Press Release

Our official Press Release has now gone out!

http://www.exeter.ac.uk/news/featurednews/title_402569_en.html

Ipplepen Archaeological dig in the driving seat

A Roman road discovered on an archaeological dig has repairs to the road surface, showing that pot holes in Devon’s roads are nothing new.

The excavation at Ipplepen, run by the University of Exeter, is back on site following the discovery of a complex series of archaeological features thought to be part of the largest Romano-British settlement in Devon outside of Exeter.

Wheel ruts found in the newly excavated road surface are thought to be like those at Pompeii caused by carts being driven over them. This is cause for excitement according to archaeologist Danielle Wootton, the Devon Finds Liaison Officer for the Portable Antiquities Scheme. She said:“The road must have been extensively used, it’s intriguing to think what the horse-drawn carts may have been carrying and who was driving them. This is a fantastic opportunity to see a ‘snap shot’ of life 2000 years ago.”

The geophysical survey and a significant number of Roman coins found when the site was first discovered highlighted the importance of this extensive site and its potential to explore the relationship between the Romans  and Devon’s native population.

This year’s dig, directed by Dr Imogen Wood has uncovered a few more Roman coins, two of which date from between AD 43 to AD 260 and around six late Roman 4th century coins. One can be accurately dated to AD 335 – 341. However, the location of personal artefacts, such as the newly discovered Roman hair pin , brooch and bracelet are equally as thrilling for the archaeological team.

The pin would have been used to hold the hair together much in the same way similar items are used today. Danielle Wootton said:“Roman women had some very elaborate hairstyles which changed through time like our fashions do today. Hairpins were used to hold complex hairstyles like buns and plaits together and suggests that Devon women may have been adopting fashions from Rome. This period in history often gets flooded with stories about Roman soldiers and centurions; this is interesting as they are artefacts worn by women.”

Green and blue glass beads have been unearthed, which suggests that colourful necklaces were also worn. Two amber beads have been discovered which are likely to have travelled many miles possibly from the Baltic coast to their final location at Ipplepen in the South Devon.

Wootton explained:“During the Roman period amber was thought to have magical, protective and healing properties. These very personal items worn by the women that lived on this site centuries ago have enabled us to get a glimpse into the lives of people living everyday lives on the edges of the Roman Empire.”

Pottery has also been discovered by the Archaeology Department’s students and local volunteers on the excavation. Dr Imogen Wood, University of Exeter said:“The pottery recovered suggests people were making copies of popular roman pottery for cooking and eating, but also importing a small amount of fine pottery from the continent such as drinking cups and Samian bowls for dinner guests to see and envy.”

The excavation is being carried out until the end of July and is likely to reveal further exciting finds which will help to further our understanding between Roman Britain and its native population. An Open Day for members of the public to view the Ipplepen dig and its Roman Road is on Sunday 20 July between 10am and 4pm.

Directions to the dig, involves going to The Hub information point at Ipplepen Methodist Church, Ipplepen, TQ12 5SU between 10am – 4pm. There will be displays at the Hub and the opportunity to talk to people taking part in the dig. From the Hub, visitors will be directed to the excavation where official tours of the site will take place throughout the day. There will be children’s art making activities with local artist Joe Webster and the opportunity to meet some ‘real- life’ Roman re-enactors to on the day.

The archaeology information point at the Hub will continue to be open on Mondays- Fridays from 10am – 4.30 until the 31st July.

University of Exeter archaeologist, Dr Ioana Oltean said:”This season’s excavations are proving to be a real success. We are beginning to demonstrate the importance of this site in the Roman period when the road going through the settlement connected Ipplepen with the Roman world and brought here not only coins, but also pottery and personal goods used in everyday life.”

The dig is funded by the University of Exeter, Portable Antiquities Scheme, British Museum and Devon County Council.

Day 6 – end of week one

The Matrix
The Matrix
An iron nail found by intern Jess
John explains the site stratigraphy
John explains the site stratigraphy
Jess and Chris record the 300th small find
Jess and Chris record the 300th small find
Zeke and the wheel rut
Zeke and the wheel rut

Today has been a super Sunday with many great finds coming up. In addition to the usual cornucopia of pottery, we found two beads, one green and one blue, found by 1st Yr. student Kayleigh, and by 2nd Yr. student Kate. The site is unprecedented in the South-West for the amount of pottery (particularly Roman) which is being found. As such it was fitting that today saw our 300th small find recorded, and you’ve guessed it, it was a piece of pottery!

As work continues on the road its character is really starting to come through; pot holes and wheel ruts are clearly visible (student Greg thinks he will find some double yellow lines soon). Now that we are finishing clearing back the plough soil, John presented a talk to everyone this morning about stratigraphy and matrices. The law of superposition was explained, which means that when excavating, if a layer (or fill) is above another, then that means it is assumed to be earlier. John also explained how the road would have been built, and multiple layers built up on it, with the roadside ditches slowly being filled with and cleaned of silt, but when the road went out of use the ditches filled up with silt, creating another layer. After many years a topsoil developed over this road, which in turn was ploughed in the 19th c.,  the land stopped being used for crops, and is now pasture. This means that there is a layer of ploughsoil where finds are found from the layer below, because they have been churned up by the plough.

Head over to our Facebook page to see Kate and Kayleigh with their beads.

Days 4 & 5

The last two days of the week have been just as successful as the rest. Work has continued on cleaning back the site, and wet sieving was set up too. Whilst this happened students and volunteers began cleaning and drying the pottery finds. Two of the nicer pot sherds were a piece of decorated Samian ware, and some German stoneware, which has a lovely blue glaze.

With so much pottery being found the finds were almost constantly being 3D located, with wrists tiring at all the entries going into the finds register! George Flower, one of the University students had a particularly fun time doing this.

Over at the Hub we had a multitude of interested folk visiting us on Thursday, 40 in total. On Friday Bill Horner, the County Archaeologist, dropped by with some displays explaining the history of the site, and interesting finds across Devon, which help to explain the work that Devon County Council and the Historic Environment Records do.

That’s it for the first week, we hope that you have enjoyed learning about what we have been up to as much as much as we have doing it!

Wheelbarrows ready for work
Wheelbarrows ready for work
A happy George fills in the small finds register
A happy George fills in the small finds register
German Stoneware
Decorated samian
Decorated Samian
Danielle (PAS Finds Liaison Officer) out on site 3D recording finds
Danielle (PAS Finds Liaison Officer) out on site 3D recording finds
Cleaning up the road
Cleaning up the road

Days 2 & 3

Washing finds
Washing finds

The good work continued on Day 2, with the cleaning back of the site continuing. Imogen Wood gave us all a talk on the pottery of the area; Neolithic, Iron Age, Romano-British, and Roman imports too (which was a good thing, since we have had a fair bit of pottery coming through)!

Tuesday also saw BBC Radio Devon visiting the site, the interview will be aired near the end of the week, but we shall keep you updated on that one!

Over at The Hub we managed to set up a monitor in order to display slideshows of last year’s site photos. We can also show people the PAS website and how to navigate it.

Jim also paid a visit to the site, wearing a very fetching vest which his daughter had made for him, depicting some of the many finds that he has discovered over the years.

Day 3 saw pottery being laid to dry before washing and displays on Roman roads being sorted for show at The Hub. Whilst one of our interns Jess began digitising records and one of our student volunteers Chris sorted out some geophysical imaging.

Day 1

The first day of the 2014 season has gotten off to a flying start! Plenty of pottery sherds were also coming up too.

Over at The Hub, Greg and James set up the displays, which will be added to throughout the week. They also began painting some signs, since the door to The Hub is quite tucked away.

To round off the first day, a lot of good work with plenty more to look forward to!

One of the new signs for The Hub
One of the new signs for The Hub
Kaleigh and her find
Kaleigh and her find
Danielle (PAS liaison) with Jim after the finding the first coin of the season
Danielle (PAS liaison) with Jim after the finding the first coin of the season

Pre-season Preparations!

With just over a week to go until excavations start up again at Ipplepen, I have been looking into when the site was first discovered in 2011, and found the below BBC article covering the discovery. Preparations for the 2014 season are well underway now, so you can expect more posts in the coming weeks! Hope that you are all as excited for this season’s excavations as we are!

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-14340933

A Big Thank You

Thank you to all of the (nearly) 1000 visitors to the site today and around 450 visitors to the Hub. It was amazing to see so much interest in the site. The Hub was fit to burst at times and the site saw a constant flow of eager enthusiasts. We have had some really helpful feedback too, so another thank you goes to all who took the time to fill in a visitor survey. We look forward to seeing you all back at next year’s Open Day. Work will continue on site tomorrow, starting the final week of the season, and the Hub will be open as usual; opening times and location are listed on the blog.

Thank you all once again from all involved at the Ipplepen Archaeological Project.

Days One and Two

Finally got the 2013 Ipplepen blog up. So to start with, a catch-up on the first two days of work.

Work started on the 29th, and after everyone had arrived (first year students from a local campsite, local volunteers from nearby and the site supervisors), various tasks were handed out. In the morning first year archaeology students were given a crash course in the use of surveying equipment and other members of the team were taught how to use GPS equipment whilst the machines cleared away the soil used to backfill on last year’s excavation. By the afternoon the machines had cleared enough soil away for us begin cleaning up the site. Whilst this was going on a few volunteers were starting to set up the Hub.

Day two saw the continuation of the site’s cleaning, with the machines finishing their removal of the backfill from last year’s excavation. The Hub also opened to the public, with a total of 18 visitors, and plans to be open from 9.30 – 16.00 Monday to Friday, please do feel free to drop in.