King Alfred the Great bones believed to be in box found in museum

The first remains of King Alfred the Great may have been found at last after tests on a pelvic bone unearthed in Winchester revealed it belonged to either the Anglo-Saxon King or his son Edward.

But after a high-profile excavation of an unmarked grave where the Anglo-Saxon King was believed to be buried, the location of the bone was much more mundane - a storage box in the bowels of a local museum.

Archaeologists from the University of Winchester had initially analysed six skeletons excavated from a grave at St Bartholomew's Church, the historic site of Hyde Abbey, last March.

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RARE GAMING PIECE FOUND AT ANGLO-SAXON ROYAL HALL

University of Reading archaeologists have discovered an ancient and extremely rare Anglo-Saxon board gaming piece while excavating a royal complex at Lyminge, Kent. The piece would have been used for a game similar to that of backgammon or draughts.

The Anglo-Saxon’s had a strong tradition of playing board games. Individual gaming pieces, and sometimes complete sets in burials of the period, have been discovered. However not only is the piece the first of this type to be found since the Victorian period, it is the first ever piece to be discovered in a ‘gaming’ setting, an Anglo-Saxon royal hall.

Royal ceremonial events

Alongside this astonishing discovery, Dr Gabor Thomas and his team have also uncovered items of jewellery, numerous fragments of luxury vessel glass and pits with animal bones, confirming that feasting and social display were integral to Lyminge’s role as a place of royal ceremonial events and gatherings during the late 6th and 7th centuries.

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Treasure hunters found nearly 1,000 items in 2012

It is thought these coins, minted in the name of Edmund, King of East Anglia, were buried when Vikings attacked Britain in 865#

Amateur archaeologists with metal detectors found 990 items classified as treasure during 2012, according to figures from the British Museum.

All of the rare coins, rings and brooches contain gold or silver, and many date back more than 1,200 years.

The public reported more than 74,000 other historical items to the Portable Antiquities Scheme, which experts say has "revolutionised archaeology".

More than 900,000 objects have been reported since it started in 1997.

The verification process takes several months, which is why the items submitted in 2012 are only being detailed now.

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Karl der Große: Macht, Kunst, Schätze

Karl der Große: Macht, Kunst, Schätze - three major exhibitions which will run in Aachen from 20 June to 21 September 2014 to mark the 1200th anniversary of the death of Charlemagne.

The three exhibitions are listed as:

Places of Power

The exhibition in the town hall’s coronation hall, the former kings’ hall of the palace, focuses on Charlemagne’s imperial palaces.

Charles’s Art

At the Centre Charlemagne, a new exhibition housed in the heart of the imperial palace, the golden age of culture during the Carolingian period is presented with top-class works of art.

Lost Treasures

In the cathedral’s treasure chamber next to Carolingian Marienkirche, precious church treasures from the Carolingian period and the Middle Ages return to their original site once again.

This should prove to be the most important Carolingian exhibition since the 'Karl der Große und Pabst Leo III. in Paderborn' exhibition held in 1999.

Go to the exhibition website...

Sweyn Forkbeard: England's forgotten Viking king

Sweyn Forkbeard (shown left), England's shortest reigning king, remains in the shadows of both his son Canute the Great, and father Harold Bluetooth

On Christmas Day 1013, Danish ruler Sweyn Forkbeard was declared King of all England and the town of Gainsborough its capital. But why is so little known of the man who would be England's shortest-reigning king and the role he played in shaping the early history of the nation?

For 20 years, Sweyn, a "murderous character" who deposed his father Harold Bluetooth, waged war on England.

And exactly 1,000 years ago, with his son Canute by his side, a large-scale invasion finally proved decisive.

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Vikings Online Course

Vikings: Raiders, Traders and Settlers 

22 January to 5 April 2014

Vikings: Raiders, Traders and Settlers is an online archaeology course run by the University of Oxford's Department of Continuing Education.

The course runs for ten weeks and successful completion carries an award of ten CATS points. Students write two short assignments as part of the course.

Online forums for each unit enable students to discuss the topic being studied, and help from the online tutor is always available

You can find more details here...

You can find details of other online archaeology courses here...

New evidence for Battle of Hastings site considered

The Bayeux Tapestry depicts the Battle of Hastings and the death of King Harold

New evidence that questions the traditional site of King Harold's death during the Battle of Hastings is being considered by English Heritage.

Battle Abbey in East Sussex is said to stand on the spot where King Harold died when the English army was routed by the Normans in 1066.

But Channel 4's Time Team claims he fell on the site of what is now a mini roundabout on the A2100.

Abbey curator Roy Porter said the theory would be taken into account.

English Heritage runs 1066 tours of the traditional site of the Battle of Hastings but the actual location has been disputed before.

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1066 and all that

The traditional location for the Battle of Hastings - the site of Battle Abbey - has been called into question.

New research by the Time Team shows that the Battle of Hastings was not fought on the site where it was believed to have taken place. In recent years other theories have been put forward to suggest where the battle took place, but work by the Time Team has shown good arguments for a new location.

Trevor Rowley will discuss the new information in his Oxford Experience course 'William the Conqueror' and incorporate it into the field trip to the battle site. This which will mean that Trevor's students will be amongst the first visitors to the new location.

You can register for Trevor's 'William the Conqueror' course here...

Battle of Hastings 'fought at site of mini roundabout'

Channel 4's Time Team believe they have identified the site of the Battle of Hastings and death of King Harold - now occupied by a mini roundabout

It might seem an inauspicious spot for one of the most seminal moments in the nation’s history.

But new research suggests that the death of King Harold in battle against William the Conqueror’s men actually occurred, not on the site of the high altar of Battle Abbey, where it is commemorated, but on a mini roundabout.

The precise location for the Battle of Hastings has long been in dispute, with competing historians making claims for three rival sites.

Now, an investigation by Channel 4’s Time Team has concluded the battle – and the death of England’s last Anglo-Saxon king – was actually centred on a fourth site: a road junction on the A2100 in East Sussex.

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Building is underway at The new Wessex Gallery of Archaeology, The Salisbury Museum

Anglo-Saxon satchel mount c.700 AD. Gold and Silver foils with repoussé decoration. 

Found with the burial of an Anglo-Saxon ‘princess’ at Swallowcliffe, Salisbury.

Amesbury Archer Gold Hair Tresses - 2,300 BC. The oldest gold objects found in Britain, 

Copyright Ken Geiger/National Geographic.

Polished macehead made from gneiss found with a cremation burial at Stonehenge,  3,000 – 2,500 BC.

Building is underway at The new Wessex Gallery of Archaeology, 

The Salisbury Museum

Building has begun on the new Wessex Gallery at the Salisbury Museum, which will make it clear for the first time exactly why Salisbury and it’s nearby World Heritage Sites hold a unique place in British history.

The new gallery will be of international importance, telling the story of Salisbury and the surrounding area from prehistoric times to the Norman Conquest. Realm Projects, the Nottinghamshire based builders who worked on the Hepworth Wakefield and The Jewish Museum, have been contracted to complete the works.

“By Christmas this year the major construction work will be complete,” said museum director Adrian Green with a gleam in his eye. “In roughly seven months, the new Wessex Gallery will be ready.”

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Ancient board game piece unearthed at Lyminge dig

A 7th century board game piece, the first discovery of its kind for 130 years, has been unearthed in Kent by University of Reading archaeologists.

The piece is made from a hollow cylinder of bone and has a central bronze
rivet [Credit: University of Reading]

Researchers believe the hollow bone cylinder found at the Lyminge dig belongs to an early backgammon or draughts-type games set.

It was found in the remains of an Anglo-Saxon royal hall where board games were traditionally very popular.

Project leader Dr Gabor Thomas called it a "wonderfully evocative discovery".

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Gambling of high-living Anglo-Saxons revealed by archaeological find

The Anglo-Saxon gaming piece found in the Kent village of Lyminge.
Photograph: Design and Print Studio/University of Reading

It would have been a very expensive toy, expertly crafted and imported across the Channel – and archaeologists say it provides a glimpse of the luxurious life of Anglo-Saxon nobles in 7th-century Kent.

The little gaming piece is the only one discovered at an Anglo-Saxon habitation site, although many cruder examples have been found in graves. It is the first piece of such quality found since the excavation of a princely grave in Buckinghamshire in the 1880s.

"This piece comes from a high-end – Harrods – backgammon set," the Reading University archaeologist Gabor Thomas said. "Not only high-end but quite possibly Italian – Ferrari – high-end, as the best parallels outside England are from the 6th-century Lombard kingdom. If such pieces are indeed of Lombardic manufacture, then the implication is that the kings of Kent enjoyed the latest fashions in gaming culture, courtesy of their far-reaching continental contacts."

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Peterborough solar farm: Archaeologists unearth Roman finds

Roman pottery, evidence of a Roman settlement and "possibly Saxon" artefacts have been found at a proposed solar farm site near Peterborough.

The land at Newborough is being excavated ahead of a city council decision about the solar farm plan.

Richard O'Neill, from Wessex Archaeology, described the finds as "locally and regionally significant".

Work is expected to continue for three weeks, after which the council will consider the archaeologists' report.

Plans for the solar energy farm at three council-owned sites at Newborough, Morris Fen and America Farm were put on hold after English Heritage stepped in suggesting the area could be "nationally important".

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Mildenhall Museum ready for Anglo-Saxon warrior & horse

The warrior and his horse are being displayed as they were found in the grave at RAF Lakenheath

A Suffolk museum has taken delivery of the skeletal remains of an Anglo-Saxon warrior and his horse.

The remains were found in 1997 at RAF Lakenheath and they are going on display at nearby Mildenhall Museum.

The warrior is thought to have died in about AD 500 and the find included a bridle, sword and shield.

The bones are being displayed under glass in the same position they were found in and the public will be able to see them next month.

Suffolk Archaeological Service has been in charge of the skeletons, which were part of a cemetery containing 427 graves.

The warrior is believed to have been born locally and was about 30 years old when he died.

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Archaeologists unearth section of an Anglo Saxon cross in Weardale

Paul Frodsham, of the AONB Partnership, shows off the section of an Anglo Saxon cross unearthed during a dig in Frosterley

ARCHAELOGISTS excavating a medieval church in a dales village have found further evidence that the site was an Anglo Saxon settlement.

A carved section from an eighth century stone cross was unearthed during a dig at St Botolph’s field in Frosterley in Weardale this week.

The discovery was met with great excitement from the archaeologists and volunteers who were digging on the site as part of the Altogether Archaeology project.

Paul Frodsham, historic environment officer at the North Pennines Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB) Partnership, which is leading the project, said: “This is not the kind of thing that happens every day

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Norfolk dig uncovers Anglo-Saxon oven

The oven could be used for at least three tasks - to bake bread, malt barley and dry out grain

A structure uncovered by archaeologists in Norfolk has been confirmed as a 1,300-year-old "rare, multifunctional oven".

The Anglo-Saxon oven was found during an annual dig in Sedgeford, near Hunstanton.

Supervisor Dr John Jolleys said it would have been used to bake bread, malt barley and dry grain.

A second oven and a Saxon pot have also been discovered.

The volunteers initially thought the oven dated back to the Roman times, but the discovery of part of the Ipswich ware pot dated the oven to between 650 and 850 AD.

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Saxon remains to be reburied after dig

Saxon remains found during an archaeological dig at an abbey in Warwickshire are being reburied at a church service later.

Radiocarbon dates for the remains should be known in the next
three months [Credit: Peter Ralley/BBC]

Archaeologists working on a three year dig at Polesworth Abbey found up to 15 ancient burials. The dig has uncovered the pre-Norman abbey and a Saxon church.

Father Philip Wells, who is conducting the service, said it was not clear yet if the remains were those of nuns from the original abbey.

The results of radiocarbon dating on the remains should be known within the next three months.

A team of local volunteers have carried out the dig, supervised by professionals from the Northamptonshire Archaeological team. The work has been paid for by English Heritage.

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Saxon graveyard unearthed in Suffolk

A team of archaeologists has returned to a Suffolk river bank to complete a dig at an early Christian burial site.

The team has returned to the north bank of the River Alde
for a three-week dig [Credit: BBC]

A three-week excavation has begun at Barber's Point near Aldeburgh at a 7th Century Saxon graveyard. The team believes it is one of the first to reveal Christian rather than Pagan burial customs.

New funding has meant they hope to be able to complete work at the site after previous digs in 2004, 2007 and 2010 where 12 graves were discovered.

David Rea was among the volunteers forced to leave the site when funding ended.

"You could clearly see, etched against the wall where we were digging, that there was another grave, but it was the last day so we had to pack up and leave. But I told 'him' we'd be back and here we are and next week we shall be in there."

The team has been able to return because of a £24,000 boost from the Heritage Lottery Fund's Touching The Tide scheme.

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Oxford Experience 2014

The programme for the Oxford Experience Summer School is now online.  Registration will not begin until late September, but now is the time to start planning your courses for next summer.

You can find the programme here...

Traces of 'lost village' found in Nottinghamshire

Experts say the presence of Medieval pottery suggests the presence a community that possibly dates from before the Norman conquest

Remains of what archaeologists believe is a "lost village" have been found beneath a Nottinghamshire town.

Experts say the presence of cobbled surfaces and Medieval pottery found in the Burgage area of Southwell suggests the presence a community that possibly dates from before the Norman conquest.

Archaeologist Matt Beresford said the work was ongoing and they hoped to find more conclusive evidence.

The dig was backed by a £5,800 Heritage Lottery grant.

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