September 2015 and we are back to the fieldwork on the Lincolnshire Wolds! Once again the University of Kent team of students and staff is teaming up with the North East Lincolnshire society (NELALHS) to explore the archaeology of the Wolds so it is back to the site near Binbrook and the site at Hatcliffe where the remains of Roman settlements were coming to light last summer. Thanks to the famers and land owners for their kind permission to allow the investigations to go ahead and to NELALHS Chairman David Robinson who undertook a lot of the liaison.
On Saturday and Sunday we were at the site near Binbrook (same one as last year) and already have had some headline discoveries. Thanks to the fine weather and the fact the fields are all harvested and ploughed we can see on the surface of the land various remains from the past telling us what might lie below the soil here. On Saturday we found that stones cleared from the field in the past and thrown into the hedgerows (so they do not cause a problem to farmers’ ploughs) include at least four ancient column drums! So we think these mean that this site’s buildings were very elaborate, fitted out with the architectural grandeur typical of quality buildings of the Classical World. We interpret this as a sign that there was a prosperous settlement here, perhaps gaining wealth from farming the land. A quern or millstone for milling corn was found yesterday during our systematic fieldwalking survey. It was made from Millstone Grit and imported to the site. It too is likely to be Roman … bread was as important to the people of Roman Britain as it is to us today.
We also found a Samian ware vessel with graffiti on the base which seemingly is the sign of ownership by an individual. This imported pottery was expensive flashy tableware and you would not want to lose it.
One of the metal detectorists from the local club explained what he had found during previous visits and it is great that people with various interests share info; this all leads to developing a strong picture that this recently discovered site is important.
Post by the UniKent Team
Worked stone we believe to be from Roman columns at the Binbrook site.
Laying out our fieldwalking grid on Sunday at the start of the 2015 season.