The investigation has been proceeding in the part of the trench previously occupied by the spoil heap, furthest from The Mount.
The possible Bustum recognised last week has now been fully excavated, but has proved not to be a cremation feature after all. It is in fact a hearth, formed from a shallow, sub-oval cut into the natural clay (and some earlier features). Within the base of the cut was a single small sandstone slab, with signs of burning on its surface (Plate 1). The surrounding clay was also burnt along one side, indicating that this part of the hearth had experienced the most intense heat. Although some bone was present within the ash and charcoal fill of the hearth, this was unburnt and when recognisable fragments were seen these proved to be animal rather than human remains. This feature appears to form a small domestic hearth, although samples have been taken to identify any evidence for industrial activity.
The hearth lay towards the western end of a small rectangular building, which was aligned approximately parallel with The Mount. This building had been constructed with a combination of cobble filled post-holes (see Plates 2 and 3), and shallow beam slots. The building is shown on Plate 4, with the hearth, fully excavated in the near centre, a shallow beam slot immediately to the left of this, and the line of post-holes along the right side of the photograph. The building is only around 6m long and 4m wide, and obviously much of one end was taken up by the hearth.
The line of an earlier ditch is also visible on Plate 4, (clearest where it is cut by the hearth) running at approximately 45° to the alignment of the building. As yet only the terminus of the ditch has been excavated, which retrieved a small quantity of pottery to confirm that it was of Roman date, but additional, more extensive excavation, will be carried out in the next few days.
The building was not only cut into the ditch, but also into the most obvious cremation burial so far encountered on the site. The other possible cremations excavated in this area of the trench had been represented only by shallow deposits of charcoal ash and occasional fragments of burnt bone. This latest example was buried in a small pit, (which was cut by the beam slot and cut into the ditch) and the ashes were contained within a pottery vessel (Plate 5). Although quite badly cracked this vessel was lifted in its entirety and the contents will be excavated off site.
This relatively small area of the site is particularly interesting as it shows at least three different activities going on. Initially the ditch has been dug as some form of land division. This has clearly gone out of use and been backfilled before the burial of the cremation. As the edge of the cremation pit had been cut by the beam slot this building clearly post-dated the use of this particular area of the site for burial. As yet the building has not been precisely dated so it may be contemporary with the inhumation burials found further to the north and west, or completely post-date the use of this area of The Mount as a cemetery.
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| Plate 1. Sandstone slab | Plate 2. Post hole | Plate 3. Post holes | Plate 4. Ditch | Plate 5. Cremation vessel |
The investigation has been competed within the main part of the area previously exposed and has been started in the part of the trench previously occupied by the spoil heap, furthest from The Mount.
In the corner of the trench closest to the junctions of The Mount and Scarcroft Road another large Roman pit has been excavated. This was adjacent to one previously investigated, which was tentatively interpreted as the robbing of a tomb or other funerary monument. The more recently excavated feature may also represent the removal of a tomb. However, the two features differ in their relationships with the large ditch, excavated at right angles to The Mount. Where-as the first excavated robber pit was next to the ditch and appeared to respect it; the second was clearly cut through the ditch, completely obliterating its presence. If the ditch formed an early division within the larger cemetery landscape then this had clearly gone out of use by the time the later large pit had been dug.
Within the recently exposed area of the trench, away from the street frontage, excavation has just started following the mechanical removal of the recent overburden, medieval ploughsoil and spoil heap. Early investigation of this area has already revealed one definite inhumation burial, and a series of probable cremations, all of which appear to have been truncated by the medieval ploughing encountered across the entire site.
The inhumation was located close to the Scarcroft Road side of the trench, but was clearly different to the majority of inhumations encountered before on the site. The grave was orientated parallel to The Mount (rather than perpendicular as most of the others have been), and the body itself was lain in a different position within the grave. Instead of being in the supine, extended position that had commonly been recorded this individual was lain in more of a crouched attitude, on the right side, (see Plates 1 and 2). The left arm was bent, with the hand placed just below the chin, whilst the right arm was extended below the body. The thighs bent forward from the pelvis, but unfortunately there was no trace of the lower legs or feet. This may have been due to the truncation by medieval ploughing as the skull, parts of the pelvis and the top of the left femur were all also missing. If this is the reason for the missing lower legs then it is likely that they had originally been tightly bent back from the knee to overlie the thighs against the "foot" end of the grave cut.
The possible cremations found in this area of the trench are much less certain. They are generally represented by small shallow depressions into the surface of the underlying natural clay and sand, containing charcoal and very small fragments of burnt bone (Plate 3). These would have originally been the bases of deeper pits dug as graves for the burial of cremated remains. The shallow nature of these features shows that very little has survived the subsequent ploughing of the site, and may suggest that similar cremation burials were once much more widespread, but have otherwise been entirely lost due to medieval agricultural landuse. The cremations have now been entirely excavated, and will be sieved to retrieve all possible evidence of skeletal remains or associated artefacts.
Another larger area of burning has also been recognised in this newly exposed area. In addition to the charcoal present in the other cremations in this area, the surrounding natural clay has been scorched to a dark red colour. Excavation over the next few days may reveal that this feature is a second Bustum similar to one excavated further to the north.
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| Plate 1. Crouched inhumation | Plate 2. Crouched inhumation | Plate 3. Possible cremation |
The investigation has continued in several areas, both close to the street frontage and further back from The Mount.
The medieval building previously recorded in the northern corner of the excavation area has now been completely excavated. This has involved the full excavation of a number of post-holes, which had previously been half sectioned, and the excavation of the clay and cobble wall foundations. A small additional quantity of medieval pottery has been recovered during this excavation. The foundations had been constructed within irregular shallow trenches. The trenches and post-holes had been cut into a layer of "dirty" redeposited natural gravel, interpreted as a Roman dump deposit. One of the Roman inhumation burials previously excavated was also cut into this layer, suggesting that it may be of fairly early Roman date. This deposit only survived in this corner of the trench, possibly due to the presence of the medieval building, which may have protected it from the deeper truncation caused by later medieval and post-medieval ploughing, evidenced elsewhere. The Roman dump deposit has also now been excavated, (producing several sherds of Roman pottery, which will assist in determining how early the deposit is), to reveal the underlying natural clay. It had been hoped that early Roman features may been present under the dump, but in the event only a single small circular pit or large post-hole was present. Unfortunately this feature contained no datable artefacts.
Within the corner of the trench closest to the junction of The Mount and Scarcroft Road a very large, sub-rectangular feature has been excavated (see Plate 1). This was over 3.5m long and at least 2m wide. The fills contained large quantities of Roman pottery, including decorated fine wares. The alignment of this feature is similar to that of several of the inhumation graves found further back from the street front, and has led to the suggestion that it represents a robber trench, dug to remove a tomb, or stone coffin.
The large rectangular "robber trench" was immediately adjacent to a substantial ditch (see Plate 2). The robber trench itself had just cut into the ditch fill, but it is likely that the tomb or monument that was originally located here was placed next to the ditch. The ditch therefore is likely to have been an internal division within the wider cemetery. Further back from The Mount at least two of the inhumation burials previously described were cut into the top of this ditch so the division clearly went out of use during the lifetime of the Roman cemetery. A young child or infant had also been buried cutting into the top of the backfilled ditch, although survival of the very small bones was limited (see Plate 3).
Several larger square and rectangular pits of medieval date have again been excavated, similar to those encountered to the east. These are again likely to be rubbish and cesspits, located back from the street frontage, and possibly indicating that buildings were originally present along the entire street, rather than just in the corner of the trench as recorded.
One of these medieval rubbish pits was cut through the foot end of a Roman inhumation grave. This was similar to other Roman graves in this part of the site, as it was aligned at right angles to The Mount, but differed significantly with regard to the preservation of the skeleton. Where-as the majority of the other adult burials excavated on the site have been represented by solid bone and included almost all body parts, this individual was very badly preserved. Only a small quantity of the jaw and teeth, together with one upper arm and the shafts of the main leg bones were present, and even these were in a very fragile state (see Plate 4). This may have been due to the truncation of part of the grave by the medieval pit, causing acceleration in the decomposition of the bones. However, an additional factor may have been that this grave was cut into the top of a deep Roman pit. This pit extended through the natural clay and into underlying layers of soft sand and gravel. The backfill was therefore very well drained and may have contributed to the more rapid decomposition of the subsequent inhumation burial.
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| Plate 1. Robber trench | Plate 2. Roman ditch | Plate 3. Child inhumation | Plate 4. Roman burial |
The recent 'Roman Way of Death' open days on site proved highly successful, with schools visiting on Friday 15th April, and the site open to the public on the following day. A series of exhibition pannels were installed for the open days, and these are available as pdf files via the links below:
Excavation has continued within the trench opened in the middle of the month. Within the last week this has mainly been concentrated further back from the street frontage than previously. Several oval and rectangular pits have been excavated, which have been dated to the medieval period by sherds of pottery. Fragments of animal bone were also present suggesting that the pits have been used for disposing domestic rubbish.
This area back from the street front also contained a number of post holes. Some of these contain occasional fragments of Roman or medieval pottery whilst others do not contain any datable artefacts. These post holes are likely to represent a series of different structures.
The investigation to date has involved opening up a single excavation area in the footprint of a proposed new building close to the junction of The Mount and Scarcroft Road. The excavation area is rectangular, 28m long and 12m wide. Mechanical removal of the upper deposits has been undertaken. These deposits consisted of the modern tarmac and hardcore of the existing car park, overlying a thick, homogenous layer of agricultural or horticultural soil. Several sherds of pottery, from Roman to post-medieval date were retrieved from this soil layer, including a sherd from a later Roman face pot.
Hand cleaning and excavation has been concentrated upon the area closest to The Mount. In the northernmost corner of the trench the remains of a medieval building have been discovered (see plate below). This consists of clay and cobble foundations, upon which timber superstructures would have been placed. It appears that the majority of this building lays closer to the street frontage, with only the rear wall being found within the excavated area. The rear wall had been repaired, or replaced by the insertion of a series of ground-fast timber posts. Several other features of medieval date have also been excavated, including more post-holes (although these do not as yet form any distinguishable patterns) and pits, presumably for domestic rubbish, placed back from the street, behind the building.
Several Roman features have also been excavated in this northern part of the trench. These include a ditch a right angles to the line of The Mount, post-holes and an adult inhumation burial, aligned approximately north to south (see plate below).
Over the next few weeks excavation will continue on the features already exposed and will extend further to the south.