used only during a definite period;
Style (as in Roman pottery, which was made differently in different periods).
Then if an age can be put to a “find” such as the carbon dating of some charcoal, or a certain style of medieval pottery and this was found “in association” with a feature, such as in the fill material of one of our postpits, we can begin to hypothesise about the age of the structure which the postpit is part of.
What were the Romans doing in Mellor?
Although we have discovered 'Roman' objects (pottery sherds and brooches) at Mellor it doesn't necessarily mean that any Romans themselves ever came here. What we could be seeing is the local use of a foreign material culture in the same way that we often see today. How many of the everyday objects in everyday use actually originated in this country? Rome is a relatively small area on the banks of the Tiber and yet we call Britain 'Roman' for nearly four centuries. People throughout the empire used Roman material culture and designs (such as documents, burials, crematoria, roads and structures) and yet they had never even seen Rome. One of the great secrets of Rome was to encourage its subjects to participate and share in its culture. It is often almost impossible as an archaeologist to establish whether Romans themselves were on this site. It might be that we will never know, as unfortunately the acidic soils of Mellor make it very unlikely that teeth or bone samples will survive, so the techniques available to us which might provide that sort of genetic information (as used on the ‘Avebury Archer’) are unlikely to help us here. The simple answer is that we don’t know.... Yet!