DigSchool.org.uk I Engaging cross-curricular learning-enrichment workshops themed around archaeology

Session 9: Tracing placesExploring change over time beneath our feet

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Key questions

• How can we reconstruct how a place developed over time when there is no written evidence?

• Where can we do this?

• Why does it matter?

Today’s settlements (cities, towns, villages, farms) are

mostly places which have been used by humans for

centuries.

Even if the place you live in is not a famous historic or

archaeological site, there is likely to be evidence buried

beneath your feet from tens, hundreds or even

thousands of years ago which when people were there

before you, and what they might have been doing…

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Quick Quiz

History of settlement

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1. What were the first tools made by humans in the British Isles made of? (Stone, metal or plastic)

2. When did people anywhere in the British Isles first start to live in permanent settlements? (Paleolithic

500,000 years ago, Neolithic 5,000 years ago or Roman 2,000 years ago)

3. When did people in the British Isles first start making pottery (Neolithic 5,000 years ago, Roman 2,000

years ago or Medieval 1,000 years ago)

4. When did towns first appear in the British Isles (after the Roman Conquest AD 43, after the Norman

Conquest AD 1066, or after the first factories were built in the 1760s)

5. What happened to most towns in Britain after the end of the Roman period in AD 410 (they grew, they

shrank, they were abandoned)

6. When were most of today’s towns and villages founded? (in the Anglo-Saxon period between AD 850-

1050; in the Tudor period AD 1485-1603, after World War Two 1945-75)

7. Which historic pandemic had the worst impact on settlements in the British Isles? (The Black Death 1348-

9; the Great Plague 1665; Spanish Influenza 1918-19)

8. Which historic period saw the biggest growth in the size of Britain’s cities and towns (the high medieval

period 1066-1300, the Industrial Revolution 1760-1850, the post World War Two period 1945-75)

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Questions

1. What were the first tools made by humans in the British Isles made of? (Stone)

2. When did people anywhere in the British Isles first start to live in permanent settlements? (Neolithic 5,000

years ago)

3. When did people in the British isles first start making pottery (Neolithic 5,000 years ago)

4. When did towns first appear in the British Isles (after the Roman Conquest AD 43)

5. What happened to most towns in Britain after the end of the Roman period in AD 410 (they were

abandoned)

6. When were most of today’s towns and villages founded? (in the Anglo-Saxon period between AD 850-

1050)

7. Which historic pandemic had the worst impact on settlements in the British Isles? (The Black Death 1348-

9)

8. Which historic period saw the biggest growth in the size of Britain’s cities and towns (the post World War

Two period 1945-75)

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Answers

What did you score?!

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There’s very little written down which can tell us the

answers to these questions. So how do we find out?

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Write a sentence saying what you think the finds from each layer

in this school playing field are revealing about what was

happening in the past

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What did you think?

Did you think the archaeology showed how the use of this place

changed over time

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A small ‘test pit’ like this is quite easy to dig if you’ve been taught and

you follow instructions.

Usually, deeper layers produce older finds, like the school pit.

www.DigSchool.org.uk Engaging cross-curricular learning-enrichment workshops themed around archaeology

Session 9: Tracing places

End of part one

www.DigSchool.org.uk Engaging cross-curricular learning-enrichment workshops themed around archaeology

Session 9: Tracing places

Part two

DigSchool.org.uk

As well as telling the

story of one location

through time, doing

lots of small digs in

different places

(rather than one big

one in one place)

can show how whole

settlements

developed!

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Stream

Lower ground

Higher ground

Spring

Stream

DigSchool.org.uk

Lower ground

Higher ground

Stream

For each of the

following maps,

colour in the

squares which

you think

produced pottery

for each different

date:

• Roman

• Early Anglo-

Saxon

• Late Anglo-

Saxon

• High medieval

• Late medieval

• Tudor/Stuart/

Georgian

• Victorian /

modern

Stream

Spring

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Stream

Lower ground

Higher ground

Spring

Stream

Pirton 2007-14

Test pits containing pottery dating to Roman period (late 1st – early 5th

century AD)

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Stream

Lower ground

Higher ground

Spring

Stream

Pirton 2007-14

Test pits containing pottery dating to Early Anglo-Saxon period (mid 5th – mid

9th century AD)

Middle Anglo-Saxon pottery from Fox Inn excavations

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Stream

Lower ground

Higher ground

Spring

Stream

Pirton 2007-14

Test pits containing pottery dating to Late Anglo-Saxon period (mid 9th – late

11th century AD)

Late Anglo-Saxon cemetery and buildings from Fox Inn excavations

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Stream

Lower ground

Higher ground

Spring

Pirton 2007-14

Test pits containing pottery dating to high medieval period (early 12th – early

14th century)

12th century church

12th century Motte and bailey castle

Earthworks of castle bailey / manor / village

13th century moats

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Stream

Lower ground

Higher ground

Spring

Pirton 2007-14

Test pits containing pottery dating to late medieval period (late 14th – mid 16th

century)

13th century moats

12th century church

12th century Motte and bailey castle

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Stream

Lower ground

Higher ground

Spring

Stream

Pirton 2007-14

Test pits containing pottery dating to Tudor/Stuart/Georgian period (late 16th

– late 18th century AD)

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Stream

Lower ground

Higher ground

Spring

Stream

Pirton 2007-14

Test pits containing Victorian / modern (19th – 20th century) pottery

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N

0 miles 50

Main watercourses and drainage in East Anglia

Settlements with test pits excavated 2005-2018

Walberswick

Shillington

Gaywood

Hindringham

Binham

Wisbech St

Mary

Thorney

Ufford

Ramsey

Castor

Houghton

Sharnbrook

Pirton

Ashwell

WillinghamCottenham

GirtonShelford

Isleham

GarboldishamCarleton Rode

Acle

Coddenham

L Melford

Thorrington

Writtle

Little

Hallingbury

Manuden

Mill Green

Hessett

Bramford

Peakirk

S Bulbeck

Stapleford

Wiveton

Terrington St

Clement

Daws Heath

Great Amwell

Rampton

Shefford

Sawtry

Southminster

Hadleigh

Hillington

Brundall

Blo’ Norton Southwold

E Rudham

Snape

Clavering

W Wickham

Clare

NaylandBuresMeldreth

Toft

Potton

West Mersea

Histon

BlythburghRickinghall/

Botesdale

Althorne

Gt Gidding

Thundersley

Wendens

Ambo

Bunwell

Fulmodeston

Hilgay

Paston

Waldingfld

SudburyFoxearth

Mount B

How typical is

Pirton? (circled in

red)

Which settlements

grew largest in the

centuries before

the Black Death?

At this time access

to good arable land

and a major river

helped support

large populations

earning a living

through agriculture

and/or trade.

Choose ten….

N

0 miles 50

Main watercourses and drainage in East AngliaSettlements before the

Black Death

0%

1-9%

10-19%

20-29%

30-39%

40-49%

50-60%

61%+

Walberswick

Shillington

Gaywood

Hindringham

Binham

Wisbech St

Mary

Thorney

Ufford

Ramsey

Castor

Houghton

Sharnbrook

Pirton

Ashwell

WillinghamCottenham

GirtonShelford

Isleham

GarboldishamCarleton Rode

Acle

Coddenham

L Melford

Thorrington

Writtle

Little

Hallingbury

Manuden

Mill Green

Hessett

Bramford

Peakirk

S Bulbeck

Stapleford

Wiveton

Terrington St

Clement

Daws Heath

Great Amwell

Rampton

Shefford

Sawtry

Southminster

Hadleigh

Hillington

Brundall

Blo’ Norton Southwold

E Rudham

Snape

Clavering

W Wickham

Clare

NaylandBures

Meldreth

Toft

Potton

West Mersea

Histon

BlythburghRickinghall/

Botesdale

Althorne

Gt Gidding

Thundersley

Wendens

Ambo

Bunwell

Fulmodeston

Hilgay

Paston

Waldingfld

SudburyFoxearth

Mount B

Which settlements

were worst affected

by the Black Death,

which reduced the

number of people

available for the

labour-intensive

work of cultivating

fields?

Choose 10…

N

0 miles 50

Settlements after the Black Death

0%

1-9%

10-19%

20-29%

30-39%

40-49%

50-60%

61%+

Walberswick

Shillington

Gaywood

Hindringham

Binham

Wisbech St

Mary

Thorney

Ufford

Ramsey

Castor

Houghton

Sharnbrook

Pirton

Ashwell

WillinghamCottenham

GirtonShelford

Isleham

GarboldishamCarleton Rode

Acle

Coddenham

L Melford

Thorrington

Writtle

Little

Hallingbury

Manuden

Mill Green

Hessett

Bramford

Peakirk

S Bulbeck

Stapleford

Wiveton

Terrington St

Clement

Daws Heath

Great Amwell

Rampton

Shefford

Sawtry

Southminster

Hadleigh

Hillington

Brundall

Blo’ Norton Southwold

E Rudham

Snape

Clavering

W Wickham

Clare

NaylandBures

Meldreth

Toft

Potton

West Mersea

Histon

BlythburghRickinghall/

Botesdale

Althorne

Gt Gidding

Thundersley

Wendens

Ambo

Bunwell

Fulmodeston

Hilgay

Paston

Waldingfld

SudburyFoxearth

Mount B

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0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

90

100

Roman Early AS Middle AS Late AS High med Late med Post-med Modern

Eastern region Pirton

How to measure the significance of any single sherd of pottery!

Percentage of pits producing pottery in different periods

DigSchool.org.uk

Key questions

• How can we reconstruct how a place developed over time when there is no written evidence?

• Where can we do this?

• Why does it matter?

Session 9: Tracing placesExploring change over time beneath our feet

END