East Kirk of St Nicholas dig 21-25 Aug - Week 30
East Kirk of St Nicholas dig 21st to 25th August 2006 – Week 30
Judith Stones, Keeper of Archaeology, writes…
Avid readers of these pages may remember some weeks ago my discussing the two probable east end walls of the church, one a foundation dating perhaps from the 12th century and the other an upstanding piece of walling, just a short way further east, constructed possibly in the late 12th or early 13th century. The later of the two walls featured in this diary last week, with part of the graveyard which lay outside it. Again you may recollect from a previous diary that the earlier wall, the foundation, was built in such a way that it cut through a grave. That burial had been in place for only a relatively short while – and the builders had folded the remains of the body into what was left of the grave after the wall had taken up most of the space. That same wall foundation also cut through two other graves, one of which has been partly excavated now. Along with the bones, replaced by the medieval construction workers, the archaeologists have found the very well-preserved remnants of what was probably a shroud, made in a very coarse woollen weave. In the first two photos you can see Doreen Stewart, one of our volunteers (you’ve seen her at least once before in this diary) lifting the textile under the watchful eye of Margot Wright from the Conservation Lab at Marischal Museum.
Taking the cloth out of the ground and conserving it is a complex and difficult process, which I understand will include freeze drying. Eventually we hope that it will be in a suitable condition for display.
Doreen’s been with us for several months now, but Hilary Hinton, pictured next (foreground), joined the team just recently. Hilary is a medical graduate of Aberdeen University, now retired after working for many years in Child Health. She’s taking the chance to develop her long held interest in history.
The dig area is beginning to look much more organised again this week, with lots of the stones left over from the demolition of the 15th century sleeper walls having been taken away. The next couple of photos give an indication of the mammoth nature of that task.
This week there’s a huge engineering operation underway to place rocks (imported from Norway, I believe) on Aberdeen beach to protect it from erosion, so we feel that we should be offering a contribution to that project! But if you come to visit the dig soon (there’s an open day this Saturday, 26th, with tours at 10.30, 11.30, 1.30 and 2.30) you should be able to see clearly the outline of 12th to 13th century east ends of the church, with the graveyard round about.
The small objects we’ve been discovering continue to be numerous, varied and interesting. I have some ‘record’ shots of them here.
First is a fragment of painted window glass. It was found amongst the demolition of an ‘extension’ attached to the north wall of the l2th or 13th century east end – more about that next week. You can probably see the brownish paint on the dark surface of the glass, which would originally have been light and translucent.
Next is a very unusual little copper alloy pin. We’ve found lots of pins – they were used for a variety of purposes, including the fastening of shrouds – but this one is decorated with a tiny glass bead at its head, so might have been something akin to a hat-pin. When gazing at the photo in preparation for this diary, I noticed something which hadn’t been immediately visible on the object itself – the fact that there had originally been not just one but five beads. I’m sure you can see the marks left by them on the shaft.
The third object is very intriguing: it’s a broken mother-of-pearl crowned heart. At the bottom of the left curve is a little projection which may have allowed it to be fitted into ?another piece of the same material. I’d love to hear from anyone who’s seen anything like this item before.
For further information and comment, please contact judiths@aberdeencity.gov.uk: 01224 523658.
