This period covers the decline of the Western Roman Empire in the 5th century to the Norman conquest of 1066 AD. For Berkshire, there are only 181 records covering this period which doesn’t seem that many! In contrast with the Roman period, the finds dominating in this period are brooches, followed by strap-ends, then coins. A …more
Great Britain was governed by the Roman Empire from the period AD 43 to 410 AD. There are currently 381, 275 records of Roman artefacts and coins on the PAS database, 3172 of which are from Berkshire! The most common finds are coins followed by brooches. An amazing 2, 580 coins, and 179 brooches …more
Reach for the Camera! What You Will Need 1 – The object (of course!) 2 – A camera/ phone camera and tripod/clamp (if you have one) Set the camera to the ‘Macro’ setting if it has one. 3 – A sheet of plain white paper 4 – A scale or ruler with millimetres and centimetres …more
Iron Age Britain marked an era of iron tools and weapons, and the existence of tribal based societies. The tribes in Southern Britain included: Atrebates Belgae Cantiaci Catuvellauni Dobunni Dumnonii, and sub-tribe Cornovii Durotriges Regnenses Trinovantes Iceni These tribes produced the coinage of this period which are organized by geographical region. Two examples are included below …more
This week we mainly look at gold objects from the Bronze Age found in Berkshire, plus a copper alloy flat axehead, and spearhead. There are 42 recorded objects from this period found in West Berkshire, with only 13 recorded from East Berkshire. Now we start to see a wider variety of objects coming through as …more
The Neolithic period dates from 4000 BC – 2200 BC. Core and flake technology and axe manufacture were the characteristics of this period where we see object types such as; leaf oblique arrowheads, scrapers serrated blades, and polished axes in the Earlier Neolithic, oblique arrowheads, large scrapers, fabricators(long, thick flakes or blades with retouch on …more
This week we look at finds from the Mesolithic period which dates from 9000 BC – c. 4000 BC. During this time we see the continuation of blade technology which emerged from the Early Upper Palaeolithic (40,000-24,000 BC), as well as tranchet axe manufacture. Tools include: Tranchet axes, blades and bladelets (less than 12mm wide), …more
The Palaeolithic Period Today I was thinking about searching for the oldest find found in Berkshire via the PAS database! This then lead me to ponder on the idea of writing a weekly blog where I could demonstrate this by writing about the oldest finds from different periods. So lets see how this goes! I shall start with the Palaeolithic …more
Nearly 7 months into my post and I have come across some great finds from both West and East Berkshire. Here are some of the highlights! An incomplete copper alloy sword belt hanger dating to c. 16th -17th century found in West Berkshire. These were worn to suspend swords in the post Medieval period. Copyright: …more
Copyright Portable Antiquities Scheme. License: CC BY – 2.0 A Roman nail cleaner c. 1st – 2nd century AD found in West Berkshire. BERK-1A3B74 Copyright: The Portable Antiquities Scheme, License: CC-BY 2.0 A gold touch-piece of Queen Anne dating to 1702-1714 found in East Berkshire. BERK-AD2BA7
