East Kirk of St Nicholas dig 7th to 11th August 2006 – Week 28
Judith Stones, Keeper of Archaeology, writes..
About 1000 people visited the church on Tartan Day, last Saturday, with many of them either taking a look at the dig from the gallery above or the viewing window downstairs – or going on one of the five organised site tours in the course of the day. I was busy digging most of the time – an unusual treat for me nowadays. I was uncovering the partial skeleton of a small child, just one of the many individuals buried within a tiny portion of the pre-15th century graveyard, and disturbed by later interments.
Only a few feet behind me others were also hard at work. A trench is being dug against the south wall of the 15th-century choir, in order to place supports for a new walkway, thus allowing removal of the current one, which sits on top of some of the bases of the piers which supported the roof of the 15th century choir and prevents their excavation. I actually showed you the trench last week, when I was telling the complicated tale of the corridor or flight of steps which led down towards St Mary’s chapel. I’m showing the same picture here this week, but telling a slightly different story!
You can see the trench, right next to the 15th-century church wall (right of picture). In excavating that trench, we’ve found a large number of burials. Interestingly, a couple of them are placed partly beneath the foundation of the 15th century wall. That’s the kind of clear stratigraphic relationship which archaeologists love, in this case indicating that the burials were made before the wall was built, and must therefore be earlier in date than it. These individuals were buried in the graveyard outside the pre-15th century choir, therefore. The next image shows the left leg of one of them, with the femur head visible to right and the wall foundation overlying the skeleton.
I’ve already made mention of those massive arcade piers which held the weight of the 15th century roof – the piers were in turn supported by two large sleeper walls, to which I’ve often referred before. We’re now at the stage where the pier or pillar bases themselves are being taken away. Perhaps you can see the ‘U’—shaped gap in the wall to left of centre in the next view.
That’s where one of the 15th century pier bases has been removed, leaving behind what we think are two sections of the outside north wall of the early 13th century east end. I think that Malachy, slightly blurred and to left of the ‘gap’, is busy taking away the last of the stones of the pier base, in fact.
The easternmost pier of the 15th century choir was only a half-pier, or respond. In the west wall of St Mary’s chapel, which lay below the east end of the choir, we’ve noticed some protruding stones, presumably built into that wall face in order to ‘key’ in the respond. You may be able to pick out a pinkish colour which derives from the distinctive clay which was used to bond the pier bases, in contrast to the lime mortar used in bonding the west wall of the chapel.
During the week, Sandra McKay, one of our photographers, has been taking some ‘record shots’ of a selection of small objects found during the excavations. When there is more time, of course, we’ll be taking proper studio photos. In the next picture you can see four medieval items - a little copper/lead alloy bottle or flask, a ceramic ‘counter’, a whetstone (for sharpening knives) and a copper alloy lace end.
After the scallop shell which was found a few weeks ago, we’re eager to discover more items which may be pilgrimage souvenirs, so have high hopes for the bottle – if indeed it is a bottle. One alternative view is that it might be a door handle: what do you think – it’s about 7cm top to bottom? Pilgrims often carried little flasks or ‘ampullae’, sometimes highly decorated and made of lead alloy, to contain holy water from the shrine they were visiting. Of course that practice still continues today, if you go to places such as Lourdes in southern France, although the bottles are plastic and the water comes out of a tap rather than from a holy well! But our little bottle could have had other uses too, both ecclesiastical and not. It could have held holy oil for use in the church, for example, although perhaps glass or a lighter metal might have been used in that case.
For further information and comment, please contact judiths@aberdeencity.gov.uk: 01224 523658.
