Some of you will be aware from recent coverage in the local press of the discovery this summer of the ‘Marlow Warlord’ a 6^th century sentinel burial on a site above the Thames by a team from the University of Reading led by Dr Gabor Thomas, assistant professor of archaeology and an early medieval specialist.

“The Marlow Warlord” exciting Anglo-Saxon burial site discovered

Gabor is due to give the Society a lecture on this subject in February 2021, although, evidently, we had to be a bit cagey about the title when this was agreed at the end of August!

In the meantime, he is trying to raise £7,000 through crowdfunding for finds conservation work and analysis, which will develop the story.  

Here is Gabor’s message to the Society on 10^th October: 

‘I hope that you caught the press coverage of the Marlow Warlord last week.  It was rather a media storm in the end, one which I think really helped to put the archaeology of our local area on the map – I was able to clarify in radio interviews that the burial was found on the Berkshire side of the river!

Please consider donating to this project. Our crowdfunding page is: https://reading.hubbub.net/p/marlowwarlord/

If we achieve our total and the planned analysis and conservation does ahead, then it will be possible to generate a long, lasting legacy for this remarkable Berkshire discovery.  My talk to members next year will also be correspondingly richer in content and interpretation.’

Berkshire Archaeology, the body which looks after archaeology in East Berkshire, has published its annual newsletter for 2020.  You can download it from this page.
https://www.readingtownhall.co.uk/explore-reading-history/berkshire-archaeology

Image: Near complete Samian bowl found along the route of the Arborfield Cross Relief Road © Wessex Archaeology

Berkshire Archaeological Journal volume 85 has been published. It will shortly be distributed to all members and subscribers.

Others can purchase a copy by emailing journal(at)berksarch.co.uk

For security we are not publishing email addresses as direct links. Please re-type substituting the @ symbol for (at)

This is a special issue as it marks a collaboration with Cotswold Archchaeology. All articles are reports from excavations that they have conducted in and around Berkshire in the last 3 years.

CONTENTS

Foreword by Richard Massey

An Early Roman Site at Beech Hill Road, Spencers Wood, Berkshire by Richard Massey and Grace Perpetua Jones, with Adam Howard

Roman, medieval and post-medieval settlement at Cutbush Lane, Shinfield, Berkshire by Richard Massey and Joe Whelan

An Early Roman enclosed settlement at Kentwood Farm, Wokingham by Richard Massey and Joe Whelan

Iron Age and medieval features at Keephatch, Beech Lane, Wokingham by Jacek Gruszczynski and Matt Nichol.

Roman and medieval occupation at Shoppenhanger Manor, Maidenhead by Ray Kennedy and Richard Massey.

Berkshire Archaeological Society Events – from September 2020

Government advice is likely to remain that gatherings are not permitted or advised.  We are, therefore, planning to hold all BAS activities from September on Zoom.

See the events page for a list of monthly lectures. Synopses will be posted separately when available.

Members attending meetings on Zoom will be advised of meeting joining instructions beforehand. Not all Study Group meetings are listed as they are usually confirmed the week before.

from Julie Worsfold, BAS Lectures and Day School Organiser & Chair Communications Working Group

Image (think of it as geofizz!): This scanning electron microscope image shows COVID-19 virus (yellow), also known as 2019-nCoV and SARS-CoV-2, isolated from a patient in the U.S., emerging from the surface of cells (pink) cultured in the lab. Image credit: NIAID-RML / CC BY 2.0.