Thursday 26 May 2011

Anglo-Saxon feast on the menu at Kirkleatham Museum

FOOD fit for a princess is being served up at a Teesside museum cafe to celebrate a ground-breaking exhibition.

The amazing story of the life and death of an Anglo-Saxon princess will be told at Kirkleatham Museum, Redcar, when a new exhibition opens on Saturday.

The display showcases unique archaeological finds, unearthed in Loftus between 2005 and 2007.

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Monday 16 May 2011

Loftus royal treasure display attracts crowds

An exhibition showcasing Teesside's links to Anglo-Saxon royalty attracted almost 1,700 people over five days.

The 7th Century artefacts, described as "unparalleled" were found in Loftus at the only known Anglo-Saxon royal burial site in north-east England.

After a battle to keep them in the region they will go on show at Redcar's Kirkleatham Museum from May 28.

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Sunday 15 May 2011

Pottery fragments from Glastonbury Abbey cast new light on Dark Ages

Archaeologists are gearing up to share their discovery that the history of Glastonbury Abbey site reaches right back to the Dark Ages. Previous studies of the Abbey’s pottery had identified early Roman, Anglo-Saxon, medieval and later material. Now, a one-day symposium hosted by Glastonbury Abbey, exploring exciting new research into the historic excavation archives 1908 – 1979, will show that human activity took place there as early as the third or fourth centuries BC.

John Allan, Consultant Archaeologist to Glastonbury Abbey, and one of the speakers at the Symposium, said: ‘We now realise that the Abbey site had a much longer history than previously known, reaching right back into prehistory and including the mysterious Dark Ages. We hadn’t realised these periods were represented in the excavated pottery, until this project.

‘A scatter of exotic Saxon, Norman, medieval and later ceramics attests the great wealth of the abbey. Scientific analysis has now established the precise origins of some of these finds; the most distant come from Italy, Spain, Portugal and France.

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Glastonbury Abbey's pottery link to Dark Ages

Pottery fragments from an excavation archive of Glastonbury Abbey have shown the site dates back to the Dark Ages, which is later than previously thought.

The research project into the 1951-1964 excavation archive have shown humans occupied the site in the late 4th or 5th centuries.

Archaeologist John Allan said: "We hadn't realised these periods were represented in the excavated pottery."

Other finds include "exotic" pottery from Italy, Spain, Portugal and France.

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Thursday 5 May 2011

Anglo Saxon jewellery from Loftus burial site goes on show

A UNIQUE collection of Anglo-Saxon jewellery found in the North-East is set to go on display to the public for the first time.

The seventh century treasure trove sheds light on the extraordinary life of an Anglo-Saxon princess living in east Cleveland.

The artefacts were found in a farmer's field near Loftus between 2005 and 2007 at the only known Anglo-Saxon royal burial site in North-East England.

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Anglo-Saxon princess pendant at Kirkleatham

Add a commentRecommend SHE was buried with her jewellery about 1,400 years ago in East Cleveland - and now her story is being graphically told in a world first for Teesside.

A stunning collection of 7th Century treasure, shedding light on the life of an Anglo-Saxon princess, is about to go on display at Redcar’s Kirkleatham Museum.

The artefacts - hailed by archaeologists as some of the rarest ever uncovered - were found in Loftus between 2005 and 2007 at the only known Anglo-Saxon royal burial site in North-east England.

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