Finds Processing

One of the key tasks during the post-excavation process is the basic washing, marking and recording of the artefacts. This season we recovered roughly 7500 fragments of pottery, 2000 fragments of Ceramic Building Material (both of mixed Roman and medieval date), as well as around 3000 fragments of animal bones. This is on top of all the metal objects and small finds which were found during the ten weeks of the dig. All this pottery and bone needs to be washed clean and then marked with the site code and context number, so we know where it came from. This is, not surprisingly, a labour intensive process. Until now the bulk of this work has been taken up by Durham students. However, today saw a new workforce coming on line- members of the Durham and Northumberland Archaeological and Architectural Society, one of our key project partners. Many of them spent time digging with us during the summer and are now taking the chance to see what goes on out of season. Later this year some of them will also have the chance to become involved in exploring the environmental archaeological aspects of Binchester.

Binchester Site Plan

The post-excavation work on the project continues apace. We've got the site plans digitised and I've attached a copy of an outline plan of the 2009 season excavations; this is only a schematic overview - the on-site plans were extremely detailed and included drawing every single cobble and slab that made up the many rubble surfaces.
The dark blue shows the key structural features, including the large rectangular barrack block that takes up most of the western half of the site. The smaller rectangular building in the south-east corner is probably medieval, although we don't know whether it's pre- or post-Conquest (my money is on the latter, though I'd be agreeably surprised if it was earlier). The other stretches of walling along the eastern and northern edge of the site and the north-east corner are features built into the rampart of the fort and of Roman date (we think)- certainly the corner tower is Roman and was previously partially uncovered in excavations that took place on site in the 1930s.

New photos of Binchester

You can find lots of new images of the 2009 excavation season at Binchester at the website of Professor Michael Shanks (Stanford University). This includes some great pictures of the dig and the excavation team, images from the various fieldtrips we made with the Stanford students and even some shots of the end of dig party! Plans are now underway for the new season this summer!

Coins from Binchester

Post-excavation work on the project is continuing apace. We've now had our first comments on the coins from the site written for us by our coin specialist Philippa Walton (Institute of Archaeology, London). She writes

Preliminary report on the coins recovered from the Binchester excavations 2009

Philippa Walton

Introduction

A total of 218 coins were recovered the excavations undertaken by the University of Durham, Durham County Council, Stanford University and the Archaeological and Architectural Society of Durham and Northumberland at Binchester (County Durham) in 2009. 216 of these coins date to the Roman period. The remaining two coins comprise a medieval silver long cross penny (SF ??) and a copper alloy seventeenth century rose farthing (SF 11).

The majority of coins recorded were recovered from unstratified or post Roman contexts and therefore the coins are not suitable for stratigraphic dating purposes. However, following the Applied Numismatic principles pioneered by Richard Reece and John Casey, they are useful for obtaining a better understanding of the broad chronology of the site and periods of intense activity.

The chronological distribution of coins

133 of the Roman coins were identifiable to the extent that they could be assigned to Reece periods as summarised by Table 1. A further 83 coins were recognisable in date but were either too corroded or dirty to assign to a particular Reece period. However, it was possible to assign them to a century or range of centuries by size and composition as summarized in Table 2.

As with other sites in Britain, the coin loss at Binchester evidenced by the 2009 excavations is strongest in the late third and fourth centuries AD (see Figure 1). However, when compared with Reece’s British Mean (compiled from 140 coin assemblages from Britain), it is obvious that the 2009 assemblage demonstrates far greater coin loss than average for Periods 14 (AD 275-285) and 17 (AD 330-348). It is not possible at present to account for the peak in Period 14 coin loss. However, the peak in Period 17 is also present in the assemblage recovered from previous excavations at Binchester (Reece 1991). It may indicate significant activity at the site during this period. A brief survey of other published coin assemblages from the North East (South Shields, Piercebridge, Chester-le-Street, Greta Bridge, Corbridge, Carrawburgh, Housesteads) demonstrates that a period 17 peak is not characteristic of the region although Corbridge (Reece 1991) does possess similar per mill (coins per 1000) values for the period AD 260 to 348 (Periods 13-17). The latest coins from the site are two copper alloy nummi of the House of Theodosius. Only one possesses a legible reverse and is a VICTORIA AVGG issue dating to AD 388-395. This issue is among the latest copper alloy coins to be supplied to Britain and attests to the continued use of money at Binchester even in the very late fourth century AD.

Issues of numismatic interest

The assemblage on the whole comprises common coinage of the periods represented. All radiates recorded are barbarous issues, some of idiosyncratic style and GLORIA EXERCITVS and VRBS ROMA issues are predominant amongst the Period 17 coins. However, there are 4 individual issues of numismatic interest amongst the assemblage. These are:

a) A denarius of Otho dating to AD 69 (SF ??) This is a variant on an aureus type (RIC 20 var) and is only the third example known, the others being a example from France (BN III, 25) and a PAS record BH-F5BD67.
b) Two cut down issues of Magnentius or Decentius (AD 350-353) (u/s; 16 & 92) attesting to the recycling of coinage in the period following the downfall of the usurpers.
c) A possible cast copy of a nummus of the House of Theodosius (AD 388-402). Cast copies of this date are unusual as site finds in Britain.

Binchester in Second Life

One of the principal investigators on the Durham-Stanford Binchester Research Project is Dr Gary Devore, who amongst other research interests is exploring the potential for Virtual Reality can be used to present information about the Roman world. Using the virtual world platform of Second Life he has created a fantastic reconstruction of the bath-house at Binchester. There is also a more extended exploration of the way in which Second Life is being used to present the Roman past. It all looks fabulous. All I want now is a virtual Bincheste I can upload into Rome:Total War!

Binchester on YouTube

GSB Prospection, who carried out the geophysical survey for the Time Team investigation at Binchester a couple of years ago have posted a couple of interesting videos on YouTube. They are videos demonstrating the results of the Ground Penetrating Radar survey on the mausolea in 3-D. There is a video of a horizontally-rotating GPR model, a vertically-rotating GPR model and an amplitude-slice animation. Fascinating stuff!

Binchester Pictures

Only a brief message to say that I've been having endless technical problems with Flickr (I can upload my images but I can't seem to make them public...), so I've created a Picasa album for this year's fieldwork at Binchester. Its mainly general site and working shots rather than detailed records shots, but there area a number of the recent photographs by Aerial Cam and also some images of our summer open days.