The BAS Day School took place at St Nicolas church hall, Newbury on 5th October 2024. Some 40 people attended. The presentations were:
Recent work in West Berkshire Sarah Orr, Principal Archaeologist
Sarah explained the work that she and her team were doing. She summarised 3 developer funded excavations, and mentioned Professor Martin Bell’s excavation at Ufton Bridge. She then went on to present the schemes her team were involved in to mitigate climate change and improve biodiversity in West Berkshire.
Recent discoveries in East Berkshire Fiona MacDonald, Principal Archaeologist, Berkshire Archaeology
Fiona presented details of fieldwork on a number of sites including:
- At the Barkham Solar Farm
- The Berkshire County Sports and Social Club, Sonning, where TVAS found a Middle Bronze Age urn
- Oakley Water near Holyport
- High Street Heritage Action Zone, Reading
Fiona finished her talk by stating the Berkshire Archaeology HER has passed its Historic England HER Audit 2023-24.
Making the Pennies Count… Keith Abbott. University of Reading
Keith’s presentation was of some of the work he did for his Master’s dissertation. He started by explaining how he had integrated Roman period data from the West Berkshire HER, the Portable Antiquities Scheme, the Roman Rural Settlement database and West Berkshire Museum to create a Consolidated Material Culture database for West Berkshire. He then went on to interpret evidence from this database to gain an understanding of Romano-British trackways across West Berkshire, ritual sites and activity in West Berkshire and of Roman Newbury.
The Cursus Publicus in Berkshire Peter Clifford, Berkshire archaeological Society
Peter started his presentation by giving an overview of the Cursus Publius as the Roman Authority’s empire wide transport system. Its main architectural features were mansiones which provided overnight accommodation for travellers and mutationes which provided services for changing horses and mules, repairing damaged wagons, etc. He then presented a map and archaeological evidence from the known mansiones and mutationes in the Berkshire Region, together with a timeline which showed how this system changed from AD 43 to 410.
Finally, he presented details of the impact of the Cursus Publicus on the Romano-British living in the region. It was used by the Roman Authorities to administer the region and collect and transport taxes. For most of the time, the Roman-British elite were responsible for its upkeep and it employed a large number of people to provide services at the mansiones and mutationes
PAS in Berkshire, 2023 / 2024 Dr. Philip Smither, Finds Liaison Officer for Berkshire
Phil started his presentation by reminding us of the role and capabilities of the Portable Antiquities Scheme (PAS) at both national and Berkshire levels. He then presented a Roman coin, a broken silver penny of Edgar (dating to AD 972-975), a Richard II silver penny and a Charles I silver penny.
In addition to coins, he presented a Bronze Age copper loop from a palstave or axe, an Iron Age copper alloy brooch, a Roman coin, a Roman key, a piece of medieval horse harness, a pipe stopper and a Victorian livery button. He ended his talk with details of an exhibition of finds in West Berkshire Museum.
Unlocking Old Windsor Darko Maričević, University of Reading
Darko started his presentation with a history of how the site was identified and how in 1953, the Berkshire Archaeological Society got Brian Hope Taylor to carry out a 2 week investigation. This led to the Ministry of Works sponsoring Hope-Taylor in 1954 to excavate trenches G- K and two areas. Excavations continued through 1955 to 1957. There were geophysics surveys from 1955 to 1987. From 1981 to 1991, there was a post-excavation project which consolidated some of the excavation material and produced some specialist reports.
This project confirmed the details of early medieval high status halls, an early medieval mill leat and mill with horizontal mill wheels.