Bank Holiday Monday 25 August 2014
Our final Open Day!
The UWHG Committee assembled early to put up the Displays
and the HLF Banner, to lay out the finds and to prepare the refreshments.
Meanwhile Kevin Cale and Janis were preparing their demonstration
“excavation” in a large box filled with river sand and 'planted' with various
finds including plastic human bones.
Unfortunately no children came to dig, but it proved a huge success for
three ladies from Rotherham. These ladies had seen the advertisement on the
website and had come to see what our day was all about.
They spent most of the
morning excavating, bagging and recording, in correct archaeological fashion and
obviously thoroughly enjoyed the experience. Did this wet their appetites for
more in the future, I wonder?
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Gina engrossed in digging (c) Alan Williams |
Judging from the look of concentration on her face, it also
proved a very interesting experience for Jane's niece, Gina, too.
People of all sorts came – some local, some passers by just
out for a day in the Dales, some UWHG members trickled in throughout the
morning, with an influx towards lunch-time, and people obviously coming to look
at the displays prior to the afternoon's
talks. In total, probably more than 70 people joined us at various times
throughout the day.
They showed great interest in the exhibition of the project,
in looking at the finds, watching the “excavation” in progress, and chatting
about the project.
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A cluster of people around the exhibition display (c) Alan Williams |
After lunch Roger spoke about the results of both the
surveying and from the finds from the excavation, all of which indicated there
had been occupation in the area since the late Bronze Age, through to the
present. On analysis, the tooth had given a date of late 6th–early 7thC AD
although the isotope analysis indicated that the lady grew up to the west of
Arncliffe and was not an Anglican immigrant. However, the beads, which were of similar
date, did mean that the people in the area at that time had connections with
the Anglo-Saxons, prior to the proposed annexation of Craven by Northumbria.
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Roger expounding on the Anglo-Saxon presence in the Dales (c) Alan Williams |
As our second speaker, David Johnson spoke about several
excavations he had conducted in the Ingleborough area, with the Ingleborough
Archaeology Group. These proved to be of various buildings, which were thought
to be possibly farmsteads or shielings. Charcoal and finds from these
excavations gave similar and also slightly later dates to the Arncliffe ones,
all of which have considerable implications for other sites in the Yorkshire
Dales.
The day concluded, leaving us with much to think about. In
the meantime reports have to be written and submitted to various bodies, before
we move on to the next project!
The Chairman and the Committee of the UWHG would like to
express their grateful thanks to all who have given their support and/or who
have taken part in this project, including Kevin Cale, and especially Sarah and Richard Paul of
Carr Farm; to the Partners of the Arncliffe Estate and to the Arncliffe Parish
Meeting.
Ruth Spencer, UWHG