8th April 2013:

Two Oxford Archaeology projects were nominated for the prestigious Current Archaeology Awards for 2013, which were held at the recent Current Archaeology Live conference on 1-2 March. The projects, Lankhills: late Roman Winchester (CA 266), nominated in the Rescue Dig of the Year category, and Finding HMS Namur (CA 273), nominated in the Research Project of the Year category, featured in the magazine over the last 12 months.

Unfortunately there was no award for either project, but OA was not totally unrepresented at the two-day conference. Richard Brown was there to give a talk on the excavation at Stoke Quay, Ipswich, which involved staff from OA South and OA East. Joined on stage by archaeological consultant Andrew Shelley, Richard impressed the audience with the highlights of the site.

Much of the work was focused on the burials which illustrate the evolution of burial rites and practices in Ipswich, from the 7th century barrow burial landscape features to the medieval wooden coffins in use in a formal bounded cemetery at the time of the abandonment of St Augustine’s Church in the 15th century. In all, some 1180 individuals were excavated. Grave types recorded, included pillow-stone, coffin, and stone-lined graves. Several of the graves contained small personal objects. In addition to the cemetery, the field team recorded hundreds of pits and postholes, several wells and the second Ipswich pottery kiln ever excavated.