Excavating Anglo-Saxon Lyminge: The Final Season on Tayne Field
By Dr Alexandra Knox
Department of Archaeology
University of Reading
In 2012, the Arts and Humanities Research Council-funded excavations at Lyminge, Kent, uncovered a spectacular Anglo-Saxon feasting hall, the first of its kind to be fully excavated for a generation. Now, with the completion of the last excavation of this funded phase in the summer of 2014, the number of grand, ceremonial 7th century halls totals five, the largest of which was rebuilt on the same footprint in at least three phases.
Over the last three years of excavations, Project partners Kent Archaeological Society have helped to make the excavations on Tayne Field, Lyminge such a success. Unofficially, volunteers from KAS have joined the University of Reading-based team, led by Dr Gabor Thomas, since excavations in the village first began in 2007.
The emergence of a royal vill
The summer of 2014 saw the culmination of three years’ work on Tayne Field. The discoveries are no less spectacular than any other season thus far, each conclusively proving high status 5th-7th century AD occupation of the spur in the centre of the modern village of Lyminge. Previous seasons of open area excavation in more southerly parts of the village were focused on the 7th-9th century monastic phase of occupation. The first glimpses of pre-Christian occupation were seen in 2010 with the discovery of four sunken-featured buildings (timber structures built above a rectangular pit) containing a wealth of high-status material such as vessel glass and brooches. The 2010 season also saw the entirely unexpected discovery of the very first 7th century Anglo-Saxon plough coulter, a technology thought lost in this period, and excavations since then have served to expand on these initial exciting discoveries on an unprecedented scale in Kent.
In 2012 the funding granted by the AHRC enabled the team to begin to excavate on Tayne Field, the large open area in Lyminge currently used as a communal green space and surrounded to the south and east by the river Nailbourne. Over the past three years a picture of an important and wealthy pagan royal vill has emerged, with high status artefacts such as a gilt copper-alloy horse-harness mount and an imported bone gaming piece excavated from the wall trenches of the ceremonial feasting halls themselves. High-status artefacts such as these, as well as vessel glass, gilt brooches, glass beads and other copper alloy dress accessories are usually found in the realm of the dead rather than the living. The bone gaming piece, the receipt of much media attention, is only paralleled at the princely burial of Taplow, in Buckinghamshire, objects now held in the British Museum. At Lyminge many of the artefact types discovered in the settlement are also reflected in the cemetery north of the village excavated in the 1950s. Objects from these excavations belong to KAS and a selection is on permanent display in Maidstone Museum.
A timber feasting hall
The 2014 excavations were the most ambitious yet, seeing two trenches opened rather than the usual 30 x 30m trench of the past few years. One of these trenches was positioned to find more of a timber hall partially revealed in the 2013 excavations in an extension.
ABOVE The plough coulter, excavated in 2010, the very first 7th Century coulter to be discovered in England. (c) University of Reading
BELOW Bone gaming piece excavated from the wall trench of a timber hall in 2013 (c) University of Reading
Here is the transcription of the nineteenth provided document into plain HTML: ```htmlLEFT / BELOW Saxon Glass beads from Lyminge, excavated in 2014 (c) University of Reading
RIGHT Decorated mount from a horse harness found in 2012 and on display at Dover Museum, dating to 525-575 AD. (c) University of Reading, photo by Dana Goodburn-Brown
to the main trench. It was suspected that this hall, with its extremely large external raking posts and post-in-trench construction might be the largest of the halls on Tayne Field, perhaps larger than the hall fully excavated in 2012 which measured 21 x 8.5 m. While it was not possible to excavate the entirety of the hall due to surrounding modern buildings and later Second World War structures, what was revealed suggests that the structure could be up to 30m long. Construction techniques varied as the hall was rebuilt on the same footprint at least three times, beginning with walls constructed of pairs of timber planks positioned vertically within dug-out wall trenches. These rectangular planks were visible as darker soil marks, something present in all of plank-in-trench constructed timber halls excavated in the last three years. The second phase saw the most elaborate construction, rebuilt with single large planks in the wall trenches and very large raking posts positioned
```on the outside of the structure, angled to support the roof. A third phase showed the abandonment of the plank-in-trench system, entirely replaced by large round post holes. Evidence for internal partition walls and the lengthening of the hall was also apparent.
An unprecedented feature
The find of a timber hall on this scale and with such a range of construction methods is exciting on its own, but the 2014 season held many more surprises. A 30 x 30m trench was opened to the north and east of the hall trench, directly over a Bronze Age ring ditch surrounding a now ploughed-away barrow and a highly unusual anomaly visible on the geophysical survey and appearing to measure some 14 x 12m. Small test trenches and test pits undertaken a few months before the main summer dig had confirmed Bronze Age and Anglo-Saxon dates respectively for these features, so the aim of this trench was to establish a potential relationship between any Anglo-Saxon features and the Bronze Age ring ditch, and to investigate the large area containing Anglo-Saxon midden material. As well as the 20m diameter Bronze Age ring ditch with five cremations at its centre, the team were thrilled to discover several overlapping phases of a 6th century post-built timber hall (dated through diagnostic material recovered from post holes), a building type long sought on Tayne Field. After the discovery of several smaller post-built structures of a similar date, and within the middle of this enigmatic building was an extraordinary assemblage of high-status artefacts including bird-shaped copper alloy fittings, fragments of elaborate glass vessels and a gilt copper-alloy horse-harness mount identical to one found in 2012, suggesting that these objects were once part of the same set and split between phases of the 6th century hall’s long use.
RIGHT An aerial view of Trench 2, 2014, showing the timber hall running east-west (c) University of Reading. Photo by AD Photographics
RIGHT An aerial view of Trench 1, 2014, with the midden area in the top right (south-east) corner and the 6th century hall to the west. (c) University of Reading. Photo by AD Photographics
ABOVE Bird-shaped copper alloy fitting and brooch, Lyminge (c) University of Reading, photo by John Piddock
LEFT Glass vessel fragments excavated from the midden area (c) University of Reading, photo by John Piddock
RIGHT TOP The flint nodules in the midden, partially removed to show the clay beneath (c) University of Reading
RIGHT BOTTOM Recording the slot through the midden area (c) University of Reading
and a whole assortment of Anglo-Saxon artefacts. The squares gave a consistent picture of feasting debris, including a steady stream of luxury vessel glass (a total of 200 sherds were excavated from this area alone), as well as a wealth of evidence for specialised production in the form of the debris from iron smelting and copper-alloy metalworking. Diagnostic dress-accessories excavated from this area suggest a sixth-century date.
Quite quickly it was realised that this area, unusually for early Anglo-Saxon archaeology, was of some depth, and the grid system was abandoned in favour of an east-west slot across the whole area. This slot began to reveal extensive iron smelting and smithing slag, along with the debris from raked out furnaces and burnt kiln material, with Saxon glass and artefacts throughout. An in situ hearth showed the use of this area not just as the repository for waste material, but as an area of production too. The depth of this midden area surprised the whole team, given the usual ephemeral nature of early Saxon archaeology. At a depth of about 1.5m extensive animal bone, including cow skulls and other feasting waste along with decorated pottery began to be found, and underlying these layers a very clean clay horizon.
Excavation of this clay revealed that it overlay a course of large flint nodules that had been deliberately placed, either as a surface or a platform – the purpose of which currently eludes the team, as there appear to be no parallels in Anglo-Saxon archaeology that might suggest what this area was dug for. Radiocarbon dating of associated animal bone has proven this flint nodule area to be late Roman or later, however, augering has proven that the deposit extends at least another 1.4m below the laid flint, suggesting a maximum depth to the whole area of over three metres!
Lyminge: an elite settlement excavated by the community
The excavation of this highly unusual and unprecedented feature raises a great many more questions than it answers. Even with the large and dedicated team of volunteers from the local community, KAS and beyond, it was not possible to fully excavate the midden area, but the wealth of evidence, both artefactual and stratigraphic, will provide food for thought for a long time to come. With the excavation of timber halls containing in situ artefacts, and the productivity of this highly distinctive 6th century midden area, Lyminge has produced what seems to be the largest and most spectacular assemblage from a high-status settlement in Anglo-Saxon England.
It must be emphasised that excavation on such a scale, as testified by the aerial photographs presented here, could not have been undertaken without the army of students, dedicated volunteers from the village, from local archaeological groups, and from KAS that joined the team year after year on Tayne Field and indeed since 2007. Working closely with project partners KAS and staff from Canterbury Archaeological Trust (CAT) has enabled a great sharing of expertise, local knowledge and surprising avenues of interest. It is the large number of volunteers that enabled us to be flexible and to cope with the sheer quantity of archaeology in each trench, supporting the team in making the astounding discoveries of the last few years in Lyminge.