Peterborough Archaeology

Francis Pryor - Magic of the Fens
2022-05-01
A Deepings Literary Festival Event Organised through Stamford Arts Centre
West Deeping Village Hall
One of Britain’s most distinguished archaeologists and the excavator of Flag Fen, Francis has been studying the archaeology of the Fens since 1971. No stranger to this part of Lincolnshire, having taken part in many excavations nearby, he will be “Bringing the magic of the Fens to life in a deeply personal and utterly enthralling way” (Tony Robinson).

Peterborough Cathedral
2022-05-09 19:00 UTC | Paston and Gunthorpe Community Centre, Hallfields Lane, Peterborough, PE4 7YH
History of Peterborough Cathedral
This Introduction to Peterborough Cathedral will provide an overview of the institution and building which has been at the heart of Peterborough since a monastery was first founded here in 655AD.
The Cathedral is an icon for the city, its historic core, and a living place of worship. This talk looks at the remarkable history of the Cathedral and its site.
Speaker: Stuart Orme, Curator of the Cromwell Museum in Huntingdon and former Director of Operations at Peterborough Cathedral
FREE for FRAG Members

Hidden Heritage Tour
2022-05-21 14:00
A Peterborough Museum Event
Peterborough Museum is holding a free tour on Saturday the 21st of May at 2pm.
To book a space, all people need to do is email museum@peterboroughlimited.co.uk
Spaces are limited and will be allocated on a first come first served basis.

DIG: Itter Crescent Villa - POSTPONED
2022-05-25 - 2022-05-29 | Fane Road Allotments, PE4 6SW
EXCAVATION: Fane Road Allotments – Itter Crescent Roman Villa
EXCAVATION POSTPONED
We have not been granted the necessary permission by Peterborough City Council to undertake this dig. This is particularly disappointing since we had an agreed outline plan for our investigations, the work is undertaken in a structured and professional manner, and we seek to maximise community awareness and involvement.
A large Roman villa was discovered in 2011 prior to construction of new houses between Itter Crescent and Fane Road. There was a community dig in 2014 and since then FRAG has undertaken further archaeological excavations on the Fane Road Allotment Site to ascertain the full extent of the buildings.
A brief excavation (Wed 25th to Sunday 29th May) will continue to explore the walls unearthed during recent digs.
The community excavation gave clues as to the layout of the southern elements of the impressive villa but detailed interpretation of the remains is still uncertain.
You don’t need to have experience, and you don’t need to commit for the full duration. You do need to register in advance by completing the online application form.
FRAG Members Only
(though members of Fane Road Allotment Association, and JIGSAW affiliated groups may also participate)

Alconbury Weston Geophys
2022-05-26 - 2022-05-29
A Sawtry History Society Event
There is an opportunity to gain experience in conducting an earth resistance survey.
This is an extension of the survey already undertaken at the Hill Top site where Roman remains have been identified.
To participate it is necessary to complete the application form available on the society’s website:
https://sawtryarchaeology.wixsite.com/my-site/events

VISIT: Milton Hall Mosaic
2022-06-18 10:30
THIS EVENT IS NOW FULL
FRAG has arranged a rare opportunity to view the Roman mosaic which was discovered in 1821 during excavations in Castor. The mosaic was re-laid in the ante-room to the dairy at Milton Hall. At that time local antiquarian, Edmund Artis, was working as House Steward for 4th Earl Fitzwilliam.
We will be accompanied by Dr Stephen Upex who will provide background on local mosaics, Roman villas, and the role of Edmund Artis in their discovery.
Physical space is tight so the maximum number of attendees will be 25. The outline plan is for the us to meet at about 10.30am, with the option after for a pub lunch.
FREE for FRAG Members – £5 for Non members
To register your interest in joining the visit please complete the application form. Rex Gibson will be in touch with joining instructions by email.
Until 18th May priority will be given to applicants who are FRAG members. If we need to limit numbers this will be on a first come first served basis.
Payment for non members will be collected on the day.
Dr Stephen Upex has written on a wide variety of topics related to British landscape history and archaeology. He has excavated widely and led the 2019 investigation at Durobrivae . Books include the recently published, Romans in the Nene Valley. Stephen lectures at the University of Cambridge, is a member of the Chartered Institute for Field Archaeologists and a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries of London.

The Uluburun Shipwreck
2022-06-27 19:00 | Parkway Sports Club, Maskew Avenue, Peterborough, PE1 2AS
The Uluburun Shipwreck and Late Bronze Age Mediterranean trade.
PLEASE NOTE DATE CHANGE FROM 6TH JUNE TO 27TH JUNE
Following his popular talk about pre-historic Bahrain in 2019, Michael Olney returns to throw light on a 3,300 year old shipwreck discovered off the coast of Uluburun, south west Turkey.
The astonishing late 14th century BC shipwreck discovered near Kas by a sponge diver in 1982 has provided a unique insight into the extent and richness of Late Bronze Age trade networks in the Mediterranean.
The wreck was excavated over eleven consecutive campaigns of three to four months, conducted by the Institute of Nautical Archaeology, totalling 22,413 dives between 1984 and 1992.
It is among the oldest ships ever discovered and contained one of the wealthiest and largest known assemblages of Late Bronze Age items found in the Mediterranean which have been traced back to at least seven different cultures, including Mycenaean, Syro-Palestinian, Cypriot, Egyptian, Kassite, Assyrian and Nubian.
Fully laden cargo of around 20 tons yielded more than 18,000 spectacular artefacts. The main cargo was of raw materials including approximately 10 tons of primarily Cypriot copper in the form of 354 ‘oxhide’ ingots; 175 of the earliest known intact disc-shaped ingots of glass which were coloured with cobalt blue, turquoise, and a unique lavender; A ton of terebinth resin contained in around 150 Canaanite jars, logs of Egyptian ebony, ostrich eggshells, elephant tusks, hippopotamus teeth, seashells, and tortoise shells.
There were also luxurious finished goods on board; Egyptian objects of gold, electrum, silver, and stone; Canaanite jewellery; thousands of beads made of glass, agate, carnelian, quartz, faience, and amber; and finely crafted figurines and a scarab bearing the cartouche of Queen Nefertiti.
Other artefacts included ivory cosmetics containers, a trumpet carved from a hippopotamus incisor, bronze tools and weapons, lead net and line sinkers, netting needles for repairing nets, fishhooks, a harpoon, a bronze trident, and wooden writing boards and Cypriot fine- and coarse-ware ceramics.
Artefacts that were personal possessions of the crew members, such as tools, oil lamps, and writing boards, suggest that the crew were Canaanite and/or Cypriot, although at least two were Mycenaean.
The proveniences of the artefacts suggest that the Late Bronze Age Aegean was part of an established international trade network in which ships sailed the Mediterranean on a circular route from Syro-Palestine to Cyprus, onto the Aegean, and occasionally as far west as Sardinia, then back home via North Africa and Egypt.

Speaker: Michael W Olney
Michael read Archaeology and Ancient History of Western Asia at the Institute of Archaeology, UCL.
FREE for FRAG Members

Flag Fen Tour with Francis Pryor
2022-07-23

Flag Fen Basin Talks
2022-07-24

Must Farm Finds Roadshow
2022-07-26 - 2022-07-27
A Flag Fen Event

DIG: Nassington 2022
2022-08-13 - 2022-08-27
A MidNAG Event
MidNAG are returning to the Roman barn investigated through geophysics and excavation since 2016.
Volunteers are welcome.
To participate you need to complete the MidNAG application form:
https://www.midnag.org.uk/events.html
Many FRAG members have previously dug at Nassington. You can find out a bit more from some of the previous “dig diaries”.
Nassington 2016
Nassington 2017
Nassington 2018
Nassington 2019

VISIT: Crowland Excavation
2022-08-27 10:30
THIS EVENT IS NOW FULL
FRAG has arranged a group visit to the excavation at Anchor Church Field, Crowland.
This is the second year of an investigation by Newcastle and Sheffield universities. Several buildings have been revealed and their association with the 8th century St Guthlac is being explored.
Our provisional plan is to meet at about 10.30am. FRAG members, Rex Gibson and Avril Lumley Prior will provide background to the site, the cult of St Guthlac, and the associations with St Pega. The excavation team led by Dr Duncan Wright and Dr Hugh Willmott will then be our guides, explaining what has been discovered so far this year. We expect the visit to last 60-90 minutes in total.
FREE for FRAG Members – £5 for Non members
To register your interest in joining the visit please complete the application form.
Until 12th August priority will be given to FRAG members and their guests. We will not be confirming places and plans until then. If we need to limit numbers this will be on a first come first served basis.
Payment for non members will be collected on the day.
Dr Duncan Wright is Lecturer in Medieval Archaeology within the School of History, Classics, and Archaeology at Newcastle University. Dr Hugh Willmott is Senior Lecturer in European Historical Archaeology at Sheffield University.
A previous post contains some background on the site and the 2021 dig:
Details about the Crowland Site
Please note that the excavation team is hoping to arrange an open day for the general public to take place the following weekend.

Saxon Settlement at Buckden
2022-09-05 19:00 | Parkway Sports Club, Maskew Avenue, Peterborough, PE1 2AS
The Saxon Settlement Excavations at Buckden
Oxford Archaeology recently excavated a 6-hectare rural site south of Buckden, between St Neots and Huntingdon. Highlights were a large Bronze-Age cremation cemetery and an early to middle Saxon settlement that included exceptionally large and complex examples of a sunken featured building and a hall.
A rare iron plough coulter (possibly deliberately buried) is evidence for a major shift in agricultural technology and possible ritual deposition. Other finds include glass beads and vessel fragments, coins including two sceattas and two pennies (both Offa), 41 bone combs, 28 knives, over 100 loom weights. The quality and range of features and finds suggests this settlement may have been a Saxon estate centre.
Speaker: James Fairbairn, Project Officer, Oxford Archaeology East
Long term FRAG members will remember James from the community excavation of the Itter Crescent villa, and his talk about parts of a Spitfire retrieved from Holme Fen.
FREE for FRAG members

Excavations of a Roman Site at Overstone
2022-09-30
Simon Marcus of MOLA presents the excavation of a Roman site in Northamptonshire.
This is a MidNAG event

Topping Out of New Flag Fen Roundhouse
2022-10-01

Newstead Priory
2022-10-03 19:00 | Parkway Sports Club, Maskew Avenue, Peterborough, PE1 2AS
Newstead by Stamford Priory
Newstead Priory between Stamford and Uffington was founded by William de Albini III early in the thirteenth century. It was endowed with the local mill, assorted parcels of land, and the chapel of the Blessed Mary at Newstead. It operated as an Augustinian priory for the next 300 years.
There is documentary evidence for the site and there are intriguing lumps and bumps in the landscape which probably reflect the location of buildings associated with the priory. The precise location and layout of the priory remains uncertain. Interpretation is complicated by the later Stamford Canal which cuts through the site.
Speaker: Nick Sheehan, Uffington based local historian and author
Nick is author of the 2018 book, “Newstead by Stamford Priory” and continues to search for more clues.
FREE for FRAG members
Newstead Priory – More Info

The Saxons - What You Never Liked to Ask
2022-10-28
Stephen Upex on what you always wanted to know about the Saxons but didn’t like to ask.
A MidNAG event

Francis Pryor - Scenes from Prehistoric Life
2022-11-07 19:00 | Parkway Sports Club, Maskew Avenue, Peterborough, PE1 2AS
Scenes from Prehistoric Life:
From the Ice Age to the Coming of the Romans: One Million Years of Life in the British Isles
We are delighted to welcome one of Britain’s most distinguished archaeologists and the excavator of Flag Fen. The talk by Francis Pryor will be based on his latest book, “Scenes from Prehistoric Life”. Attendees will be able to purchase signed copies of the book.
‘Highly compelling’ Spectator, Books of the Year
‘An evocative foray into the prehistoric past’, BBC Countryfile Magazine
‘Makes life in Britain BC often sound rather more appealing than the frenetic and anxious 21st century!’ Daily Mail
FREE for FRAG Members
Francis Pryor paints a vivid picture of British and Irish prehistory, from the Old Stone Age (about one million years ago) to the arrival of the Romans in AD 43, in a sequence of fifteen profiles of ancient landscapes. Whether writing about the early human family who trod the estuarine muds of Happisburgh in Norfolk c.900,000 BC, the craftsmen who built a wooden trackway in the Somerset Levels early in the fourth millennium BC, or the Iron Age denizens of Britain’s first towns, Pryor uses excavations and surveys to uncover the daily routines of our ancient ancestors. By revealing how our prehistoric forebears coped with both simple practical problems and more existential challenges, Francis Pryor offers remarkable insights into the long and unrecorded centuries of our early history, and a convincing, well-attested and movingly human portrait of prehistoric life as it was really lived.
Dr Francis Pryor MBE is an archaeologist specialising in the study of the Bronze Age and Iron Age in Britain. He was fundamental to the discovery and excavation of Flag Fen. He has worked extensively in the lower Welland and Nene valleys. Francis is well known for his frequent appearances on the Channel 4 television series Time Team.

Peterborough Abbey before 1116
2022-11-17 | ON-LINE
Peterborough Abbey before 1116
Cathedral archaeologist Dr Jackie Hall presents the archaeological discoveries that inform our understanding of the Saxon abbeys that have gone before.

FRAG - Open Mic
2022-12-05 19:00 | Parkway Sports Club, Maskew Avenue, Peterborough, PE1 2AS
A return to the format which was so successful in September 2020.
This is a chance for FRAG members to share recent or favourite archaeology stories: Places visited; Objects found; Digs; Museums; Exhibitions etc, etc. Each “talk” will be 10 to 15 minutes.

An Anchorhold in Peakirk church – Avril Lumley Prior
Sawtry Abbey – Kevin Redgate
What is a Causewayed Enclosure? – Phil Hill
Kilmartin Glen – Rex Gibson

There will be a festive feel to this event, with free raffle tickets, mince pies and a hot drink!
FREE for FRAG Members
Guests and non members are welcome but a £5 charge applies

Extraordinary General Meeting:
Please note that before the Open Mic session we will be holding an EGM for FRAG members to vote upon the future of the group in 2023.
The following resolution has been proposed:
It is resolved that the group be dissolved in accordance with the constitution unless by 31st December 2022 nominations are received for the following committee roles: Chair; Secretary; Treasurer; Events/Field Officer; Safeguarding Officer.
We do not expect this element of the meeting to last longer than 15 minutes.

Wimpole – its archaeology
2023-01-16
A HIAG event
In person at Histon or via Zoom

New Archaeological Discoveries of the A428
2023-01-19
A MOLA Online Talk

Revealing the past through quarrying - Maxey
2023-01-19
A Helpston History Group Event
A talk by Ian Meadows

Osteology in Archaeology
2023-01-27
A MidNAG Event

Must Farm - Artefacts & Techniques
2023-02-06 19:00 | Parkway Sports Club, Maskew Avenue, Peterborough, PE1 2AS
The excavation of the Bronze Age settlement at Must Farm near Peterborough is one of the most significant in Europe this century.
Between 2015-16 a team from the Cambridge Archaeological Unit excavated the remains of a Bronze Age settlement in Whittlesey, near Peterborough. The site’s archaeology proved to be spectacular and including the remains of pile-built houses and thousands of finds.
Since the excavation finished over 50 specialists across the UK have been working on Must Farm’s artefacts, environmental samples and data to understand the site’s use, occupation and lifespan. This work has involved dozens of different techniques and helped refine our understanding of life in the Flag Fen basin almost 3,000 years ago.
This talk discusses the excavation and focuses on specific artefacts from the site, including some of its most notable finds such as a complete wheel and hafted axe, to show how valuable post-excavation work is in enhancing our knowledge of the past.
Speaker: Chris Wakefield, Engagement and Communications Officer, Cambridge Archaeological Unit
FREE for FRAG Members
Background on Must Farm

Peterborough Abbey before 1116
2023-02-16 | ON-LINE
Online Talk
Cathedral archaeologist, Dr Jackie Hall, presents the archaeological discoveries that inform our understanding of the Saxon abbeys that have gone before.
A Peterborough Cathedral Event
Background on Jackie Hall’s work for the Cathedral

What did our Neolithic Ancestors Eat?
2023-02-22 | Fenland Archaeological Society
A Fenarch Event in Wisbech
Fenarch Tamsin O’Connell poster

Stonehenge: A History
2023-02-23
A Gresham College Free Lecture
Ancient Landscapes of Britain – 2023 Lecture Series
Speaker – Mike Pitts

Protecting Cathedral Cities
2023-03-02
Protecting Cathedral Cities
A talk by Simon Thurley
A Peterborough Museum Society Event

Thirsty Work: The Mineral Water Manufacturers of Peterborough
2023-03-06 19:00 | Parkway Sports Club, Maskew Avenue, Peterborough, PE1 2AS
In the late 19th and early 20th century Peterborough became well known for its suppliers of mineral waters.
Speaker: Dr Avril Lumley Prior
FREE for FRAG Members
Dr Avril Lumley Prior developed an interest in Anglo-Saxon history during her childhood in Sunderland and since being in Peterborough has turned her attention to Mercian studies. Avril attained an MA and a PhD on historically-based subjects, and has conducted local research with the Peakirk Archaeological Survey Team. Her exploration of local mineral water suppliers was undertaken with her late husband, Greg, and will be published soon.
This talk was originally scheduled for 9th January but had to be postponed
