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Trailblazers: Virtual Tours
History's Hinge - 'Ain Jalut

[Solomon]

This beautifully decorated scabbard was found in a field, in soil dredged from an old watercourse, with most of its sword still inside. It had been struck, probably by a plough, and bent in two places, tearing parts of the scabbard and springing it open.



The iron sword had corroded very badly, while the bronze scabbard had remained in good condition. The bright yellow golden colour of the metal and traces of decoration could be glimpsed underneath the incrustations. After being photographed and X-rayed, the sword and scabbard were separated so that each could be closely studied.



The British Museum conservator was able to slide the two plates of the scabbard apart and remove the sword, which, though badly decayed and fragmentary, could now be examined. A maker's mark (unusual on British swords of this date) was just visible near the top of the sword. The surface in the area of the mark was fragile and flaking, so it was consolidated. The conservator also made an electroform of the area so that the mark could be studied without handling the sword itself.



On the bronze scabbard there were heavy incrustations of iron corrosion (from the sword) as well as soil deposits. The conservator removed these with chemicals and small hand tools. The bends in both plates were straightened using mallets made of wood and horn. Then the two plates were put back together. The cleaning and study of the scabbard showed that the decoration was still very sharply defined, almost as crisp as the day it left the craftsman's hands.

I.M. Stead et al., 'An Iron Age sword and scabbard from Isleham', Proceedings of the Cambridge Antiquarian Society, LXX (1981), pp. 61-74


Isleham Hoard
The Isleham Hoard is a hoard of more than 6500 pieces of worked and unworked bronze found in 1959 at Isleham in the English county of Cambridgeshire and dating from the Bronze Age.

The hoard is the largest Bronze Age hoard ever discovered in England and is one of the finest.

It consists in particular of swords, spear-heads, arrows, axes, palstaves, knives, daggers, armour, decorative equipment (in particular for horses) and many fragments of sheet bronze[1] , all dating from the Wilburton-Wallington Phase of the late Bronze Age (about 1000 bc).

The swords show holes where rivets or studs helt the wooden hilts in place (studs were usually made of bronze except for commanders who had silver-studded swords or for a commander-in-chief who had a gold-studded sword. The greater part of these objects have been entrusted to the Moyse's Hall Museum in Bury St Edmunds, while other items are within the University Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology in Cambridge.

References
   1. ^ Hall, David [1994]. Fenland survey : an essay in landscape and persistence / David Hall and John Coles. London; English Heritage. ISBN 1-85074-477-7. , p. 81-88

[Solomon]

Seasonal farming in the wealthy Fens
Fact file

    * The main prehistoric site to visit in the Fens is Flag Fen, near Peterborough (01733 313414), containing the preserved Bronze Age timbers of a causeway and ceremonial island, with reconstructed Bronze Age field system and turf-roofed roundhouse.

    * Huge quantities of prehistoric metalwork have been found in the Fens. The largest hoard came from Isleham in Cambridgeshire (see pages 10-11). Legend has it that the floor of Moyses Hall Museum, Bury St Edmunds, where it is displayed (01284 757488), had to be strengthened to carry it.

    * One of the most striking discoveries in the Fens was of a Bronze Age wooden wheel at Flag Fen in 1994. Two years later, the ruts left by a light, two-wheeled Bronze Age cart were found nearby at Welland Bank Quarry. The thickness of the wheel matched the width of the ruts.

Dr Francis Pryor is the Archaeological Director of Flag Fen. Last month he was elected President of the CBA

[LaBelleRiviere]

Mind boggling to say the least, and I'm not easily boggled.
How was this hoard originally discovered?

[Solomon]

To try and answer your question, I searched the database for Isleham finds:
University of Cambridge Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology database for Isleham

None of the hoard is in those three pages. The list of what has been found more recently in the same small area contains a variety of artefacts of a number of periods.

In view of the post about the bow in North America, this may be of interest:

IDNO:  1997.11
NUM:  1        DEPT:  Arch
NAME:  Museum (1997-02-17): miniature bow
KEYWORD: 
MATERIAL:  Antler
DESCRIPTION:  Museum (1997-02-17): Miniature bow made of antler. "The limbs curve away from the hand grip at approximately 45� ... It was fashioned from the beam of a relatively mature red deer (Cervus elaphus) antler. The natural pearling on the outer surface has all but disappeared, probably due to post-depositional factors, and the spongy bone tissue on the inner surface is worn down." (Gdaniec 1996)
CULTURAL GROUP: 
SOURCE:  Mr. Clarke        SOURCE DATE:  1997
PLACE:  Europe; England; Cambridgeshire; Isleham
PERIOD:  Bronze Age; Middle
CONTEXT:  Museum (1997-02-17): Bow was found during the winter of 1994 on a CAU excavation of a Middle Bronze Age settlement as part of the works associated with the Anglian Water's Isleham-Ely pipeline. The bow was found under the back-fill of a large pit. Nearby was a plough-damaged, shallow pit with the remains of a double burial. See reference (Gdaniec 1996). From Site AWP 2/93 (Site 1-TT63), Context [231], feature 58, <664>.

I think we can say the hoard was not found by metal detector. I would guess the finder was working the land - a farmer or agricultural labourer.

Solomom

[Diving Doc]

Solomon,
I too would like to know the answer to Belle's question.

Flag Fen is a must for students of the Bronze age. Our friends at the Time Team have done a great piece on this historic site. 'The area of the Fens and Fenland holds many unexplored pages of History. The waterways were a very important means of transport in the Fens but  these causeways you mentioned are also very significant , for example;

The fen edge north and east of the village of  Willingham was densely settled from the 2nd century A.D., though all the known sites were abandoned in the wetter conditions of the post-Roman period.  Aldreth causeway, perhaps a Bronze Age route, crosses the eastern part of the parish.  On the edge of the fen it passes through Belsars Hill, a ringwork which may date from 1071 in its present form. In the Middle Ages the causeway was the main Cambridge-Ely road. In the 18th century a road from Cambridge to Sutton passed through the open fields and used the causeway to cross the fens. High bridge over the Old West was in the 18th and 19th centuries often usable only with care or not at all and in the 20th century the causeway deteriorated to a muddy track.

I post here a map of this area from the published works of J.R. Ravensdale. You will note the Car Dyke as posted previously by Solomon.


"The dating of this track, From Cambridge to the Isle of Ely, still awaits a more expert study: it may well prove to be prehistoric: chance finds suggest an intense concentration of Neolithic and Bronze Age settlement along the lower reaches of the Cam, and such a route would link this area to other trackways on the bluff of Castle Hill above Cambridge. This junction would be where the only known Iron Age settlement of any size in this area has been discovered."  J.R. Ravensdale, Senior Lecturer in History, Homerton College, Cambridge.


Doc

[Administration]

Part of the Isleham hoard


Our Project Area II is a little to the north.

The record for the location was lost until 1990.

Staploe Hundred
In 1758 a special Act of Parliament was obtained 'for better draining them (the Fens) by Engines', though the picture of the local Fens given by Vancouver in 1794 revealed that there were still 12,000 acres of fenland, Isleham Fen being 1,500 acres.

RIVER LARK NAVIGATION
The River Lark was once navigable all the way to Bury St. Edmunds, a winding course of around 25 miles. The Romans straightened the lower 4 miles of the route from Isleham Fen to its confluence with the River Cam, which in those days ran through Prickwillow. In fact, up until recent centuries the River Lark was known as Pryckewillowewayter (Prickwillow Water). During the Middle Ages, after a number of waterway "diversions", the River Cam at Prickwillow became the River Great Ouse. It is thought that the River Lark was used by the Romans to carry clunch from pits around Isleham. Later, Barnack stone was carried up stream to build the Abbey at Bury St. Edmunds.


Stumps of a large Yew tree (Taxus baccata) at Isleham Fen, Cambridgeshire, being examined in 1935 by ProfessorA.C. Seward (Chairman of the Fenland Research Committee) and DrH.Godwin. From: Godwin, Sir H., 1978 Fenland: its ancient past and uncertain future. Cambridge University Press.


Excavations for Fenland archaeology (photograph courtesy of P.J.Smith).

[Solomon]

This is an important note as regarding excavation and stratigraphy.

It is from the thesis submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements of the MPhil. Degree, University of Cambridge, 1994 by Pamela Jane Smith.

At their seventh meeting (October 27, 1934), the Committee members decided
to place archaeological finds at the ?University Museum of Archaeology
and Ethnology?. Consequently, artefacts and field notes from the Committee?s
excavations at Plantation Farm (Burnt Fen), Peacock?s Farm, Mildenhall,
Stuntney, and Car Dyke (Cottenham) are in the Museum. Some pottery
from the 1936 Isleham Fen excavation was removed from its box by Cra?ster
and cannot be located. However, Shell (in conversation, 1994) has the notes
from the Isleham work and has listed the contents of five boxes of finds
that are in the Museum store-room. The Isleham excavation was quickly
discontinued when ?it became clear that no stratigraphical results could be
obtained? (1937c: xv).

[Sovereign]

The Isleham excavation was quickly discontinued when ?it became clear that no stratigraphical results could be obtained? (1937c: xv).

Of course. Archaeological excavation is based on the principle of layer by layer. No stratification, no archaeological excavation, just plain and simple recovery of artefacts, then home for tea!