Maybe the locals were right

Taking the bull by the horns at Bolsover

The bull’s head bucket fitting

MEGHAN KING, Finds Liaison Officer for Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire, reports on her ‘Finds of the Year’

One of the most interesting finds from the past year found in Derbyshire and recorded on the Portable Antiquities Scheme database, is this copper alloy vessel fitting, discovered by a metal detectorist in Whitwell, Bolsover.

The object dates from the late Iron Age to early Roman period, between 43 and 200 AD, and is in the form of a bull’s head. The complete PAS record can be found at: DENODA9526 at https://finds.org.uk/database/artefacts/record/ id/1007479.

The object is an almost complete, copper-alloy swing handle bucket fitting or escutcheon which comprises a bovine head with forward projecting horns, moulded rounded eyes and small sideways protruding ears. Projecting from the bovine neck is a suspension loop for the handle of the bucket or vessel. A smaller, now broken, loop is below the muzzle. The reverse of the fitting is hollow and appears to retain traces of a possible lead-based material.

It has been categorised by PhD student Rebecca Ellis as a Bovine Group 10, category 3: two rivet type of forehead and tongue piercing. At the time of recording the Derbyshire example was only the sixth known of this type. There are other examples of this type of fitting recorded on the PAS database, the closest parallel to DENO-DA9526 being BERK-A03B79 at https://finds.org.uk/database/artefacts/ record/id/798902#, which was found in Cassington, West Oxfordshire.

While these bull’s head fittings typically date to the 1st or 2nd centuries AD, with comparable examples being excavated from the Roman legionary fortress at Usk, they have their origins in the Iron Age. However, these prehistoric examples often appear to be more stylised rather than this relatively realistic depiction.

Iron Age objects can be difficult to spot, for example DENO-765295 at https://finds.org.uk/database/artefacts/ record/id/1047474 was thought to be a modern strap slide, until further investigation by the Finds Liaison Officer (FLO) revealed it to be an Iron Age harness fitting.

The best way to get finds like these identified is by handing them in to your local FLO to be recorded on the PAS database. At the time of writing there are currently only 50 Iron Age records from Derbyshire on the PAS database, therefore if you think you may have an Iron Age object found in Derbyshire it would be very beneficial to the PAS and the local area to get it recorded.

If you would like to find out more about the Portable Antiquities Scheme, or have found any items that you would like recorded, please contact Meghan King, Finds Liaison Officer for Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire, on 01332 641903 or at meghan@derbymuseums.org

Balancing development against respect for the past

REUBEN THORPE, Development Control Archaeologist for Derbyshire County Council, describes his daily balancing act

When I was asked to contribute to “A day in the life...” in April 2022, I had been the Development Control Archaeologist for Derbyshire County Council for all of two weeks! Because of lockdowns and home working, my experience of changing jobs felt a bit strange (different job, but same location in my home office). Immediately it was great to be part of such a warm, informed, professional and open-handed team. But – getting my apologies in early – I am still very much a newbie. I have worked in archaeology for a number of years; I was born in Yorkshire, raised in north Derbyshire and studied Archaeology and Prehistory at the University of Sheffield. While at university I went digging or undertaking fieldwork whenever I could, usually for different units in different parts of the UK, and I ended up, on graduation, running the excavation of a late Roman farmhouse at Roystone Grange, near Parwich, for the university.

Since then, archaeology has taken me to a wide variety of places in the UK (the life of an archaeologist is often an itinerant one) from Hampshire to North Yorkshire and now back to Derbyshire with detours along the way working in France, Lebanon, Syria, London, Macedonia, Kosovo and Sweden. My intention was always to get back, my ambition to raise my own family and have a place we can call home in the small part of the world that I love most.

To give some background to development control archaeology: archaeology on any site in Derbyshire, as in the rest of the country, is a material consideration for planning authorities when applications for planning permission, or requests for advice on such sites, are submitted. Put simply, the work of the Development Control Archaeologist is to: • advise the local authority when asked on the presence,

quality and significance of any archaeology on a site as well as the level of impact any development may have on it • help applicants, prospective applicants, and their contractors to collaboratively design appropriate and proportionate schemes of works, in response to planning rules, so that they are proportionate and balanced against set and agreed criteria.

So, what does this translate to in terms of what I get up to on a day-to-day basis? One day I can be out on site (that’s the bit I love), checking the work of the contract archaeologists, making sure their field work is compliant with regulations, of a high quality and to agreed specifications and national standards. I share with them my thoughts on the interpretation of the landscape and what that means for the planning application.

People often ask me if archaeology is found, does that mean the planning application is refused? The answer is not so straightforward, and the keyword is balance; I help balance the needs of development in the modern world against our collective incumbent duty to the past. One day I will be on site, the next day I can be based in the office consulting with local authorities on planning applications or checking reports, project designs or written schemes of investigation.

The job is varied and never dull. But it also helps hugely that archaeology is my passion. For me it’s not just a job but has always been a vocation, I think since being a little kid and finding part of a Lancaster bomber on Kinder Scout with my Dad or imagining Roman soldiers looking out from their fort in Chesterfield with my Grandma after buying my first vinyl single.

I am lucky to be able to spend my working life doing something I love, trying to interpret the past and assisting in that endeavour. I am doubly lucky now because, as a local lad, my own sense of self is entwined with the local past. After all, we live in the present, but our historic environment speaks to us all on many levels about who we are and where we live.

‘Dem not-so-dry bones’

DNA analysis from bones kept at Buxton Museum is revealing important new genetic evidence, as DR TOM BOOTH, Senior Research Scientist at the Francis Crick Institute explains

Buxton Museum and Art Gallery looks after human remains excavated from a wide range of archaeological sites around the Peak District. While these collections have always been important, developments in archaeological science have meant Dr Tom Booth that they have taken on additional biological potency as important bioarchives of biomolecular information.

Advances in technology over the last 15 years have vastly improved our ability to sequence DNA from the bones of ancient people. Ancient DNA continues to provide us with new insight into a diverse range of questions about the past, including reproduction between humans and other hominins, major prehistoric migrations, and familial connections in prehistoric cemeteries and tombs.

The ancient genomics laboratory at the Francis Crick Institute is undertaking a Wellcome Trust-funded project (aGB: A Thousand Ancient Genomes from Great Britain) which is aiming to sequence DNA from at least 1,000 people who lived in Britain over the last 10,000 years.

The main aim of our project is to track changes in genetic variants associated with disease through time. This will aid our understanding of these diseases by showing how frequencies of associated genetic variants have changed in response to environmental and cultural shifts.

We will also generate information on ancient individuals’ genetic sex, ancestry and close relationships with other ancient people. Analysis of an ancient person’s genetic ancestry can tell us whether they were descended from populations who lived outside Britain, which would suggest that either they were a first-generation migrant or a descendent of recent migrants.

Population-level analysis of changes in genetic ancestry can highlight periods of major migrations. For instance, analysis of Mesolithic, Neolithic and Bronze Age human genomes from Britain has shown that there were at least two periods of migration into Britain from continental Europe which coincided with new developments in culture, economy and technology: one at the beginning of the Neolithic, around 4000 BC and another in the Chalcolithic (Copper Age)-Early Bronze Age, from around 2500 BC. This genetic ancestry information will also shed light on the character of more recent migrations between Britain and continental Europe that may have taken place through the Roman period, into the Early Middle Ages and beyond.

We have sampled a portion of human remains from Buxton Museum’s collections as part of our aGB project, which encompass a wide variety of sites and monuments in the Peak. They include Neolithic burials from Fox Holes, Deep Dale and Carsington Pasture Caves, and monuments such as Arbor Low and Five Wells; Bronze Age skeletons from Liff’s Low, Grin Low and Hindlow Cairn; Roman burials from Ecton Hill and Frank i’ the Rocks caves and a burial dating to the Early Middle Ages from Newhaven.

So far, we have found that DNA preservation in the Buxton Museum collections is generally excellent. Further analysis will help us understand how national-scale patterns of prehistoric migration and ancestry change played out among the inhabitants of the Peak District. DNA from the Hindlow Cairn burials will tell us whether they were close relatives and whether Hindlow Cairn was associated with particular families.

We also plan to radiocarbon date some of the skeletons we sample for DNA. Direct dating will address longstanding questions surrounding certain skeletons, for instance whether the body buried at the centre of the Neolithic Arbor Low monument is genuinely prehistoric or whether it is a later interment from the Early Middle Ages.

Scouts ‘prepared’ for archaeology

MORGAUSE LOMAS, Team Leader for Derbyshire Scouts Archaeology, reports on the continued success of the new Scout badge

In its first two years, over 500 Derbyshire Scout Archaeology (DSA) badges have been awarded to Scouts throughout the county. The badge was launched in January 2021 and is for Derbyshire Scouts from the ages of six to 25. It involves a multitude of activities, from defining archaeology, to creating Stone Age tools and taking part in excavations.

Over 1,000 Scouts have taken part in “Intro to Archaeology” sessions, which have been offered during evening meetings and camps, giving young people a whistle-stop tour of what archaeology is through multiple fun hands-on activities.

In May last year, we were excited to introduce Natasha Billson, archaeologist and presenter of Channel 4’s Great British Dig, as the Ambassador of the DSA, who will be helping us to spread the word, getting more young people involved with the badge.

The badge is facilitated by the DSA Team, who run the Intro to Archaeology sessions as well as creating lots of exciting resources, activity ideas and running large scale projects. The biggest project has been Derbyshire Archaeological Adventures, which ran for its second year during the summer of 2022. It provides Scouts with free access and discounts to some of Derbyshire’s biggest historic sites.

The team has also led small scale excavations, the first being 10 test pits in collaboration with St John’s Primary School in Ripley, involving nearly 150 young people, who had a go at excavating. There was plenty to be found, from ceramics to glass and animal bones.

We are always on the lookout for excavation projects, so if you have anything of interest please get in touch via archaeology@derbyshirescouts.org

In October last year, the DSA Youth Committee was launched, to make sure that the DSA Badge and Team were as “youth-shaped” as possible. The youth committee is made up of 10 young Scouts from throughout Derbyshire ranging from the ages of 9-17.

One of these is Jack, a Cub Scout from Buxton who won the CBA’s Young Archaeologist of the Year Award in 2022 (see page 12). The first youth committee meeting took place at Derbyshire’s very own palaeolithic site at Creswell Crags. The young people took a tour inside the caves and took part in archaeological activities, as well as workshops and discussions on what they wanted to gain from the DSA, and ideas for future events that they had.

We are always on the lookout for more members to join our team. The great thing is that you don’t have to be a Scout or have any scouting experience. If you’re a Scout already, you don’t need any archaeology experience. We’re just looking for enthusiastic people who want to inspire young people to engage with Derbyshire’s archaeology.

More information about the badge and team can be found at www.derbyshirescouts.org/activity/archaeology. We can also be found on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and YouTube just search Derbyshire Scout Archaeology.