Tag: Mark horton

Roman Villa and Saxon Minster Discovered in Gloucestershire

Evidence of an imperial Roman villa has been discovered in Gloucestershire, England – just hours before archaeologists were due to fill its trench back up. The remains, a large quantity of Roman wall plaster, were found last Friday (June 11) as a Bristol University team led by TV archaeologists Dr Stuart Prior and Prof Mark Horton were winding up work at the site, which has already offered proof of Saxon settlement.

The remains, in the grounds of Berkeley’s Edward Jenner Museum, also include Roman coins and roof tiles. The villa is likely to date from the 3rd or 4th century AD, and could even be an imperial settlement of Romans from nearby Gloucester. The last-ditch Roman relics were discovered after the team had already found evidence of extensive religious activity during the Anglo-Saxon period, around the 9th or 10th century.

“In the closing moments of the dig we found the best evidence yet that a Roman villa lay under Berkeley, probably under the church,” Prof Horton, a presenter on BBC series Coast, tells the Gloucestershire Gazette. “We are lucky that on this site the soil is clay because it preserves things beautifully so we have had some finds in very good condition.”

“This is a really exciting find.”

Horton and Prior believe the Saxon settlement may have been a minster, a walled religious community, where high status women lived. Saxon artefacts at the site include a belt-strap with the face of a dragon, and a road leading to nearby St. Mary’s Church.

However it is the team’s last-ditch Roman discovery which will keep them coming back to Berkeley. “This is a really exciting find,” says Dr Prior. “We will come back next year to Berkeley because there is definitely more Roman finds waiting to be discovered.”

Prof Horton isn’t the only TV expert making waves in the archaeological world this week. Tony Robinson, presenter of lonstanding archaeology show Time Team, has been singing the praises of Scotland’s ancient heritage. A recent Time Team special uncovered several secrets surrounding Stonehenge, Britain’s best-loved ancient landmark.

Long-lost Bones Belong to Saxon Queen Eadgyth

This is the most exciting archaeological story of 2010. Once again the University of Bristol is leading the world in research. And I am lucky enough to be going back to my favorite university today to hear this groundbreaking new evidence of Princess Edith’s legend.

Scientists will announce that bones excavated in Magdeburg Cathedral in 2008 are those of SaxonQueen Eadgyth (‘Edith of England’) who died in AD 946. Crucial scientific evidence came from teeth preserved in the upper jaw. The bones are the oldest surviving remains of an English royal burial. The original excavations (view the 2006-2009 excavation here) were carried out by a joint team of the State Office for Heritage Management and Archaeology Saxony-Anhalt, and Martin-Luther-Universitt Halle-Wittenberg.

Click the images to see them inlarge size

Eadgyth was the granddaughter of Alfred the Great and half-sister of Athelstan, the first acknowledged King of England. She was sent to marry Otto, King of Saxony in AD 929, and bore him at least two children before her death aged around 36.

She lived most of her married life at Magdeburg and was buried in the monastery of St Maurice. Her bones were moved on at least three occasions, before being interred in an elaborated tomb in Magdeburg Cathedral in 1510.

It was this tomb that was opened by German archaeologists in 2008, a tomb long expected to be empty…But instead it contained a lead box carrying the inscription EDIT REGINE CINERES HIC SARCOPHAGVS HABET… (the remains of Queen Eadgyth are in this sarcophagus…). (the inscription is visible in this slideshow)

When the box was opened partial skeletal remains were found, alongside textile material and organic residues. The challenge facing archaeologists was to show that the remains, which had been moved so often and could easily have been substituted with others, were indeed those of Queen Eadgyth.

Anthropological study of the bones at the University of Mainz, by Professor Kurt Alt, confirmed the remains belonged to a single female, who had died aged between 30 and 40. One of the femur heads showed evidence that the individual was a frequent horse rider. Isotope analysis of the bones suggested that she enjoyed a high protein diet, including a large quantity of fish. All these results suggested a high level of aristocraticy.

The crucial upper jaw evidence came from a technique which measures the strontium and oxygen isotopes that are mineralised in the teeth as they are formed. The value of these isotopes depends on the local environment, and its underlying geology, that is then locked into the teeth. Samples of the teeth were studied at the University of Bristols Department of Archaeology and the Institute of Anthropology at the University of Mainz. “By micro sampling, using a laser, we can reconstruct the sequence of a persons whereabouts, month by month, up to the age of 14,” says Dr Alistair Pike of Bristol University.

Eadgyth seems to have spent the first eight years of her life in southern England, but changed her domicile frequently,” adds Bristol’s Prof Mark Horton. Eadgyth must have moved around the kingdom following her father, king Edward the Elder during his reign. When her mother was divorced in 919 – Eadgyth was between nine and ten at that point – both were banished to a monastery, maybe Winchester or Wilton in Salisbury.”

This is too exciting for words – but don’t worry: I’m going armed with my camera and will be sure to catch all the action from the talk, alongside interviews with archaeologists in the know. I’ll also be tweeting live from the event so keep an eye out!

The bones will be reburied in Magdeburg Cathedral later on this year, exactly 500 years after their last interment in 1510.

Saxon Queen Eadgyth’s remains discovered in Germany

Opening Princess Eqdgyth's Tomb at the Magdeburg Dom Germany Remains of one of the oldest members of the English royal family, Edith of England, have been unearthed at the Magdeburger Dom in Germany. (image slideshow) A lead coffin was discovered, bearing her name ‘Eadgyth’ and accurately recording the transfer of her remains to the German cathedral in 1510. Inside the coffin, a nearly complete female skeleton was found, wrapped in silk.

Queen Eadgyth, the sister of King Athelstan and the granddaughter of Alfred the Great, King of Wessex became the wife of Otto I, the Holy Roman Emperor in 929. She lived in Saxony and bore Otto at least two children, before her death in 946 at the age of 36. She was then buried in Magdeburg in Germany and her tomb was later marked in the Cathedral by an elaborate sixteenth century monument.

In 2008, as part of a wider research project into Magdeburg Cathedral, this tomb was investigated. It was known that she was initially buried at the Monastery of Mauritius in Magdeburg, and if bones were to be found, they would have had to been moved to this later tomb; it was thought that this tomb was most likely a cenotaph.

Click To Watch Video

The Legend of the Saxon Queen Eadgyth

Scientists announced that bones excavated in Magdeburg Cathedral in 2008 are those of Saxon Queen Eadgyth (‘Edith of England’) who died in AD 946.

CLICK TO WATCH

However, when the lid was removed, a lead coffin was discovered, bearing Queen Eadgyths name and accurately recording the transfer of her remains in 1510. Inside the coffin, a nearly complete female skeleton aged between 30 and 40 was found, wrapped in silk.

Dr Harald Meller of the Landesmuseum fur Vorgeschichte in Saxony Anhalt, who led the project said: “We still are not completely certain that this is Eadgyth although all the scientific evidence points to this interpretation. In the Middle Ages bones were moved around as relics and this makes definitive identification difficult.” (update:identity confirmed!)

We know that Saxon royalty moved around quite a lot, and we hope to match the isotope results with known locations around Wessex and Mercia, where she could have spent her childhood.

Apart from the fragmentary bones – wrapped in textiles – inside the lead coffin, other finds included soil sediments and entire beetles. All the findings and the lead coffin itself are being studied and conserved by a team of scientists including osteologists, archaeologists, archaeometallurgists, specialists in medieval textiles, forensic scientists, pedologists, biologists, art-historians and epigraphers.

As part of the research some small samples are being brought to the University of Bristol for further analysis. The research group at Bristol will be hoping to trace the isotopes in these bones to provide a geographical signature that matches where Eadgyth is likely to have grown up.

Professor Mark Horton of the Bristol University’s Department of Archaeology and Anthropology, who is coordinating this side of the research, explained the strategy: “We know that Saxon royalty moved around quite a lot, and we hope to match the isotope results with known locations around Wessex and Mercia, where she could have spent her childhood. If we can prove this truly is Eadgyth, this will be one of the most exciting historical discoveries in recent years.”

Eadgyth is likely to be the oldest member of the English royal family whose remains have survived. Her brother, King Athelstan is generally considered to have been the first King of England after he unified the various Saxon and Celtic kingdoms following the battle of Brunanburgh in 937. His tomb survives in Malmesbury Abbey, Wiltshire, but is most likely empty. Eadgyths sister Adiva – also offered to Otto as wife, but he choose Eadgyth instead – was also married to an unknown European ruler, but her tomb is not located.

The discovery of Eadgyths remains illustrates the close links between European states in the early medieval period and how in the formation of both England and Germany intermarriage between the emerging royal houses of Europe was commonplace and has left a lasting legacy in the present royal families of Europe.

The preliminary findings of this discovery will be announced at the conference ‘Princess Eadgyth of Wessex and her world‘ at the University of Bristol today.